The National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Firewise Communities program encourages local solutions for wildfire safety by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, firefighters, and others in the effort to protect people and property from the risk of wildfire. The program is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, the US Department of the Interior, and the National Association of State Foresters.
To save lives and property from wildfire, NFPA's Firewise Communities program teaches people how to adapt to living with wildfire and encourages neighbors to work together and take action now to prevent losses. We all have a role to play in protecting ourselves and each other from the risk of wildfire.

At the beginning of 2002, the NFPA invited Crystal Lakes to become a Firewise Community.  To that end, meetings began in March of 2002 and to date, nearly two dozen people from more than a dozen groups and agencies have come together to prepare a plan for Crystal Lakes which includes evacuation (routes, signs, and safety zones), creation of defensible space in greenbelts and education of property owners in fire mitigation on private lands, and a close working arrangement with the Crystal Lakes Volunteer Fire Department, to best utilize all available resources.

NFPA Firewise has a website if you are interersted in additional information.  Questions about the Crystal Lakes Firewise program should be directed to the Crystal Lakes office.

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