MISSOULA – The Missoula County Office of Emergency Management is offering more resources to help surrounding communities become more fire adapted. As the new Wildfire Preparedness Coordinator, Max Rebholz’s goal is to create more fire adapted communities, create a picture for what that looks like to mitigate wildfire risks and be prepared before the fire, during the fire and following the fire.
Rebholz said there is a nationwide push to implement the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The Fire Strategy is a strategic push to work collaboratively among all stakeholders and across all landscapes, using the best science, to make meaningful progress towards three goals: Resilient landscapes, fire adapted communities and safe and effective wildfire response.
Missoula County, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the US Forest Service funded Rebholz’s position. He was hired in October 2018. He coordinates the Missoula County Cohesive Strategy Work Group that meets every couple of months. It allows agencies to provide updates on how they are addressing the three main goals of the Fire Strategy.
“That is an interesting new group that convenes all the various stakeholders involved with wildfire,” said Rebholz.
In addition to the Work Group, Rebholz is looking forward to offering more activities and outreach to promote fire adapted communities. These efforts are coordinated through the Community Preparedness Team that includes fire prevention representatives from the Forest Service and DNRC as well as wildfire mitigation specialists from local fire departments. They target high priority areas by using the wildfire risk hazard assessment map within the Missoula County Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
“The bulk of Missoula County is at least in the moderate to high, very high hazard from wildfire,” said Rebholz. “We look at that map, look at where past mitigation has occurred and what communities are currently active. We target new communities while maintaining involvement in the current communities.”
Rebholz said the focus is on a collective community effort. He is currently targeting homeowners associations but he will work with neighborhoods, drainages or larger communities.
“It’s not just one single house or a cluster of homes that are mitigated and prepared. It is a whole community that is prepared, know their evacuation results, know what the red flag warnings mean, the conditions and how to prepare themselves [before and] in the event of a wildfire,” said Rebholz.
The current action is to identify the risks by working with community leaders. If a homeowner has individual questions about their property, then Rebholz recommends an individual assessment.
Representatives from the DNRC, Forest Service, Missoula County and local departments will do home visits to assess a property and offer recommendations on how to reduce the risk. They also provide tools including grant opportunities to help them move forward.
“The whole idea is to not have burnt homes in general. If the homeowner does the work, the probability of their home surviving the ember shower is a lot greater,” said Rebholz. “It is not just one home, it is getting whole communities to be aware of how to prepare for wildfires and what it means to be fire adapted. It is not to eliminate fire through a community but letting it run its course while providing minimal defense.”
Rebholz offers presentations to homeowners associations, neighborhoods or groups and will give individual property assessments. While DNRC and Rebholz can provide recommendations, the onus is on individuals and HOA boards to take advantage of the programs.
“We can show the community and individuals best practices and recommendations for action items but until ordinances and covenants are installed nothing is really enforced. That is the challenge of it,” said Rebholz.
Rebholz said that becoming a Fire Adapted Community is a continuous work in progress. There is always maintenance to be done and improvements to be made.
“As long as we are steadily making improvements - whether that is more homes being mitigated, awareness raised, more people signing up and taking advantage of grant opportunities, more assessments done, anything from coming out and doing presentations to establishing fire adapted communities, staying involved with the community and the community is still involved with us - then progress is being made,” said Rebholz.
Missoula County residents are encouraged to visit http://www.fireadaptedmissoulacty.org for specific information about what it means to be prepared for a wildfire, understand fire’s role and history and learn about actions homeowners and businesses can take to become more fire adapted.
To schedule a presentation for your community or homeowners association contact Rebholz via email mrebholz@missoulacounty.us or call 406-258-3633.
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