Firewise 2024 and beyound UPDATE

Hello all,

We are full swing into the community pickups.  Thank you everyone for your cooperation and making sure everything is ready to go.  We are moving around the schedule a bit as we go, as we are trying to get them done as quickly as possible while the weather is cooperating.  So please don’t go by your date on the calendar as a set by stone; if we can get there sooner, we will.

I spoke with Itasca County Land Commissioner Kory Cease and Assistant County Land Commissioner Michael Gibbons about Firewise going into the future.  What they advised me to do is reach out to all of our communities and say at this time, the Itasca County Firewise program cannot commit to any future pickups.  What we have been told from the State is that Itasca County is in a moderate risk for fire danger.  There are other counties in the State that are a high risk fire danger, and this year the grant money was distributed to them.  To me that means that the Itasca County Firewise program has accomplished its goal over the last 15 years.

Therefore, I am telling you all to not start any piles for next year.  Please pass this on to all of your community members.  Between now and next spring, I will keep you posted on any information regarding the future of Itasca County Firewise.

This is not necessarily a bad thing.  I take it as a compliment as the fruits of our labor over the last 15 years to make our communities Firewise safe.  Through the education and our labor efforts we have created an opportunity for our County to continue to be Firewise safe without this program.  With the knowledge that we have all gained from the Firewise program, we can continue to keep this County safe from wildland fires.  Hopefully in the future this program will continue.  If it doesn’t, the education we all gained from this will benefit us all in the future.

Thanks,

John Moore

Firewise Coordinator

(218)244-6351

jmoorefirewise@paulbunyan.net