EVERETT — How prepared are you for a wildfire? Snohomish County Emergency Management wants to know.
The department is asking residents to complete a survey on the topic.
The county survey opened Thursday and will remain open until November. It asks about households, preparedness and fire insurance, among other questions.
Emergency Management estimates 130,000 county residents live in the “Wildland Urban Interface,” a term used to describe locations, like forests, where buildings are at a higher risk of wildfires. The survey is part of a multi-year effort to create a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
“Managing wildfire risk is not something any one organization or individual can do alone,” county Emergency Management Director Lucia Schmit said. “Wildfires don’t care about property lines or who owns what: They burn whatever fuel they encounter.”
The county hopes to finish the plan by the end of the year. The plan will consider everything from evacuation planning to available resources for local fire districts.
It will prioritize wildfire risk-reduction efforts, adapting communities to wildfires and improving emergency response.
Finishing the protection plan will open up the county to more federal wildfire grants for mitigation and other projects.
“The ecology of our Pacific Northwest forests has been an area of study and passion for me,” Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said in a release. “The wild areas of Snohomish County are part of what makes this such a remarkable place to live, but we cannot ignore the growing risk of wildfire where our communities and forests meet.”
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.
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