If you are potentially interested in completing a grant-supported defensible space plan in the next three years, please complete the following three steps as soon as possible:
- Send an email to geneseefiresafety@gmail.com. Include your name, address, preferred phone number for contact and email address.
- Brian Maillett, Genesee Open Space Manager, and a GFSC representative will visit your property to talk to you about the tree work that would be required for a defensible space plan and provide a very rough estimate of cost. It would be best if you are present for the property walk-through. If you can’t be there, we will ask permission to mark affected trees with ribbon that may be removed after your review.
- After the consultation, if you feel you would move forward with completion of a defensible space plan in the next three years, we will ask you to sign a non-binding letter of intent that would be submitted with the grant application.
The success of our application depends on the strategic value of the mitigation work it would support. While each home where defensible space is created is of benefit to lowering the overall wildfire risk to the community, the strategic value increases as the number of residents participating increases. More importantly, there is an amplification of the strategic value when defensible space is created in a cluster of adjacent homes within a neighborhood. If you have neighbors who are potentially interested in participating in the grant and you are willing to take the lead in organizing them, we would be happy to arrange a walk-through where Brian (Genesee Open Space Manager) or Dorie (Genesee Fire Wildland Specialist) can talk to you about your own neighborhood’s fire risk and how to mitigate that risk.
Nancy Balter
Grant Program Coordinator
Genesee Fire & Safety Committee