Local rural fire districts and departments have applied to Missoula County for $206,000 in federal grant money to clean up densely forested areas around people's homes. The money is also used for fire awareness education and door-to-door consulting.
Each year, all across Missoula County, these agencies help homeowners protect their property from the threat of forest fires. Some of the money is made available to individual landowners interested in thinning trees and brush on their property. Most agencies offer cost-sharing programs to help make the projects affordable.
“When snow comes, people forget about fires,” Nilson said. “But there's a lot of interest when there is a fire barreling down on a community.”
This grant is not the only source of revenue for many of these fire departments. And the flow of thinning requests from homeowners to local fire agencies varies throughout the county.
In Seeley Lake, a heavily forested area, there's sometimes a yearlong wait for landowners who hope to score financial support for their thinning plans.
“I don't care if there's a dollar out there, we'll apply for it,” said Seeley Lake Fire Chief Frank Maradeo. “We don't apply for grants based on future needs. We apply for grants based on immediate needs.”
In other places, such as the Clinton Rural Fire District, volunteer firefighters go door to door asking neighbors if they're interested in fuel-mitigation funding. Given that some people moved to forested areas because they like the privacy, sometimes it's a challenge convincing them of the need.
“Trees block traffic noise and they block visibility to neighbors' houses,” Nilson said. “In a fire situation, it's the worst case possible.”
Each year, Missoula County receives federal funds through the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act. With the shortfall in timber-harvest revenue on federal forest lands, Congress established the program in 2000 to help rural counties pay for schools and roads. Today, that program is in jeopardy at the congressional level.
In 2006 and 2007, the county received close to $750,000 from the federal government, of which only $112,000 goes for fuel mitigation. A large portion goes to the county public works department. Money not used is rolled over into the next year.
This year, there are $206,000 in requests from local fire agencies, with the largest request coming from the Missoula City Fire Department.
The agencies and their funding requests are:
Frenchtown Rural Fire District, $45,000.
Approximately $20,000 will pay a portion of the cost to thin at the landowner's request. Last year, the district helped 38 people thin trees on their land before fire season. The landowner picks up 25 percent of the cost of the project, and the agency covers 75 percent. The district accepts applications and prioritizes projects based on the severity of the fire risk.
The remaining $25,000 would purchase a pickup to haul the fire district's wood chipper. The fire district lacks the funds to replace its vehicle and estimates a trade-in value of $10,000-$15,000.
The Swan Ecosystem Center, $40,250 to thin 10 properties. There's additional interest in another eight properties, as well. The agency pitches in 75 percent of the cost, and the landowner picks up 25 percent. The remaining $5,250 would cover administrative expenses and go for fire awareness and outreach.
Missoula Rural Fire District, $45,000 to purchase a new wood chipper, which shreds branches and tree limbs. The money would also help landowners, especially in the Rattlesnake area, cut down large-diameter trees. The fire district asks homeowners to cover 50 percent of the cost of fuel mitigation.
In the last six years, rural firefighters have thinned trees around 180 homes in the area.
The Clinton Rural Fire District, $4,650.
The Mile Marker 121 fire threatened many homes in upper Wallace Creek. The department proposes going door to door to evaluate the fire risk at homes in this area and would pay Clinton volunteer firefighters to thin the most densely forested areas.
The Missoula City Fire Department, $70,000.
Of that, $40,000 would go for direct fuel-mitigation efforts, with landowners sharing 50 percent of the cost. These are primarily landowners living in the Rattlesnake, Grant Creek and Pattee Canyon areas. City firefighters are also responsible for fuel mitigation on nearby city open space lands, such as Mount Jumbo.
About $10,000 would pay firefighters to walk door to door to talk with homeowners about creating defensible space around their property and for teaching fire-wise education courses. The remaining $20,000 would help pay for a new wood chipper. Now, the city fire department borrows the City Parks and Recreation's aging chipper machine. This money would help defray the costs to replace the old one.
Though the city requested the largest chunk of money this time around, Assistant Fire Chief Jason Diehl said he recognizes Missoula is not the most densely forested community in the county.
“We have some exposure,” he said. The fire on Mount Jumbo two years ago is proof of that. “I don't think we have the same scale as Missoula Rural or Frenchtown or Seeley Lake, but we do have a lot more people that live in Missoula and a lot more homes.”
If the city receives the entire amount, Diehl said unused fund would be kept in an account and used over the next three to five years. It'd be nice to have a reserve rather than seeking grant money on a project-by-project basis, he said.
In most cases, the county's grant money reimburses agencies for their work. There's little oversight, but each fire district must submit a detailed account of its expenditures.
“We tried to make it simple as possible,” said Bob Reid, the county's director of Disaster and Emergency Services. “This is a pass-through with us - to get it out to the fire districts with as little red tape as we felt was needed.”
People wishing to comment on the proposed fuel mitigation projects should contact the Missoula Board of County Commissioners. Those interested in thinning their property should contact their local fire agency.
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