FWC Success Stories
Buckeye Microgrant - Banner Mountain Firewise Community
Our Banner Mountain Firewise Community, with support from the Friends of Banner Mountain, submitted an application to compete for one of 26 available $3,600 microgrants. These Firewise Community Grants were secured by the Office of Emergency Services and approved by the Board of Supervisors. We submitted an application to assist our neighbors on Buckeye Road with their very rough, and only, evacuation road.
This project resulted in significant widening of the road by the removal of trees, encroaching limbs, and ladder fuels. It also makes the drive out easier and smoother as the ruts have been evened out and new gravel dispersed over the most difficult to traverse areas of the road.
Most importantly, this project introduced new neighbors (and reintroduced established neighbors) and inspired a group of people to come together to address a common concern and form a true neighborhood.
FIREWISE FESTIVAL RAISES THOUSANDS $$
FOR FIREWISE COMMUNITIES IN 2024
Thank you to the Firewise Festival Committee for creating a successful fundraising event which benefited all the Firewise Communities attending and working the event. The core Committee members were Steve Eubanks, Pete Williams, Warren Knox, Jim Mathias, Mo Graber, Kristen Cook, and Paul Tebbel.
River Valley Bank and Bob Long also get a huge shout-out for their service in handling the financials which were kept separate from those of the event sponsor, Fire Safe Council. The hard work of those named above and many other volunteers raised a significant sum of money to help us protect our homes. We are happy that we could support them in their efforts.
Checks ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 were awarded to 17 Firewise Communities in a random drawing, and checks for $325 were written to 28 other FWCs whose members attended or worked the event, enabling these neighborhoods to fund projects specific to their needs. Thank you again to everyone who helped make this happen.
Keeping our promise of financial transparency, here are the:
GREENHORN FWC INSTALLS FOUR WATER TANKS
FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION - 2022
The Greenhorn Firewise Community purchased and installed water tanks with 40,000 total gallons of water storage on the Greenhorn Road corridor for the sole purpose of fire suppression. The tanks are strategically located two and four miles from the intersection with Brunswick Road. Approximately 780 households will benefit from this increased dedicated water supply by reducing turnaround times for fire resources, thus greatly increasing the ability of the fire agencies to suppress fires early in their progression.
Read this 13-page report, "Greenhorn Water Tanks Lessons Learned" for a detailed step-by-step explanation of how other Firewise Communities could follow this example. Greenhorn FWC Water Tank Committee chair Dianne Marshall gets a special shout-out for her diligence in spearheading this project and writing up the excellent documentation.
HOMEOWNERS INSTALL WATER TANK STORAGE
FOR THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD - April 2022
Lauren Drutz and her husband, private homeowners in the 6B & Friends Firewise Community, spent their own money to install a pair of underground water storage tanks which provide 5,000 gallons of water to help protect their home and their entire community. Check out the specs and costs, with color photos, in this 6-slide PDF.
