PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — With wildfire season is fast approaching and officials are reminding the public that most wildfires are human-caused and preventable.
They say that creating a defensible space around your property can make all the difference when it comes to protecting it from fires.
Defensible space is the buffer created between your home and the grass, trees and shrubs that surround it, which is needed to slow or stop the spread of a wildfire.
AntFarm Youth Services is a nonprofit serving Sandy, Estacada and Molalla that provides kids and young adults with skills, training, community service opportunities and career building.
They offer housing services, pandemic relief and community service programs for youth, and ahead of wildfire season, they also offer free fuel reduction services.
Neal Hatley, Director of Workforce Development with AntFarm Youth Services, says that there are a number of things that can be done to create defensible space, both big and small.
“It could be thinning trees, it could be filling some dead trees,” said Hatley. “It could be living up trees above shrubs trimming down shrubs, and it can be as simple as just asking them to move a pile of firewood from underneath the deck or to clean out the gutters and the pine needles on the roofline.”
Anyone in the Sandy area can fill out their online survey and then they create a list starting with people whose properties are most at risk and they go out and help get them situated.
Best of all, the service is free to the community.
