Living With Fire offers help to homeowners

RENO, Nev. – Residents in Reno and surrounding areas are encouraged to attend the Living With Fire Regional Conference on Aug. 17 from 4-7 p.m., to interact with their neighbors, firefighting representatives, natural resource specialists and others.

Participants will learn how to prepare for wildfire at their homes and in their communities.

Living With Fire is a collaborative effort founded in 1997 and directed by Ed Smith, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension natural resources specialist, to teach homeowners how to live more safely in Nevada’s high wildfire-hazard environments. This year’s Living With Fire Regional Conference focuses in large part on addressing the wildfire threat as a community, rather than just as an individual homeowner.

“The actions members of a community or neighborhood take together to prepare for wildfire can make a great difference in whether or not their homes will survive a wildfire,” said Smith, who will be presenting at the conference. “When they have taken the appropriate actions, a whole community can be more effective than just one homeowner in increasing safety of residents and survival of homes.”

Participants attending this final conference in a series of seven statewide Living With Fire Regional Conferences will learn about their local fire issues, the elements of a Fire Adapted Community and new opportunities with the Nevada Network of Fire Adapted Communities. They will also learn how to prepare for embers, how to better understand their homeowners insurance policy and how a Community Wildfire Protection Plan can help them reduce their wildfire threat.

The free conference will be held in cooperation with Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District at Arrowcreek Station #36, 13500 Thomas Creek Road. Light refreshments will be provided. Funding is available to reimburse attendee travel expenses if traveling more than 50 miles one way to attend.

Contact Sonya Sistare at sistares@unce.unr.edu or 775-336-0271 for information or to request special accommodations or assistance. The conference is a collaborative effort by local, state and federal firefighting agencies; the Nevada Division of Insurance; the Nevada League of Cities; the Nevada State Fire Marshal Division and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. For more information on the Living With Fire Regional Conference, visit www.LivingWithFire.info.