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:
- Work on your own house. Cleaning gutters, sweeping the roof, screening vents, replacing a wooden gate with metal, re-roofing, siding repair, clearing the five-foot zone.
- Yard work. Trimming trees, clearing brush, hauling green waste, mowing dry grass, removing dead plants anywhere in the 5–100 foot zones.
- 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.
- Showing up. A community meeting, a chipper day, the Fall Festival, a VCFD talk, a board meeting.
- Helping run things. Newsletter writing, translating, website help, grant applications, organizing an event.
- Learning. Watching a wildfire-preparedness video or reading a preparedness document is a loggable activity. Most residents have no idea. 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.
- 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.