United Way helps residents prepare for wildfire season

It was National Wildfire Preparedness Day last Saturday, May 5 and the Frenchtown Rural Fire Department teamed up with United Way of Missoula to pilot a community chip day. Crews were in the Sorrel Springs and Elk Meadows subdivisions near Frenchtown and Huson chipping brush and debris piled on the road by homeowners. These are efforts to prepare their properties for this year’s wildland fire season.

The effort is a pilot project through the United Way with hopes of clearing hazards near homes in wooded areas. A preemptive program following the expensive 2017 fire season, “there are predictions of a busy July in addition to August and so we may have a fairly energetic wildfire season,” said Frenchtown Fire Department spokesman, Mel Holtz. In addition to helping homeowners cleanup their property they are also educated on way to take steps now to deal with a wildfire in their area.

The United Way used donations from 45 states to help communities impacted by wildfires last year, particularly from the Seeley Lake and Lolo Peak fires. Eric Legvold, with Missoula United Way, said as part of Wildfire Community Preparedness Day they asked homeowners to grab woody debris around their homes and bring trees to side of the road and then they provided a chipper and composted the chips at the Wye.

“We are helping out the community and promoting the awareness of the homeownership when it comes to wildfire prevention,” he said.

Representatives hope the program will set a precedent in getting ready for wildfire-prone areas throughout the county.

“The quantity of donations that got here in, and the truth that we will do that with no price to the home-owner via the United Approach, it is extraordinarily vital. We’re looking for funding streams to proceed this I believe that it is an awesome undertaking and there is folks getting on board to hold this countywide,” said Wildland Fireplace Coordinator, Taylor Blakely.