News.bytes Extra, issue 530

This Wildfire Awareness Week, Create Defensible Space

California's unpredictable weather causes a year-round wildfire season. Though recent spring storms were a welcome sight, our state experienced a historically dry winter. We shouldn't expect the recent rains to reduce the number of wildfires this year. California's Wildfire Awareness Week, May 6-12, offers a perfect opportunity to educate your community about how creating defensible space can help protect them from wildfires.

The Fire Alliance's "Take Responsibility" campaign has been helping educate people in all different ways to help spread the word, including its website, social media, and handouts. Now, we have a short video to show how you can easily create 100 feet of defensible space around your home. In the video, local Fire Safe Council Executive Director Joanne Drummond and BLM's Debra Hein show, step-by-step, what you can do to protect you and your family from wildfires.

Through the link below, the video can be easily downloaded to your website, Facebook page, YouTube channel and anywhere else online, so you can share it with your community. We have DVD copies available by request if you would like to play the "How To" video at your upcoming events or meeting. We hope you'll join us to spread this important message and help educate homeowners about how they can safeguard their homes and communities from wildfires.

For further information, contact Bureau of Land Management California Fire Mitigation and Education Specialist Jane Arteaga at 916-978-4436.

See the video here: http://t.co/DCiGA7Yn

- Debra Hein, Interagency Fire Mitigation, Inyo National Forest and BLM Bishop Field Office (May, 2012)

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