By Krystal Eldridge | 6-minute read
We can be proactive in protecting ourselves against wildfires. And right now, as we’re exiting fire season, it’s the perfect time to think about the next one.
In that vein, we’ve recently launched wildfirereadyoregon.org, a tool to help all Oregonians prepare their homes, families, and communities for wildfire. We built this site with the understanding that we don’t have to react only the moment a wildfire pops up near us. We can also take preventative steps – ensure our home doesn’t offer unnecessary fuel to a fire, ensure we can evacuate quickly with all the things we need, and ensure our communities plan well so we can all survive potential fires and recover.
Plus, we offer policymakers a guide on how they can help Oregon prepare, using their rare positions of authority to build and defend effective wildfire-smart policy.
Wildfire is a reality of the West. It always has been. But our relationship with wildfire has changed as our climate has shifted and as we’ve suppressed burns and added structures to the landscape. How we coexist with wildfire is up to us – individually and communally – and that’s what wildfirereadyoregon.org is all about.
Frequently asked questions
How is wildfirereadyoregon.org different from other sites about wildfire?
This site isn’t about reaction or recovery. It’s about prevention, preparedness, and mitigation. The site is full of information from state agencies – like grants to help pay for home fire hardening, for example – and other expert sources. Plus, it’s all about Oregon.
It collects sometimes difficult-to-find information about wildfires and funnels it into easily navigated categories, so you can quickly find relevant material depending on your situation.
- Just getting started and trying to figure out what your home or family needs? Go to What you can do right now.
- Feel like you’ve got a handle on that and want to make change at a higher level? Go to How you can help others.
- Are you in elected office or another position to help keep Oregon safe? Go to How Oregon can prepare.
Think of the site as your starting point for anything related to preparing for wildfire in Oregon.
I’m a renter. How can this site help me?
You can always prepare your family or other household members by signing up for emergency alerts, making an evacuation plan, packing emergency go bags, and learning how to handle smoke.
Depending on your renting situation, you might be able to make some wildfire-smart improvements to your home, but you’ll probably be limited in the types of changes you can make. That’s why we encourage landlords to use this tool to help harden your home, control vegetation, and make structures defensible. If you’re a renter, send this page to your property manager and let them know there may be funding available to make changes.
I’ve lived in wildfire country for years and have things covered. What good is this website to me?
Fair enough! We’re guessing you’ve already done what you can to prepare your family and home, but just in case, it might be worth a quick browse.
Did you know that your home’s vents are an easy way fire can penetrate your roof? If you didn’t, that’s a fairly affordable fix you can still make. The site has plenty of tips and links like that, and it also shares the latest info about state resources, like getting your property assessed for free or applying for grants that can help pay for fire hardening.
And if you knew all of that, you might just be the perfect person to help your community prepare for wildfire.
How do I know the level of wildfire hazard around my home?
So glad you asked! Oregon recently released a draft interactive map, where you can type in your address and find out if you live in a low-, medium-, or high-hazard area. The map, which went on tour for input this summer, won’t be final until later this year (and, by the way, state law prohibits the map from affecting your home-insurance rates).
Hazard isn’t the same as risk. Hazard measures forces that you may have no influence over, specifically the likelihood of wildfire occurrence and intensity in the area around the property. Risk, however, you can mitigate through home hardening and creating defensible space around your home. So this map isn’t influenced by the type of roof you have, for example.
What’s the WUI, or the wildland-urban interface? Am I in it?
This buffer zone between urban and rural areas is where structures and wildland vegetation mix, creating great potential for conflict between people and fire. Even though the founders of Oregon’s land use system likely didn’t plan it this way, urban growth boundaries (UGBs) have been a key tool to mitigate that conflict and keep Oregonians safe by curbing development into the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
You can find out if you live in the WUI using Oregon’s draft interactive map by putting your address into the Address Search bar or toggling on the Draft Wildland Urban Interface layer.
Who is behind this new site?
Just us for now! We’d love to broaden who we’re working with, especially at local levels, to make sure we reach as many Oregonians as possible and offer the best information for Oregon’s unique needs. If you represent a group somewhere in Oregon that wants to be part of our effort, reach out to us at wildfire@friends.org with the subject line “I want to partner on Wildfire-Ready Oregon.”
And a special thank you to the grant funders and community partners who have backed 1000 Friends and our wildfire-advocacy efforts. Our team, especially our wildfire lead, Mary Kyle McCurdy, dug in hard following the passage of SB 762, and so did you! This new tool wouldn’t be possible without that support.
What’s Oregon doing at a policy level to deal with wildfire?
Since Oregon’s passage of Senate Bill 762 three years ago, state agencies and groups like 1000 Friends of Oregon have been on a renewed path to meaningfully address how our communities coexist with wildfire.
That bill established the Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, on which 1000 Friends of Oregon’s Mary Kyle McCurdy sits. It created wildfire-mitigating new-building code standards, an emergency-shelter program, the hazard map, and plenty of other tools and standards. That bill did the early heavy lifting, and now we need to work in the legislature to secure sustainable, long-term funding for our state’s wildfire preparedness.
Oregon has also had a quiet advantage against wildfire incursion into our communities: the urban growth boundary. For more than 50 years, UGBs have limited our sprawl into the danger zone known as the wildland-urban interface. Keeping our communities safe from wildfire is a key reason that we should protect our UGB system.