Wyden Announces Grant To Protect Homes In Forest Communities

October 2, 2015

FEMA Aid Will Benefit Crook, Deschutes and Klamath Counties

Washington, DC – October 2, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Senator Ron Wyden today announced that Oregon has received a $3 million federal grant to reduce fire risks to more than 2,200 homes in parts of Crook, Deschutes and Klamath counties that are adjacent to forests.

The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will fund the thinning and limbing of trees, clearing out of undergrowth, and other vegetative debris removal to create a defensible space around buildings and other structures on about 3,780 acres of private and public lands designated at high-risk for fire within the wildland-urban interface and rural areas of Crook, Deschutes, and Klamath counties.

The project will also fund larger scale vegetation management for common areas in wildland-urban interface neighborhoods. A projected 2,224 homes are expected to be directly mitigated from fire risk from this project.

“Prevention plays a huge part in taking the offensive to protect areas at the greatest risk from wildfires that can devastate Oregon’s families and businesses,” Wyden said. “This grant is great news for thousands of Oregonians because it will jump-start proven strategies to make it safer for them to live and recreate in the woods.”