The National Firewise Communities Program recognized 41 communities in 2003 as official Firewise Communities/USA sites for their efforts to make homes and landscapes more resistant to wildfire.

The recognition program encourages residents to work with local fire staff to identify wildfire hazards and implement mitigation programs tailored to their needs. State forestry agencies play an integral role in the program, assisting communities with hazard assessment and plan development.

For example, the Mountain Plains 1 and 2 subdivisions in Spearfish, S.D., worked with the South Dakota Division of Resource Conservation and Forestry, Black Hills National Forest, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Lawrence County Fire Protection Board to develop a joint plan to deal with common fire mitigation issues, including establishing fuel breaks between the communities and adjacent wildlands, creating defensible space, and evaluating alternative evacuation options.

Nine Arkansas communities earned recognition in 2003, the highest number for any state.

“We are learning that the most effective way to address wildfire hazards in residential areas is to put the knowledge and power in the hands of residents and developers, not just forestry and fire staff,” said David Samuel, Firewise Coordinator for the Arkansas Forestry Commission.

The communities are English Trace, Ala.; Timber Ridge, Ariz.; Holiday Island, Joplin, Norman, Oden, Ozark Country Estates, Pencil Bluff, Pine Ridge, Sims, and Story, Ark.; Whiting Woods, Calif.; Genesee and Perry Park, Colo.; Briargate, Lakewood, Verandah and Wedgefield, Fla.; Wilderness Ranch, Idaho; Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Minn.; Eastern Greater Jemez WUI Corridor, Hyde Park Estates, Mescalero Apache Tribe and Village of Ruidoso, N.M.; River Run Plantation and St. James Plantation, N.C.; Penn Forest Streams and Bear Creek Lake, Pa.; Mountain Plains 1 & 2, Spearfish, S.D.; Upper Bluff Mountain and Cumberland Cove, Tenn.; Trails of Lake LBJ, Wildcatter Ranch and Tierra Linda Ranch, Texas; Emigration Canyon and Sundance, Utah; Chuckanut Ridge, Lummi Island Scenic Estates, and River Bluff Ranch, Wash.; and Story and Union Pass, Wyo.

For more on recognized Firewise Communities and a list of the program's qualifying criteria, visit www.firewise.org/usa.