SWAINS CREEK PINES FIRE COUNCIL
The purpose of the Swains Creek Fire Council (SCFC) is to facilitate the Association and its Lot Owners with making our Subdivision a Firewise Community. In order to reach our goal, we need continued Lot Owner support and action. Our objectives are as follows:
Address Signs Available
As part of an ongoing effort to comply with Kane County, the Swains Creek Fire Council is offering custom address signs for $15 per sign. They include a finished pine plaque with 6″ reflective numbers and mounting screws for the hidden, pre-drilled holes.
IS YOUR CABIN SAFE?
Here are some things you can do to create a defensible space around your home and cabin that can mean the difference in firefighters being able to save your cabin or not:
• Reduce and thin the spacing of lateral fuels within a 30 foot area around your cabin.
• Reduce and thin the spacing of lateral fuels within 10 feet on each side of your driveway.
• Thin or remove overcrowded or weakened trees. Prune low hanging branches.
• Cut or mow grass and weeds.
• Locate wood piles and left-over building materials at least 30 feet away from your house or cabin or any shed-like structure.
• Clear pine needles, leaves and debris from your roof and deck.
• Ensure that the street signs and the addresses of your home are visible from the roadway.
• Evaluate your shake roof for treatment or replacement.
• Consider recycling hard debris and branches instead of burning them.
• Create an emergency checklist and have a kit prepared in the event of a wildfire.
UNDER DECK FLAMMABLES
A burning wooden deck or stairway may catch the rest of the house on fire. The best way to keep that from happening is to clean flammable material out from beneath exterior wooden decks and stairways.
Firewood and lumber need to be removed. Dry needles, leaves and other litter needs to be raked out and removed. Keeping the space under wooden decks and stairways clean and enclosed is one of the best ways to keep a house safe during fire season.
A wildfire often starts in dry leaves, needles or grass, which may quickly spread to heavier fuels, such as firewood and lumber stored beneath a deck.
DEFENSIBLE SPACE
A defensible space is an area around a building in which vegetation, debris, and other types of combustible fuels have been treated, cleared, or reduced to slow the spread of fire to and from the building. Information about local vegetation, weather, and topography are used to determine the Home Ignition Zone of an area, which can help determine the most effective design of a defensible space.
A defensible space is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect a building from a wildfire and can often be created by the property owner.
