At the March 16 Rhododendron Community Planning Organization (CPO)
meeting, Hoodland Fire Chief John Ingrao offered a stark comparison of
wildfire threats to wildland-urban interface communities such as
Rhododendron and efforts these communities can take to lessen the severity
of the inevitable fires.

“Rhododendron is no different unfortunately than Paradise, California,” he
said, referencing the California town almost completely destroyed by a 2018
wildfire.

The CPO motioned to begin the process of becoming a FIREWISE certified
community at the meeting, held at the Mt. Hood Oregon Resort in Welches.

Steve Graeper, CPO Board President has begun the process of contacting the
state to begin the FIREWISE assessment for Rhododendron. The community
will join Zig Zag, Government Camp and Timberline Rim Division 5 as
FIREWISE certified communities in the Mount Hood region.

FIREWISE is a program of the National Fire Protection Association that
performs fire risk assessments for communities and helps residents work
together to reduce risks and prevent losses in the case of wildfire. The
program provides grants to help establish 30-foot home ignition defense
zones around properties and aids home owners in educating themselves on
ways to protect their homes.

“Besides for medical responses, FIREWISE is the most critical thing we have
to deal with up here,” Ingrao said.

He stated that as an interface community, Rhododendron faces greater threat
from wildfires by being surrounded by forests in all directions, with the Bull
Run watershed to the north, Oregon Department of Forestry and Bureau of
Land Management land to the south and U.S. Forest Service land to the east.

“It’s a ‘when’ not an ‘if’ that a fire is going to happen up here,” said Jeremy
Goers, assistant fire management officer for Mount Hood National Forest. “The
more work you do on your home and your structure the higher the likelihood
that we can save it.”

FIREWISE grants aid in the removal of debris, flammable vegetation and
materials from 30-foot parameters around structures. This includes
overhanging limbs and dense undergrowth as well as cutting and removing
dry grass and weeds.

Home owners are advised to prevent embers from entering homes by
covering exterior vents with fine mesh and preventing combustible material
from gathering near structures attached to the home like garages or decks.

U.S. Forest Service ranger Bill Westbrook urged people to keep roofs and
gutters clean of debris to prevent embers from smoldering and to keep spark
arrestors on chimneys and chainsaws. “80 percent of our fires here are human
caused,” Westbrook said.

FIREWISE instructs community members to maintain clearly marked
emergency responder access to properties. Driveways should be at least 12
feet wide with a vertical clearance of 15 feet for emergency vehicle access and
adequate turn around. The program also aids in the development of a
community disaster and evacuation plan.

“It’s you helping us,” said Ingrao about the community participating in the
FIREWISE program.

In the case of a widespread wildfire, firefighters will access properties to see if
they have defensible parameters and are safe to protect. Goers stated that
they will drop black rocks in the drives of houses that aren’t timely to save.

“We lost a lot of firefighters in California protecting people’s homes,” said
Goers. “It’s a shame.” He added they will have to pick and choose considering
safety and time.

Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District will be holding a
“Keep your home and property safe from wildfire” workshop at the Hoodland

Fire station, 69634 Hwy. 26, Welches on April 4th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pre-
registration is required. Contact Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation

District at 503-210-6000 or by email at tguttridge@conservationdistrict.org to
reserve a seat.

More information about the FIREWISE program is available online at
www.firewise.org.