California is burning like never before, with wildfires damaging nearly one million acres in 2018 alone. Despite the State’s best efforts, preventing forest fires doesn’t seem possible from the top down. With climate change accelerating the frequency and scale of these wildfires at an alarming rate, experts are turning to private citizens to help with forest fire prevention and control. Or as we like to say, to help fight fire with fire, literally.
A key source of fuel for California wildfires is the dry underbrush that covers the land around private homes and communities. Prescribed burns target this underbrush in controlled areas so that when a wildfire does hit, it doesn’t have the fuel to grow to an unmanageable size.
That’s where Firewise comes in. Firewise is a program that educates community members about forest fire prevention and control and gives them the tools to protect their homes from devastation, mainly by teaching them how to manage their own prescribed burns.
Meet the citizens protecting their communities from hellfire, and see how prescribed burns are keeping large wildfires at bay.
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