Wildfire season prompts seminar

WASILLA — In case you hadn’t heard, we’re already in the middle of wildfire season.

And if you have any questions — do I need a burn permit for my bonfire? What can I do to protect my home if the woods catch fire? — the Mat-Su Borough has you covered.

From 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesday at the downtown Wasilla fire station at Lucille Street and Swanson Avenue, the borough is sponsoring a wildfire seminar. It’s the third and final installment of a series that began with an earthquake seminar and continued with one on hazardous materials.

“We live in what they call the WUI, the Wildland Urban Interface,” said Bea Adler, who is organizing the talk. “That’s wherever homes and businesses butt up against the forest.”

The Valley has WUI in spades. In fact, it is hard to think of a home or subdivision here that isn’t built in that danger zone.

“There are many new subdivisions where house plots are cleared, houses are built and all around them are forests that are overgrown,” Adler said. “When they’re so close to our homes we need to pay attention because we can’t stop the fires.

So what can people expect at the seminar?

The Division of Forestry will be on hand to talk about how to avoid starting fires and the penalties for letting a fire get out of hand. Officials are also bringing a movie along.

From the borough side, emergency responders will talk about how to keep your homes safe and a program the borough does to assess wildfire risk. It’s a free program anyone can sign up for and includes a home visit.

And then there will be a presentation from Cathi Kramer, who was the driving force behind getting Horseshoe Lake certified as Alaska’s first Firewise community. Firewise is a national organization that advocates for and teaches about keeping homes safe from wildfires.

There will also be talk about local wildfire protection plans, which the borough does through community councils.

“When I put one of these things together the first thing I ask myself is, ‘OK, what do I want people to learn?’” Adler said.

First on that list?

“I want them to know something new about burn barrels and burn permits,” Adler said.

Another thing that would be nice: “When you see those signs up that say fire danger today is moderate, well what does that mean? How do they come up with those?”

Finally, she wants people to know that Forestry is more than just a firefighting body.

“They can give citations that can be followed up on,” she said. “It’s a guy with a badge who can give you a citation and you may have to pay a fine.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.