- ACCD Board Meeting - Thursday, February 5 at 12PM
- ACNWCB Weed Board - Board Meeting - Tuesday, February 3 at 1 pm
Over 85 Years of Conservation
MENU
Menu
close
close
Wildfire Risk in Asotin County: 58% of our wildfires are started by lightning.
According to the 2020 “Wildfire Risk to Communities” analysis by the USFS, homes in Asotin County have a greater risk from fire than 91% of counties in the United States (USFS, 2021). Asotin County and adjacent areas have significant wildland fire potential due to high hazard conditions such as dense forests, steep terrain, and limited road access.
A combination of dense wildland vegetation, extreme heat and high winds, unplanned ignitions, and housing developments in the WUI can create catastrophic wildfire scenarios (Haas et al., 2015). Climate change is making high-severity wildfires more frequent, intense, and larger in extent (Parks et al., 2016). Many catastrophic wildfires in Washington’s history have occurred on dry and windy days, resulting in rapidly spreading fires that outpace the ability of firefighters to respond.
Embers and Firebrands: Threats from the sky.
The tactical reality is that EMBERS (aka: firebrands) are responsible for >90% of homes lost in wildfires and can travel miles ahead of an advancing wildfire front. If firebrands from miles away can ignite your home, are your next-door neighbor’s weeds really to blame?
You can’t control your neighbor’s wildfire hazards, but you CAN control your own. Fortify your castle to reduce your risks.
Wildfire Resilience in Asotin County
RE-SIL-IENCE: the ability to bounce-back, adapt, and transform in the face of adversity, trauma, or significant stress. It’s not about being unaffected by difficult situations, it’s about navigating difficult situations to emerge stronger. Wildfire resilience is the capacity of the ecosystem, community, and infrastructure to withstand and recover from wildfires. Resilience doesn’t happen by accident… it happens with a suite of actions that includes proactive mitigation by each member of the community to increase wildfire preparedness and safety, enhance wildfire response effectiveness, and reduce post-wildfire impacts.
Wildfire education and technical support empowers our community, and wildfire preparedness isn’t “one-size-fits-all.” If we each understand our own unique wildfire risks and become accountable for our own home-mitigation responsibilities, we can effectively reduce risks and make our infrastructure more wildfire resilient. When an entire community is involved in wildfire mitigation, the collection of actions becomes more effective overall, and we all benefit from a safer community and a more resilient ecosystem.
Resources for Residents and Landowners:
District personnel are available to assist Asotin County landowners, business owners, and residents in improving their community and home wildfire resiliency:
ACCD Financial Assistance for Conservation and Wildfire Mitigation
The Asotin County Conservation District forestry program works with private forestland landowners to offer technical and financial assistance in managing their forestland health and reducing their wildfire risks. Our program targets small acreage landowners (<40 Acres) for cost-share assistance as disproportionate costs of forest management activities on small parcels are often financially unfeasible for landowners. Once a landowner expresses interest in wildfire resilience and/or forest management, we complete a site visit and follow up by initiating outreach to surrounding parcels. Collaborating with neighbors has been a successful technique in expanding the efficacy of wildfire mitigation and increasing safety for communities.
Financial assistance may also be available through agency partners including: Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). ACCD staff is happy to refer our clients to partner agencies to ensure our community members are connected to all available resources.
DNR Wildfire Ready Neighbors Program:
The WA Department of Natural Resources Wildfire Ready Neighbors program is coming to Asotin County in 2025!! This program has been incredibly successful in Washington State at reducing wildfire risks and assisting communities in becoming safer and more wildfire resilient through education and action. ACCD is happy to support this program from our partners at DNR, and can assist in referrals and assessments.
To learn more about this DNR program, please visit the DNR website:
https://wildfireready.dnr.wa.gov/
GET YOUR FREE WILDFIRE READY PLAN TODAY!
Asotin County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, 2025 Update:
The 2025 Asotin County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is a comprehensive update to the “2008 CWPP.” The CWPP includes a wildfire risk analysis, prioritization of mitigation activities, and implementation recommendations. The CWPP is a call to action to do your part to continue making Asotin County a beautiful and safe community. Emergency Management and conservation partners are here to support your individual efforts, and they are committed to taking action to reduce wildfire risk and increase emergency preparedness for the benefit of this amazing community.
