Firewise USA

North Fork Firewise Community in good standing!

A note from Allen Chrisman . . .

Our Firewise Certification has been Renewed for 2026, and our Firewise Community is in Good Standing!!

We recorded $120,000 in qualifying work, and greatly exceeded the required $16,000 investment.

This translates to about $255 per dwelling, compared to the requirement of $34 per dwelling.

That is simply an indication of the work so many North Forkers are doing to make their structures and surrounding forest more fire resistant.
We appreciate everyone who reported their hours and expenditures last year. Thanks to Suzanne Hildner for gathering all that information! She has big shoes to fill after taking over the data collection from Molly Shepherd, who has done it religiously since our beginning.

If you missed reporting last year, please keep track of the work you do from November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026 and submit it by November 1, 2026. We will make sure to get it counted! [Suzanne Hildner’s email: sdhildner@icloud.com.]

The North Fork Flathead has been recognized as a Firewise Community since 2006. We look forward to celebrating 20 years of Firewise next year!!

Submit those Firewise-qualifying activities and expenses!

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:

- 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.

Firewise USA membership emphatically renewed

A note from Molly Shepherd of the NFLA’s Fire Mitigation Committee . . .

Our Firewise USA membership has been renewed, thanks to the efforts of North Fork landowners and our agency partners.

We had a phenomenal year: $132, 544 total “investment,” reflecting both hours and expenses contributed by the North Fork community. Our required minimum Investment was $12,240. The value of our investment per dwelling unit was $294.54; we were required to have a minimum of $27.20, or $1 per dwelling unit.

The Hay Creek fire, and encouraging people to submit their Firewise-qualifying hours and expenses, accounted for our higher numbers this year. I suspect that many hours weren’t reported, however.

Thank you all for your contributions and your support of the North Fork’s Firewise program. And have a happy Thanksgiving!