Resources
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Grants
The Community Wildfire Defense grant aims to fund revision or development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP), or the implementation of projects described in a CWPP.
Community Defense
Grant
DNRC administers a wide range of grants and loans for Montana, assisting cities and towns, conservation districts, private landowners, and other groups in managing natural resource...
DNRC Forestry
Grants
Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) Program is available to states, local and tribal governments, for the mitigation, management, and control of fires on publicly or privately...
FEMA Fire Assistance
Grant
The Hazardous Fuels Reduction Grant focuses on reducing the risk of wildland fire and catastrophic losses to resources and property in high priority areas, which may result from a wildland...
Hazardous Fuels Reduction Grant
Volunteer Fire Assistance (VFA) funding supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), will provide financial, technical...
Volunteer Fire Assistance Grant
DNRC's fundamental intent in areas of State/County Cooperative Fire Protection (County Coop) is to build and maintain the capacity of local governments so that local firefighters...
Cooperative Fire Protection Grant
WILDFIRE MITIGATION BASICS
Harden Your Home
Home hardening is the process of making your existing home and accessory structures as fire resilient as possible through home retrofits and strategic maintenance. During a wildfire, embers can be blown from over a mile away, landing on your roof, accumulating at the base of your walls, and entering your house through the vents and the sides of your house, and igniting material on or under decks. Ember showers ignite homes more frequently than direct contact with flames.
Home Hardening Resources:
Videos:
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IBHS Wildfire Research: Why Only Half This Home Caught Fire– Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS)
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Your Home Can Survive a Wildfire– National Fire Protection Association
Quick Links
What is Wildfire
Risk?
A community’s wildfire risk is the combination of likelihood and intensity (together called “hazard”) and exposure and susceptibility (together called “vulnerability”).
While none of us ever wants to think our home will be burglarized or lost in a fire, these things do happen. This is the perfect time to create a Home Inventory Video.
Forestry
Contractors
We can recommend forestry contractors that specialize in slash removal & hauling, rock & gravel installation, chipping, pile burning, general tree cutting & removal.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions.
Wildfire
Suppression
In Montana, wildfires are expected. However, the location, severity, and ultimate cost to the state is difficult to predict. The graphic below shows that annual state fire costs, adjusted for inflation...
Fire Science
Programs
The Joint Fire Science Program provides funding for scientific studies associated with wildland fire, fuels, and fire-impacted ecosystems that respond to the emerging needs of land managers...
Planning ahead and taking actions to reduce the likelihood of your home igniting during a wildfire will help protect both you and your neighbors from catastrophic loss. During large-scale wildfire events, there are not enough firefighters on hand to protect every home. Furthermore, these emergency responders will focus on life-safety before structure protection. Therefore, it’s up to each property owner to prepare and maintain your home and property for wildfire before the emergency begins.
The Home Ignition Zone (HIZ) is the area that includes your house and the surrounding defensible space. Science has shown that the conditions within 100 feet of a home will determine whether or not the structure can survive a wildfire. Creating a robust HIZ involves both home hardening and developing effective defensible space. For landowners with large lots, creating and maintaining the HIZ can be an individual effort. In more dense neighborhoods, this will need to be a community effort.