Wildland / Urban Interface

As populations grow in our rural mountains, major interface is occurring between our treasured forests and encroaching development. The effects of this are many, but one serious consideration for folks living close to dense woodlands is the danger of wildfire. Wildfires, usually manmade, have claimed thousands of homes and businesses in the United States in the last decade, as well as many lives. In some states insurance coverage is now unavailable to homeowners and businesses that have not complied with local and / or state wildfire recommendations. The Firewise Communities program was established nationwide to encourage those living and working in interface areas to take responsibility for reducing the risk of wildfires, as well as reduce coverage issues.

Forest Fire Prevention

Fire needs three things in order to burn: ignition, oxygen and fuel. As a homeowner, you can radically reduce the availability of two of these factors. Common sense steps such as checking local burn permitting and properly attending and extinguishing all fires will ensure that you are not a source of ignition.  Fuel reduction, the other manageable factor, can be just as easy. Identifying and removing highly flammable vegetation, dead timber, brush piles, debris and ladder fuels (vines and other vegetation that transport flames to tree crowns) from a set exclusion zone around the house will go a long way toward keeping fire at bay.

Fuel Load Reduction with Mulching Equipment

Traditionally, clearing vegetation was backbreaking work requiring many hours of tedious, expensive hand labor and disposal. Our forestry mulching machines are ideally suited to the task. Highly maneuverable, low ground pressure track machines, such as ASV positracks and Fecon mulchers are extremely effective in the delicate zones around homes and businesses. Potential fire loads are reduced to mulch, providing a pleasing finished effect, which both prevents erosion and retards re-growth. A ground covering of mulch is vastly superior to standing vegetation in terms of flammability and, due to the humid climate of our region, will decay rapidly enough to be no risk at all in weeks. North Carolina forester John Culp, and Firewise Coordinator for East Tennessee Leon Konz, recommend mulch clearing as the most efficient way to remove fuel loads, such as brush, dead trees and invasives (kudzu), from your property. Call us about your Wildland/Urban interface needs. We can create an affordable reduction strategy that suites your needs.