Every fall, each of the valley’s six recognized Firewise communities has to show NFPA that its residents invested at least one hour per dwelling in wildfire-risk reduction over the year. Bridlewood, with 175 homes, needs 175 hours on the books. That is not a lot of work for 175 households. It is a lot of unrecorded work, and unrecorded is the same as undone when the renewal is due.
Lose the renewal and the community drops out of good standing. That is the certificate residents hand their insurer for the community-level discount. So the two-minute form matters more than it looks.
What counts
Almost everything. The categories on the activity form, with examples people don’t think to log:
- Hardening your house. Installing ember-resistant vents, replacing a wooden fence, gate or deck section with something that won’t burn, re-roofing, siding repair, screening under a deck. The form has a box for vents, one for fences and attachments, and one for other hardening work.
- Zone 0 — the first five feet. Pulling mulch, plants and stored items away from the walls, clearing under the deck, moving the woodpile. It’s the biggest opportunity in every resident survey so far, so it has its own box.
- Yard work beyond five feet. Trimming trees, clearing brush, mowing dry grass, removing dead plants anywhere out to 100 feet.
- Common-area, trail and roadside work. Chipper days, bridle-trail clearing, shared fence lines, open-space edges.
- Money you paid someone else. A tree crew, a hauling service, a roofer. Contractor spend is reportable value even though you never picked up a tool. Log the dollar amount.
- What you removed. The form asks for lawn bags, yard bins, pickup loads, dump-truck loads, or rented dumpsters (3-yard bins, 25- or 40-yard roll-offs). A rough count is fine.
- Getting an assessment. The free Fire Safe Council walk-through counts, and so does the time you spend doing what the report says.
- Getting ready to evacuate. Building a Go-Kit, writing a family evacuation plan, or taking part in a community evacuation or tabletop drill.
- Showing up. A community meeting, a chipper day, the Fall Festival, a VCFD talk. Tick “Attended a Firewise event or meeting.”
- Helping run things. Board and committee time, newsletter writing, translating, website help, grant applications, organizing an event — all under “Firewise committee work.” Maps, GIS and the annual renewal paperwork go under “Planning, mapping & renewal.”
- Learning. Watching a wildfire-preparedness video or reading a preparedness document still counts toward your hours — tick “Other” and say so in the notes. Fifteen minutes with the Library is fifteen minutes on the books.
How to log it
- Open Submit Firewise Activity.
- Name, email, street, and pick your community from the list.
- Enter the date you did the work, tick every category that applies, then enter hours, any contractor dollars, and roughly how much vegetation left the property.
- Submit. It goes straight to your community’s team lead and into the renewal totals.
You can submit as often as you like. A good habit: log it the same day, while the bags are still at the curb. Renters count too — the form asks, and NFPA counts dwellings, not deeds.
What one hour looks like
If you want a single afternoon that covers your household’s share for the year and does the most good, do the first five feet and the roof and gutters. Two to four hours, no cost, and it is exactly the work the new Zone 0 rule will ask for anyway. Then log it.