Happy May! Most of us are looking forward to Cinco De Mayo, but there’s more to May than fantastic food, music, and family and friends – it’s also wildfire awareness month. 

MySafe:Riverside encourages you to fill out the online form on our wildfire page so you can become part of our overall efforts to build a more resilient Riverside County. We’ll come and meet with you and your HOA or group leadership, discuss how to become an alliance partner, and lay out the groundwork on making your community safer from wildfire. 

Some of the important things to consider if you’re new to the wildfire mitigation space include:
The United States Fire Administration promotes simple ways to prevent a fire from affecting your home and community, including:

• Reduce amount of flammable materials and brush that can burn around your home by removing pine needles, dry leaves or other highly flammable materials.
• Protect your roof: Trim branches that overhang your home and remove any leaves, needles, and sticks from your roof and gutters. 
• Move wood piles and small propane tanks away from your (and your neighbor’s) home, 30 feet or more is best.
• Embers from a burning fire can get under an unprotected porch or through vents. To prevent this, install a wire mesh screen with openings no larger than 1/8th inch. 

Be prepared in case you need to evacuate:

• Keep important documents in a fireproof safe, on a USB drive, or store password protected documents online.
• Check your home insurance to make sure your policy protects your current home value and includes wildfires.
• Give yourself time and evacuate early if possible. If you can’t leave, designate a room that can be closed off from outside air in case air conditions become hazardous.
• Make your household emergency plan and go-kit.  When making plans, don’t forget the needs of pets.  Make sure that you know more than one way out of your neighborhood.

MySafe:Riverside will be there to help you learn about all of the above – and much more. We’ll be sharing more information as we move through the month of May. 

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out: info@mysaferiverside.org