Firewise Community Newsletter - May 2024
May 2024, V3
Lost River is now a FIREWISE® Certified Site! Congratulations to our entire community. We will be throwing a party this coming fall to celebrate. LRAA is also featured in the recent publication of Methow Homes 2024 on page 10.
To view, paste URL into your browser: https://issuu.com/methowvalleypublishing/docs/mh24_forissuu_sm
SAVE THE DATE! Community Chipping "Air Care" Event
Through the Okanogan Conservation District and the LRAA Firewise Committee partnership, an industrial chipper is being provided for LRAA on May 13th. Sign up today!
Get your yard work done and build piles by the side of the road/driveway for easy access. From what we understand there is now no requirement for homeowners to be home to have chipping completed. Just have yard waste ready and staged. For details, read the chipping event flyer linked below or visit the registration page.
View/download Chipping Event Flyer [pdf]
Register for the Event →
GOOD REMINDERS AS WE APPROACH THE FIRE SEASON
During the fire burn ban, if anyone has an illegal fire going, please call the sheriff immediately.
Removing the wood piles from your porch and under the porch will help protect your entire home from burning down. Remember ALL buildings need to be protected, not just houses.
Pick up/rake all flammable vegetation (dead branches, brush, stumps, logs) on your property.
Sign up for the chipping event on May 13th!
Trim your trees lower limbs 15’ up off the ground
Trim tree branches within 15’ within a chimney or stovepipe
Trees close to your home are a risk, consider creating a 30’ defensible space around your home without trees.
Order blue reflective address signs so emergency vehicles can locate you quickly.
Now is a great time to do a chimney sweep after a COLD winter! This should be done every 1-2 years to prevent chimney fires in the spring and fall that could easily spread.
Please share how many hours you have put into making your property more fire resilient. We get to use these hours towards our Lost River Airport Firewise community hours. These hours give us access to neighborhood micro-grants and free programs, such as the chipping day in May. If two or more people worked, than add everyone hours separately so we record all total hours. Please email all your hours to LRAA.business@gmail.com
FREE MONEY FOR DOING FIRE MITIGATION WORK ON YOUR PROPERTY
We are now Firewise Certified Site and the benefit to becoming a Firewise neighborhood is we have an opportunity to receive funding to help make our neighborhood safe from fire from your individual contributions. And you as property owners can earn money doing the mitigation work. See the program details at https://www.dnr.wa.gov/cost-share.
Please note that nothing will ever be done to private property without the consent from the owner. It is your personal choice to participate.
Also you can schedule a FREE IN PERSON FIREWISE HOME ASSESSMENTS with Okanogan Conservation District and Department of Natural Resources. To schedule an assessment, email Eli Loftis at eli@okanogancd.org.
HOW TO STAY INFORMED ON FIRES & SMOKE IN THE AREA
Firewise resources for the upcoming summer…
If you’d like to stay informed on when fires are near us and evacuation levels you can sign up for Okanogan County alerts. It’s great to know whether you’re a part-time or full-time resident. Links can also be found on the LRAA Home page.
Okanogan County Emergency Management
AirNow - Air Quality Monitor App
Purple Air - Air Quality Monitor App (There’s a Purple Air monitor at LRAA.)
Inciweb - Up to date fire reports (May be temporarily offline for maintenance.)
National Interagency Fire Center - Fire tracking map
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Facebook
From Your LRAA Firewise Committee