Although headline news stories tend to feature wildfire threatening homes in California and Colorado, the wildland-urban interface problem they describe is not exclusively a western phenomenon.
In South Carolina, we fight more than 4,000 wildfires a year — many more than most western states. The difference has been that, until relatively recently, rural and urban areas in our state had discrete boundaries. You might see the occasional home nestled in the woods but rarely an entire community. All that has changed; urban sprawl is rampant in South Carolina. Wildfires in these areas are tough to control. As development increases, lives and property will be threatened as never before.
The South Carolina Forestry Commission participates in the National Fire Plan, working in high risk areas throughout the state. SCFC employees work with local fire departments to assess the potential for wildfire damage to communities and individual homes. They write plans based on the assessments and help communities and homeowners decide on steps they can take to lower the risks.
As part of the National Fire Plan effort Forestry Commission personnel also have been conducting workshops to educate community leaders (especially planners, developers, and fire chiefs) and homeowners in high fire risk communities throughout the state.
Your Home in the Line of FIRE! - Precautions you can take to protect your home.
Protecting Your Home from Wildfire - A Checklist to Protect Your Home.
Develop a Community Wildfire Protection Plan - View a sample plan. (pdf)
FIREWISE - (opens in a new window) How Can You Become FIREWISE?
Sign up for a Living on the Edge Workshop in South Carolina - (opens in a new window)
National Fire Plan Success Stories in SC (pdf files)
- Postcards Follow up Interface Fires
- Over 200 Homeowners Attend Living on the Edge Workshop
- Hazard Mitigation at Clemson University
National Fire Plan SC Projects (pdf file)
Some links on this page require Adobe Acrobat reader. If you don't have Acrobat Reader you can get it free
from Adobe Systems Inc.
Adobe(R) Acrobat(R) Copyright © 2006
Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
