La Pine Fire District conducting wildfire prep survey
La Pine firefighters, in uniform and in a fire district vehicle, will be visiting every property in the fire district this summer, creating a database that could be critical should wildfire strike, officials said Wednesday.
The purpose, they district said, is to pre-plan and collect critical data for firefighters to use when protecting homes from a wildfire.
The La Pine Fire District was awarded a small grant to employ student firefighters for this summer project supporting the National Wildland Fire Decision Support System.
This is an extension of the Klamath County’s pilot project, which is creating the new system. It is linked with current federal, state and county databases.
Firefighters and incident managers, regardless where they are from, can have accurate data on the challenges they face and best apply resources to protect homes the during critical phases of a complex wildfire incident using computer systems and even handheld technology.
Firefighters can collect all data visually from the driveway, and participation is not required by the resident, officials said. However, firefighters may knock on the door to alert residents they are in the area and to what they are doing and will be happy to answer any questions.
“The fire district is appreciative of each property owner for their effort to maintain their properties in a FireWise and fire-safe condition,” the district’s statement said. “This activity is just one more effort to ensure we all survive the next wildfire in Central Oregon.”
