by Sonny LaSalle, Hamilton
There have been two opinion letters in the last two issues regarding the Bitterroot National Forest plan for a large fuel reduction project on the west side of the Valley. The letters were from Lonn and LaCroix, and contained the usual misinformation expected from members of environmental groups. There was also a feature article in last week’s issue regarding rising home insurance rates in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). These are actually all connected to the issue of Ravalli County having the most dangerous WUI in the State of Montana. Insurance companies are paying huge sums for replacing homes destroyed by wildfires, rates are rising, and in some locations they will not insure homes for any price. Environmental group members in the past have made claims that all you have to do to be safe is to perform “Fire Safe” actions to achieve 120 feet of space around your home and that certainly has merit under normal fire conditions. The research that developed that 120 foot distance was conducted with wind conditions of about 15 miles per hour (MPH). Every homeowner in the WUI in Ravalli County should employ Fire Safe practices around their homes–NO EXCEPTIONS-but when a flame front coming from the heavy fuels on the National Forest at speeds much greater than 15 MPH, 120 feet will not be enough! If you believe and follow the advice of those telling you that you are totally safe with 120 feet of space, you are putting your home and lives in danger. Talk to any experienced fire person and pose the question regarding wind speed.
What are your incentives to do this? For me the most important would be to protect my property, but I have observed significant apathy in this Valley starting with the fires of 2000. There seems to be an attitude of “it won’t happen to me”, but perhaps that is changing. Another incentive may be financial as it appears your insurance rates may be going up significantly. A question for the insurers would be “will my rates be less if I follow Fire Safe practices?” An even bigger question would be “will my rates be less if the fire danger rating for my WUI is significantly reduced by fuel reduction efforts by the Forest Service?”
The rhetoric is just starting on this large west face fuel reduction project and you will read and hear many statements like “it’s nothing but a massive timber sale, large destructive roads, cutting all the old growth,” and on and on. How many of those statements are a result of ignorance or deliberate deceit? I have my opinion but you will have to develop your own.
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