When talking to community members about home hardening and defensible space, Laura Dyberg likes to use the analogy of trying to start a campfire with a big giant log.
“So what do you do? You add kindling," said Dyberg. "So if you think of your house as this log, look around your property for what could be considered kindling that will catch fire easily and allow that fire to build up until it is capable of burning the big log, until it is capable of burning your home.”
Helping homeowners get rid of this kindling is what Dyberg, president of the Mountain Rim Fire Safe Council(MRFSC), plans to do with their over $800,000 grant from CalFire. They are one of dozens of community projects and organizations across the state that received a total of $138 million this fall. The state fire agency said in a release the funds will help protect local communities and reduce fire threats.
MRFSC is volunteer run group serves all of the mountain communities between Crestline to the west to Big Bear Valley to the east. It's a 145 square mile area home to approximately 13,000 people and it welcomes around 13.7 million visitors each year.
The council plans to use the grant to continue their popular hazardous dead tree removal and curbside chipping programs. This is in line with their mission to educate homeowners to do their part and “to assume their responsibility for what can be done to make their property, their street, their neighborhood (and) the mountain top more fire safe,” said Dyberg.