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CONTACT MD DNR Forest Service David Robbins 1260 Maryland Ave. Suite 103 Hagerstown, MD 21740 (301) 791-4010 (301) 791-0173 fax Send Us 
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| Gambrill community seeks advice on wildfires |
You are here: GPRC Firewise Communities/USA > In the News > Gambrill community seeks advice on wildfires
Gambrill community seeks advice on wildfires
by Angela Pfeiffer
Gazette Staff Writer
Aug. 19, 2004
Some homeowners on Gambrill Mountain are hoping to become wise about wildfires.
At least 108 homes in the Gambrill Park Road area, north of Frederick and bordering the City of Frederick Municipal Forest, are included in an application to join Firewise Communities/ USA, a national program aimed at readying communities and firefighters for wildfires.
The community hopes to achieve official Firewise recognition by the end of the year.
The application stems from a study completed by Dave Robbins, an employee of the state forest service and Firewise's state liaison, who analyzed wildfire readiness in the area.
Resident Steve Chambers, whose home received the worst rating, appreciates the work Robbins has done. Robbins' study pointed out the importance of having visible house numbers and clearing an area around the house in which nothing can catch fire.
This involves tactics such as not planting flammable plants next to a house, moving woodpiles away from a house, and thinning trees and bushes in the area around a house.
The Firewise Communities bid is part of a larger effort to create a neighborhood watch along Gambrill Park Road, Chambers said.
"We want to do this as a community, actually get out there with chainsaws and help each other clean things up and make it better," he said.
Robbins said adopting Firewise tactics can help reduce the danger faced by that community, arising from the heavily wooded area, and its topography and use.
"That hazard can be strongly, if not 100 percent ... prevented by people adopting Firewise techniques," Robbins said.
In his role as a fire mitigation specialist for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource's Forest Service, Robbins completed a wildfire response plan more than a year ago that will be used as a cornerstone of the Firewise application.
Although the area does not face the same challenges as the much dryer southwestern region of the United States, the plan found most homes in the area to be at moderate or high risk of fire. The risk is, in part, due to the woods surrounding the homes. Robbins said many heavy, dead logs felled by gypsy moths in the 1980s, in addition to fire-friendly blueberry bushes and mountain laurel, cover the forest.
In addition, the area has no pressurized hydrant system, so water to combat fires must be shuttled in tankers from nearby ponds or dry hydrants.
And hunting in the mountain forest could potentially spark a fire, Robbins said. "A lot of homes in the woods are pretty far away from the nearest fire department," he added.
But some homeowners are also partly responsible for the fire risks faced by their homes. Flammable plants growing against the house, flammable building materials, and wooden decks all pose fire risks, Robbins said.
"Many houses have evergreen shrubs growing against them. The prevalence of wood construction materials and open decks present a possible hazard of structure ignitions. Airborne sparks may be trapped on or under these wooden surfaces and may, in turn, ignite the structure," he wrote in the report.
Robbins said the wildlife response plan serves partly to alert homeowners to their fire risks. A color-coded map identifies each home's fire risk from very low to very high. "Many people do recognize [the risk], but they don't always recognize what they can do to mitigate it," Robbins said.
The information is also given to local fire departments so they are aware of the challenges they may face when called to fight a forest fire.
The Braddock Heights Volunteer Fire Company, Independent Hose Company, Myersville Volunteer Fire Company and Wolfsville Volunteer Fire Company are first to respond to fires in the area.
Mark Hinkle, a Myersville firefighter, said although the fire department responds to relatively few brush fires in the Gambrill area -- and most are controlled burns that slip out of control over a small area -- residents should still be aware that during a dry season, a fire could be much worse. The department has fought 20-acre fires in the area, and crews drive through the area noting access points to fight fires.
Fire crews appreciate any efforts by residents to partner with them in fire prevention and response, especially through visible house numbering, which is a problem in that area, Hinkle said.
"Anything anybody does that prepares them to protect themselves against wildfires is only going to benefit the fire department," he said.
Robbins said the requirements for becoming a Firewise community are having a board of residents to oversee the process, compiling a community assessment such as the wildfire response plan he prepared, and collecting the equivalent of a $2 contribution from every person in the community (which could include volunteer hours or donated equipment).
In the fall, Robbins plans to develop a wildfire plan for the Lake Linganore community.
"The whole idea is the program helps provide a bit of impetus for people to do these Firewise practices that they already should do," Robbins said. "The best outcome of all of this is now you have a community with good defensible space. All of this is a match to get people moving on it."
For more information on Firewise Communities/USA, contact Robbins at 301-791-4010 or drobbins@dnr.state.md.us.
