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The Highlands Fire District hosted a wildfire preparedness day at its station in Mountainaire on Saturday, April 26, bringing together county and federal partners to emphasize the importance of a proactive approach to northern Arizona’s fire season.

“We’ve known for a long time that wildfire is one of the biggest threats to our communities that we protect,� Highlands Fire Chief Todd Miller said. “Our hope is to bring partners together in another venue. We do training together, we look at the preseason outlook together � . This event is really geared toward getting our partners together to inform the public.�

Educational presentations at the event focused on evacuation readiness, fire-wise landscaping and home defensibility, in addition to the outlook for this year’s fire season. Representatives of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Coconino County Emergency Management, the Coconino National Forest, Arizona Public Service (APS), and the Bear Jaw Interagency Fire and Fuels Crew all participated, along with Coconino County Supervisor Tammy Ontiveros.

U.S. Forest Service presence was notable, as agency representatives have been conspicuously absent from other public events this year. Brian Blanchard, assistant fire management officer for the Flagstaff Ranger District, reassured attendees that the forest’s fire crews are fully staffed for the year.

The Coconino National Forest intends to conduct thousands of acres of prescribed burns to reduce fuel accumulation this year -- contingent, as always, upon favorable weather conditions, and whether or not resources from this district are called away to help with incidents elsewhere.

Blanchard said the series of spring storms Flagstaff received this year had helped create a window of opportunity for burning before hotter summer temperatures arrive.

But those storms haven’t fundamentally altered the possibility of a significant wildfire this year.

“These little shots of moisture have really been helping with smaller fuels -- the pine needles, the small sticks, that kind of stuff,� Blanchard said in his presentation. “Larger fuels, the large down logs, they didn’t get a lot of moisture because the snow that fell in March just melted out before it really soaked in.�

Those “dead and down� trees and branches could sustain a major blaze if they were to ignite.

He emphasized that as temperatures rise, the risk of an inadvertent ignition in fine fuels like dry grass rises, too. “Don’t hesitate to call and report smoke,� Blanchard said. “We have good staffing levels, but � it’s hard for us to be everywhere at once.�

Shelby Erickson and Robert Ortiz of the Bear Jaw Interagency Fire and Fuels Crew spoke about the annual Bear Jaw Community Clean-Up, which began this year on April 28, and the importance of defensible space around homes.

The event focuses on removing pine needles, a constant challenge in and around Flagstaff. 

“I’ve lived in Kachina Village here for 23 years. Numerous places have never raked their needles, ever,� Erickson said.

The crew tries to facilitate that effort by providing bags to residents and then collecting those bags for transport to the Willard Springs Green Waste Site, all at no cost.

“We collected 6,500 cubic yards last year alone of needles,� Ortiz said.

“And that’s after it’s smashed with equipment,� Erickson added. “So we probably moved 12,000 yards of fluffy stuff.�

Erickson and Ortiz estimated that about a third of community members participate in the cleanup each year.

“You can talk to a third of the people, they’re already doing it. Speak to a third of the people, they understand it and are going to move forward with it,� Erickson said. “And a third are going to abstain. We’ve been working on trying to get that other third.�

Another group working to increase community participation is the Kachina Village Firewise organization -- formerly an official chapter of the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA program and recently reborn after a hiatus. Members Deb Smith, Peter Smith and Alice Bauman had a booth at the event, as part of their effort to reach out to neighbors.

The door-knocking and phone calls are a slow process, they admitted, but vital for increasing community awareness.

“It’s a start,� Deb Smith said. “We don’t know what else to do. We’re the ones.�

Her husband Peter Smith noted that the areas around their homes contain “the full ladder of fuels,� from grasses and pine needles up to whole trees.

“The right fire on the right day could take out hundreds of houses,� he said. “That’s just a stark fact. We are hoping after the mayhem in L.A. that this is a teachable moment.�

“You’ve got to understand that the status quo is dangerous,� he added.

Should a wildfire occur, Coconino County Emergency Management (whose new mobile incident command unit was on display at the event) and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office (CCS0) would work closely with fire departments to coordinate response -- including evacuation, if necessary.

“We have our supervisor go to the scene and tie in with the incident commander of the fire,� Gerrit Boeck, CCSO chief deputy, said. “We’re right there with them face-to-face. It’s not a phone call.�

Boeck said he’s grateful for the strong working relationships between local, state and federal agencies. “None of us take it for granted,� he added.

When an evacuation is necessary, “that’s all hands on deck for us,� Boeck said. Deputies, Community Emergency Response Team members, and even Search and Rescue volunteers combine to go house-to-house and ensure nobody gets left behind.

Boeck encouraged county residents to follow the recommendations of the area’s fire departments and to sign up for through the county’s website.

One common topic of fire-related conversation this year has been homeowner’s insurance. In fire-prone areas across Arizona, premiums have been rising and some companies have been canceling, or refusing to renew, existing policies. Ontiveros brought this up in her remarks at the event.

“One of the things that I have become aware of -- and I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone -- is homeowners losing their insurance,� Ontiveros told attendees. “I wanted to let you know that I have been very active trying to get some answers on this.�

Ontiveros explained that her office had been reaching out to recently elected Arizona state Sen. Mark Finchem, who had promised to investigate the issue. (Finchem is more widely known for his election denialism and failed lawsuit against Arizona’s use of electronic vote tabulation machines.) She had also sought the assistance of Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, she said.

Earlier this year, the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions established a Resiliency & Mitigation Council to “investigate the availability and affordability of homeowners insurance in forested areas and wildland-urban interface areas.� The council’s requires it to make a formal report of its findings to the governor by Dec. 1.

Meanwhile, firefighters are watching and waiting. 

“We’ve bumped up our planning about four to six weeks in terms of meeting with partner agencies and getting our refreshers done, our pack tests done, getting the crews ready for the season," Miller said. 

“Hopefully there’s no starts, but if there is, there’s potential for that extreme fire behavior this year," he added. “We’re ready for it now, and we’ll hope for a good monsoon season.�