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ELY –Coming off the Greenwood Lake fire and other North Country wildfires last summer, the Ely area remains ripe for more dangerous forest burning emergencies this summer. As the community also …

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ELY –Coming off the Greenwood Lake fire and other North Country wildfires last summer, the Ely area remains ripe for more dangerous forest burning emergencies this summer. As the community also looks back at the 10th anniversary of the Pagami Creek fire, some residents here want to make their own spaces more resilient to wildfires. With that in mind, Dovetail Partners and Firewise officials, working with Vermilion Community College, conducted a chainsaw safety class last weekend to give participants an introduction to safe practices when using a chainsaw to clear trees and brush around their property. Firewise is a program created by the National Fire Protection Association, adopted for use by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and St. Louis County, dedicated to providing educational tools to protect against wildfire. St. Louis County’s Firewise coordinator, Gloria Erickson, introduced the class of about a dozen students, most with no chainsaw experience, to VCC Natural Resources instructor Ryan Miller early Saturday morning for a day of classroom instruction ,followed by a weekend of practice in the woods around VCC. The class was specifically designed for individuals with little or no previous experience in operating a chainsaw. Students learned about the function, maintenance and use of internal combustion engine powered chainsaws, and entry-level safe use of a chainsaw was taught in the field. The class provided lots of hands-on cutting experience to give the students confidence, and demonstrated safe piling and burning techniques for cut hazardous woody debris. Erickson related her introduction to the North Country and how she learned to love and respect the woods up here. “I came here 22 years ago as a 612’er oblivious to our forest,” she said. “I thought those balsams right outside my cabin window were the way it was supposed to be up here.” Having been in the Firewise program for the last decade, she has learned a lot. “When I look at our forest, it is not looking too good. There is more and more spruce budworm, and thick balsams are choking out many other trees,” she said. In her quest to work with landowners to spread the word on things residents can do to make their properties safer and more resilient against wildfire, she also has in mind the safety of local firefighters and those who come to fight the increasing number of forest fires. Erickson told the students, “My biggest thing is trying to empower people to be able to go out on their property to do the work themselves. We can’t tackle this problem alone. We are lucky to have the USFS and DNR along with fantastic volunteer fire departments, but when you look at how much land they have to cover if there is a fire, we all have to do our part.” Ryan Miller came to VCC following ten years with the USFS and DNR. He used to be part of the Hot Shot firefighter organization, mostly working out west. “We never have enough resources, so we do what we can to help to save properties,” he said. He described to the students, mostly homeowners around the Ely area, the triage process firefighters use as they work the path ahead of a wildfire to visit individual properties and determine what houses can be saved and what houses will surely burn when the fire arrives. “If a house is non-defensible, we are not going to waste our time and resources, and we tell the homeowner that they have to let it burn,” Miller said. “We can save one house that will take six hours of work, or we can save six other houses where we can spend maybe 30 minutes or an hour to make the buildings more defensible.” Determining how a house or property can be defensible was the focus of the weekend class. Making a residential property more resilient to fire starts with the homeowner and a chainsaw long before there is smoke in the air. What make a house in the woods indefensible? Miller said that trees close to the buildings, stacked firewood right outside the door, pine needles and other debris in the house gutters, cedar shingles, wood siding, nearby balsams, dead or alive, and other flammable stuff all lend to an indefensible house. Firewise education describes a defensible space around a building in ever-expanding circles or zones that give homeowners a reference point to make their space more fire resilient. For more information, go to the National Fire Protection Association website at www.nfpa.org. Erickson added a simple, yet overlooked ,aspect makes a property more defensible to wildfire. “If the fire fighters can’t get a big rig down your driveway, they are going to drive on by,” she said. Miller touched on climate change and the obvious changes in the wildfire burning seasons in the North Country as the planet continues to warm. “Fires are not what they were even 20 years ago,” he said. “Our winters are getting milder. The fuels in the forests are getting denser and building up as we continue with the 100-percent fire suppression theory. We are only going to see fires get bigger and more destructive.” Miller introduced the class to the chainsaw and demonstrated how to clean and maintain one. Each student was given a chainsaw to disassemble, clean and reassemble. They were successful, with no parts left over. “Chainsaws are not inherently dangerous, but they are very unforgiving,” he said. Miller reviewed the personal protection and safety equipment each chainsaw operator should use, including eye protection, gloves, hearing protection, long-sleeved shirt, chaps, boots and hardhat. “I don’t recommend using steel-toed boots when working around fires,” he said. “They obviously can heat up very easily.” Miller discussed safe chainsaw handling and operating, emphasized the securing of a safe work zone, and maintaining secure and balanced footing when cutting, limbing, felling and brushing. The day of classroom discussion was followed by two days of field work in the woodsy area on the VCC campus where students put their knowledge to use and gained confidence in using the chainsaw in the woods. Students learned to stack wood and storage techniques for later use, and how to properly construct a brush pile for burning debris. Look for more opportunities this year to participate in chainsaw safety classes and Firewise demonstrations around the Ely area. Several events are planned in the coming weeks to mark the tenth anniversary of the Pagami Creek fire (see separate story). For more information on the St. Louis County Firewise program, call or email Gloria Erickson at gloria@dovetailinc.org or 218-365-0878.

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