California Wildfires Bring Opportunity to Rebuild Stronger
...Online Educational Tools Now Available

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. - As residents of wildfire-affected California communities continue returning home, the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc. - FLASH is urging them to rebuild burned homes and reinforce surviving homes in a way that minimizes future wildfire threats. That is the message the national safety organization brings to the area this weekend.

"Communities in Southern California can break the cycle of 'build, destroy, rebuild' by using proven strategies to make their neighborhoods and homes wildfire-resistant," said Pat Durland, FLASH Wildfire Program Vice President. "Survival stories from this very disaster point up the opportunity we have to bring these communities back safer and stronger."

FLASH, dedicated to strengthening homes and safeguarding families from natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados and wildfires, points out that of all the natural disaster prevention strategies, wildfire prevention is the simplest and least expensive to implement.

"Wildfire must have three key ingredients --- air, heat and fuel," said Durland. "Absent any one of these, fire cannot occur, and, of course, fuel is the one thing we can control."

Typical examples of fuel include vegetation, combustible building components and landscaping materials.

Durland is a wildland fire expert, former fire fighter and educator with more than thirty years experience on the fire lines and in the classroom. He is on the ground in Southern California this week to perform damage assessment and initiate consumer outreach efforts. Free information and tools are available from the organization and include a new short video at www.flash.org that describes the many steps homeowners can take to protect their homes from wildfire. The video is accompanied by the Blueprint for Safety News wildfire edition also downloadable at www.flash.org.

Wildfire reduction steps include:

• Breaking up continuous vegetation areas that provides a trail of fuel to the house;
• Eliminating ignition sources like shredded mulch, gas cans, stacked firewood, and dry vegetation within 30 feet of the house;
• Having a non-combustible roof and gutter clear of leaf litter and pine needles to prevent embers from burning a house from the top down;
• Installing eaves and eave soffits made of fire-resistant materials;
• Installing noncombustible screening under elevated decks and structural overhangs;
• Covering the vent openings to the house with noncombustible screening to keep embers from entering the crawlspace or attic; and,
• Using fire-resistive shrubs in the landscape and ensuring proper spacing as well as trimming lower branches on trees to prevent fire from moving to the tops of trees.