Part of being a recognized Firewise USA® site is reporting the ongoing work residents complete each year to reduce their wildfire risks, while addressing the areas identified in their community’s wildfire assessment. Every year participating sites must submit an annual renewal to maintain their “in good standing” status.
Steps to complete the annual Firewise USA renewal process
Watch this video to walk through the full renewal process.
Every year
Educational outreach: Host an outreach event and work with neighbors on addressing items in the action plan.
Risk reduction investment: Record what your community’s efforts to reduce its wildfire risk in the calendar year. You can include any time invested and expenses your community may have had to reduce its wildfire risk.
At a minimum, each site is required to annually invest the equivalent of one volunteer hour per dwelling unit in wildfire risk reduction actions. If your site has identified 100 homes within its boundary, than 100 hours of work or the monetary equivalent which will be $25.43 per dwelling unit for 2019.
Community presentation on embers
Every three years
Action plan: Review and update your action plan. You can check your 2019 application to see what year you will be due for an update
Every five years
Community risk assessment: Review and update your community risk assessment. You can check your 2019 application to see what year you will be due for an update.
- Update your old risk assessment or, if you need to fill out a new one, use this template (PDF).
Optional updates
Overview: Has your community grown or changed its boundary? If so, you’ll need to update the number of dwelling units. You should also check the current mailing address we have on file, this is where your renewal certificate will be sent.
Committee/Board: Add and change the board member contacts or keep it the same.
Vegetation removal: If you had an event where your community removed vegetation, you can tell us how much was removed and share a short narrative describing the event.
Mitigation community action plan
Tips for using the portal
Resident leader changes or log-in questions: The previous resident leader can go into the portal and add a new resident leader using the manage contact system. This will allow the new resident leader to create their own personal log-in. If you do not have the current log-in for your site or are having trouble with your log-in, contact the Firewise® team online.
Skipping around your renewal application: Use the drop down menu in the renewal application to navigate quickly to the section you want to use. Green check marks indicate the sections where the yearly requirements have been completed.
Saving throughout the year: You don’t have to wait to put in your activities. Access the portal throughout the year and enter your events or investments. Make sure to hit the green “save” button, this will log your record and reset the fields, allowing you to make additional entries. You can continue on to the next section or save and close your application.