Deschutes County forester talks wildfire protection with China Hat Road neighbors

(Update: Adding video, comments from homeowners, Deschutes County forester)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- More than 20 homeowners in southern Bend gathered around Deschutes County Forester Ed Keith Friday morning near China Hat Road as he explained ways to protect their homes from a wildfire.

“Make sure the trees are pruned again, they're thinned out. We could have a little bit more negation in that zone,” Keith explained to the group. 

He said the biggest form of protection is removing shrubs, debris and high-fuel risk items in the five feet closest to your home.

“Talking about the things people can do on their own properties, to be a little bit more prepared in terms of defensible space,” Keith said. “Really just reducing the fuels right around their home, so that if a fire were to happen, we’re already prepared for that.”

Jonna Pahlisch, a homeowner who helped organize the walkthrough, said she believes this education is needed.

“Just the concerns of drought and the population living this close to a community that has a lot of warming fires,” Pahlisch said. “So we just wanted to put our community at ease and have Ed come out here and just educate us on how to just be safer around our own homes.”

However, Woodside Ranch resident Mike Frank feels the responsibility should not lie with the homeowners.

“The real threat is fires, the warming fires and cooking fires of people living in the forest, and I get the impression that nobody wants to talk about what a real solution is going to be,” Frank said.

Frank thinks the people living in tents and trailers in the forest need to be educated the same way.

“You know, there doesn’t seem to be any impetus to clear the people out of the forest, so I think we need to go camp to camp and educate them how to kind of protect themselves and protect our forests,” Frank said. 

Deschutes County sheriff's deputies said they’ve received at least 19 fire-related calls in the past year in the China Hat area.

In the past two weeks, a pickup truck and an RV caught fire near China Hat Road.

Keith said in an ever-changing town like Bend, reaching everyone can be tricky. 

“You know, there's always new people to reach, so I think one of our biggest challenges is all the new people that don’t really realize that we’re exposed to wildfire and wildfire risk,” Keith said 

But he hopes lessons like this can be the difference between a house burning down, and not.

“And then hopefully they’re going to go home and take a close look and realize that even though they thought they were 100%, maybe they’re 80% and they need to do that last 20% to be ready for fire season,” Keith said. 

County officials and the US Forest Service say they will continue with efforts to prevent fires in the area, where several fires at homeless encampments have raised concerns.

More information on wildfire prevention can be found here.