Apple Mountain Lake POA
A Firewise Community
To view the 2021 AML Firewise flier, please click here.
Firewise USA is a national program designed to reduce wildfire risk in rural communities. In Virginia, it is administered through our Department of Forestry. Apple Mountain Lake has been participating since 2006. We are rated as a “high” wildfire risk, due to various factors including the abundance of trees and brush and the steep, narrow mountain roads.
The Firewise USA website (https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Wildfire/Preparing-homes-for-wildfire) is a great resource for property owners who want to protect their home and keep their family safe. There, you can learn how to make sure your property is Firewise, actions you can take now to prevent a fire that starts in the community from spreading to your house and lot and actions you take now to prevent a fire that starts in your house from becoming a wildfire and spreading beyond your house and lot.
Since 2006, our community has benefited from many thousands of dollars in Firewise grant funds, which have paid for projects including:
- Reflective, durable green metal house number signs
- A new dry hydrant at the lake, and work on the parking area
- Improvements to several cul-de-sacs and a road intersection
- Clearing and chipping brush from road shoulders
- Printing of an emergency evacuation plan
- Chipping of brush and branches collected by homeowners
- Pruning branches overhanging roads to improve Firebreaks and prevent damage to tall emergency vehicles
WE NEED YOUR HELP! For us to obtain future Firewise grants, we need to be able to report volunteer work hours by the community in reducing wildfire risk. If you do any work on your property such as clearing and disposing of brush or brambles, removing trees etc., please e-mail a brief summary to [email protected] of what you did and how much time you spent per person. For example: “John and Jane Smith spent 2 hours each on 05/04/21 clearing brush”. If you ever pay for tree, branch or brush removal, please report it and include a copy of your receipt. Thanks in advance for your help and thanks to all the property owners who have worked to help reduce the wildfire risk for all here in Apple Mountain Lake.
