Haines State Forester Greg Palmieri in his office. May 14, 2020. (Claire Stremple/KHNS)

Haines State Forester Greg Palmieri said all Upper Lynn Canal property owners should consider tuning in to one of his fire prevention workshops this week. Wildland fire response is always a challenge, he said, and especially this year because COVID-19 concerns could slow response.

“I think every rural landowner, property owner, homeowner should take into consideration that the kind of response that they need to protect themselves and the valuables that they have on their land are not going to be immediately there,” he said.

“It’s a challenge to respond at all different levels. So anything that a homeowner can do individually to limit the impacts of wildland fire on their home is valuable no matter what year it is or when it’s occurring, whether there’s a pandemic or not.”

The Alaska Division of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service will offer two virtual workshops about fire prevention this week. On Wednesday, May 20th, there will be a Skagway workshop. The Haines workshop will follow on Thursday, May 21st. The workshops are aimed at preparing property owners for the fire season.

Palmieri said the focus will be on what landowners can do on their property and in the immediate area around any structures to protect them from fire damage. He said a big part of the effort is removing potential fuel for any fire.

“One of the things probably most people don’t really think about is pruning the branches of their trees, particularly conifers, that surround their homes. So we’re limning the trees from the ground up. So the idea is that if a fire does pass through the area, it’s less likely to go from the ground into the canopy of the tree. Once it does that, it creates a more intense fire front,” said Palmieri.

He said that one step can keep a fire from damaging property, or keep the damage minimal enough that a structure can still be saved. There’s more tips where that came from⁠—the organizations have years’ worth of data they’ve gathered to put together a list of best practices.

Palmieri said there’s usually at least one wildland fire each year in the area; most are human caused. There were three structure fires in the Haines Borough last year. One of them spread to the surrounding state forest land and burned about four acres.

For more information, contact Greg Palmieri at 907-766-2120 or greg.palmieri@alaska.gov. To join a meeting visit https://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices/Notices/View.aspx?id=198158.