Bellefontaine Fire and EMS Department was honored Saturday with a plaquerecognizing the town as one of only two FireWise USA communities in the state of Ohio.
Steve McGinnis, service forester for the Ohio Division of Forestry, and Bellefontaine firefighter Hodge Hager greet customers outside the Tractor Supply Co. on Saturday morning during a Community Wildfire Preparedness Day event. In the background, Jeremy Keller, Bellefontaine’s rural fire coordinator, left, speaks with State Farm agent David Dailey who presented the department with a grant to help raise awareness about wildfires. (EXAMINER PHOTO | REUBEN MEES)
The national program recognizing communities that have met a series of wildfire preparedness and mitigation benchmarks marks culmination of three years of planning and preparations, auxiliary firefighter and rural fire coordinator Jeremy Keller said.
“(It) focuses on educating at-risk residents about appropriate steps they can take to protect their homes and neighborhoods from wildfire and lowering residents’ exposure to wildfire hazards,” Keller said. “Even though we are generally ‘low risk’ for wildfires, we are definitely not ‘no risk’ since there are about 45 wildfires in the county each year.
“I like the program because it provides a risk reduction framework to build your wildfire prevention/mitigation program,” he said.
Read complete story in Monday’s Examiner.
CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
WEB EDITION STARTING AT $9.50 FOR 5 WEEKS!