HOA becomes first Firewise USA site in Green Valley

A few residents familiar with the Firewise program through their volunteer work with the GVFD brought the idea to board members, Hollingsworth said, and the movement took off from there.

“We had a bunch of folks come in who had seen wildfires in the northern part of the state last year and said, ‘Hey, what about this? What if this happens here?’ Well, we looked at that and thought, ‘You’re right. We don't have a formal plan for what would happen in our community,’” Hollingsworth said.

“So, I went on to investigate it more and talked with DFFM. We pitched it to our HOA at our annual meeting, and then got involved in some of the trainings, and that’s how it caught on, basically just word-of-mouth,” he said.

“We just thought if this was a concern of our residents, then we’re going to try to do something about it, and we think it’ll pay off.”

What does it mean?

To become a Firewise USA site takes a lot of time, effort and intentional planning from a committed group of volunteers in each community, said Corey Guerin, Lead Prevention Officer with the Arizona DFFM.

With the help of a local wildfire expert, communities first complete a community wildfire risk assessment, which identifies areas of successful wildfire risk reduction and where improvements could be made. At a minimum, this assessment needs to be updated every five years.

After that’s completed, the community and its designated volunteers must draft a three-year action plan that prioritizes actions to reduce ignition risk to homes. Those can include things like communitywide investments, cleaning up brush or debris in common areas, and hosting educational activities. This action plan must be updated at least every three years.

Finally, every year neighbors must also complete educational and risk reduction actions that are identified in the plan, including investing at least one volunteer hour per dwelling unit in wildfire risk reduction actions.

“There’s a lot that goes into this, and there’s a lot of time you put into that to get this designation. It usually takes a while for some communities to get to this point, especially if they don't have someone super strong who’s really taking charge to create a plan,” Guerin said.

In addition to helping homeowners reduce their own community’s wildfire risk, Guerin said this kind of designation can also help first responders during emergencies.

“The sign can really come in handy for our first responders. When we come into the community, let’s say during a fire, we can know these homeowners are doing the work to keep their homes safe, and really cut down on a certain level of risk. That can mean less work first responders have to do when it comes to protecting structures.”

Established in 2004, the Summerhaven community on Mt. Lemmon is one of the oldest Firewise communities in Southern Arizona, but Guerin says the program has started to catch on over the last few years in other areas of the state.

So far, Arizona boasts about 125 Firewise communities, about 20 of which are in Southern Arizona, with more communities and HOAs in the pipeline.

“We’d love to see more communities in Green Valley become Firewise certified. It really does help us, and can help to protect not just your own home, but your entire community,” Guerin said.