In order to maintain membership in Firewise USA, North Fork landowners must make an annual investment in wildfire risk reduction efforts. We’re required to calculate the number of hours spent in Firewise-qualifying activities, and the expenses associated with those activities.
A summary of some of Firewise-qualifying activities and expenses follows:
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- Collaboration and consultation time with forestry and fire experts
- Organizing, planning, coordinating, implementing wildfire-related outreach events and educational presentations
- Program administration time
- Travel time to risk reduction meetings, trainings, and workshops
- Attendance at wildfire-related education/informational meetings and events and at evacuation/preparedness trainings
- Firewise improvements and maintenance on homes and outbuildings
- Improvements and maintenance within the home ignition zone — for example, thinning or limbing up trees, reducing ladder fuels, dealing with slash and other debris, moving firewood piles
- Vegetation removal; community clean-up
- Committee members attendance and participation at Firewise committee meetings
- Residents’ attendance and participation at wildfire education/outreach events
- Writing wildfire educational articles
Qualifying expenses include equipment and tool purchases; mileage at the current IRS rate for attendance at wildfire-related meetings and trainings; purchases of food for meetings/trainings; contractor and labor expenses to perform risk reduction work; and the value of volunteer labor participating in risk reduction projects.
The Fire Mitigation Committee asks North Fork landowners to add up the number of hours they have spent in qualifying activities as well as the expenses they have incurred from November 1, 2021, to October 31, 2022. Please email your total hours and expenses to Molly Shepherd, mollshep@gmail.com. Your hours and expenses will be included in applying for renewal of the North Fork’s membership in Firewise USA.
