Firewise Home Assessment Program*

​*The Firewise Program is not accepting any more applications for the 2022 season. ​​

​Objectives​​

• Reduce life and property losses from wildland-urban interface fire by treating privately owned forested areas to limit fire spread and intensity. 

• Educate homeowners about Firewise principles to reduce the potential for structural ignitions from brush fires​.

• Improve the health of local forested public lands by thinning and pruning conifer trees to enhance vigor and encourage regeneration.​

• Provide information about safe burning practices, emergency preparedness, and forest stewardship​.

Program Overview

For residents living in neighborhoods exposed to wildfires, AFD provides on-site visits to offer specific recommendations for vegetation management and Firewise home maintenance.  This includes recommendations to remove both live and dead conifers within 15 feet of homes, maintain a non-combustible area within 3 feet of the home, keep lawns trimmed and watered, clean gutters and maintain metal screening on eaves and chimneys. Through limited  federal funding assistance, AFD can provide for 50% reimbursement up to a maximum of $500 to remove dead, beetle killed spruce and densely growing coniferous trees from private property. The primary goal is to reduce the potential for homes to ignite during a wildfire.

The potential for home ignition is determined by the “home's fuel characteristics and the heat sources within 100-200 feet adjacent to a home" (Cohen 2000). Treating the fuels in this area can reduce the severity of fire behavior by limiting the amount of combustible material. Forest fuels in Southcentral Alaska account for the trees, shrubs, and grass in your yard that can burn toward your home and ignite any combustible materials on or around your home.​

How to sign up 

The Firewise Program is not accepting new applications at this time.

​AFD PROVIDES FIREWISE HOME ASSESSMENTS ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE BASIS TO HOMEOWNERS WHILE FUNDING IS AVAILABLE.