Firewise Community
Saddle Ridge became a Firewise community in Fall 2017. Our Community Wildfire Protection Plan identifies the actions we are taking to improve our community.
The Firewise Program provides the framework and grants to develop a better prepared community with wildfire awareness and mitigation activities.
The Tennessee Firewise Communities Program provides excellent resources with ideas to better protect your home from fire. Watch the video—it has lots of suggestions for improving your property that are specific to East Tennessee. (Bill Landry narrates the video.)
Saddle Ridge became a Firewise community in Fall 2017. Our Community Wildfire Protection Plan identifies the actions we are taking to improve our community.
The Firewise Program provides the framework and grants to develop a better prepared community with wildfire awareness and mitigation activities.
The Tennessee Firewise Communities Program provides excellent resources with ideas to better protect your home from fire. Watch the video—it has lots of suggestions for improving your property that are specific to East Tennessee. (Bill Landry narrates the video.)
The Firewise program’s emphasis on community participation builds on a history of volunteering within our community. To maintain our designation as a Firewise community, we must invest the equivalent of one volunteer hour ($24.14/home) in fire mitigation activities. We earned our 2018 certificate. Our total investment in volunteer hours was equal to $53,622.48 (or $734.55/home).
We send out a monthly survey. The survey gives owners the opportunity to report the time and money spent on Firewise activities [link to survey]. The Firewise information sheet Time and Expense Investment Examples [link to sheet] gives a partial list of activities to report. We report the survey results to show our volunteer hours and earn our Firewise certificate.
Here are a few things you can do:
Firewise grant money has helped Saddle Ridge purchase metal road signs, a chipper, leaf blower, long pole tree trimmer, and more. Owners borrow the equipment to use on their property. And, we come together for the Spring and Fall clean-up days to take care of problems on community property.
We send out a monthly survey. The survey gives owners the opportunity to report the time and money spent on Firewise activities [link to survey]. The Firewise information sheet Time and Expense Investment Examples [link to sheet] gives a partial list of activities to report. We report the survey results to show our volunteer hours and earn our Firewise certificate.
Here are a few things you can do:
- post blue house number signs to identify your property. The signs are $15 from the Blount County Fire Department.
- have the Saddle Ridge Firewise team conduct a home assessment. The team walks around the outside of your home and offers suggestions for increasing the defensible space. You keep the assessment notes.
- attend Saddle Ridge Firewise clean-up days and the annual meeting
- get to know your neighbors
Firewise grant money has helped Saddle Ridge purchase metal road signs, a chipper, leaf blower, long pole tree trimmer, and more. Owners borrow the equipment to use on their property. And, we come together for the Spring and Fall clean-up days to take care of problems on community property.