2nd Currituck community earns national fire designation

CURRITUCK COUNTY

Lessons learned from California wildfires and a Raleigh neighborhood fire that burned 38 homes could help Currituck County communities escape a similar fate.

In November, Point Harbor Beach was the 16th community in the state and the second in Currituck to become a Firewise Community, a national program that evolved from wildfire research.

Administered by the National Fire Protection Association, the voluntary Firewise Community program developed after research from California wildfires.

The program is part of a philosophy change that says wildfires cannot

always be prevented and are even necessary at times.

Property owners who build near woodlands are expected to take responsibility for protecting their homes.

More than 500 communities nationwide have joined the program.

The Currituck Club subdivision in Corolla was the first in Currituck County to get the designation, largely to protect itself from fires in the woods and marshes close by. Villages at Ocean Hill and Pine Island also plan to join the program.

Moyock neighborhoods not far from the local wildfires of 2001, 2002 and 2008 have not joined, said Aaron Gay, local ranger for the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources. But generally, homes there sit a safe distance from large woodlands, he said.

"Overall, Moyock's risk is lower than Carova, Corolla and southern Currituck," Gay said.

In Point Harbor Beach, about 100 homes sit within lots thick with trees and brush. Pine straw gathers on roofs and under decks, piles of dry leaves have drifted against foundations and firewood is stacked next to exterior walls. Unlike the other communities, the biggest fire threat comes from within.

Brush fires there in 2003 and 2005 and a wooden fence that caught fire two years ago required responses from the Fire Department, said Bruce Spalding, president of the Point Harbor Beach Property Owners Association.

Firewise principles are also effective against man-made fires, Gay said. In 2007, 38 townhomes burned in a Raleigh neighborhood after a cigarette was tossed into pine straw mulch around a house.

"A little ember will catch leaves on fire and that will catch the deck on fire and that catches the house on fire," he said.

Last spring Spalding and others began work to improve conditions and educate neighbors.

Residents trimmed tree limbs growing so thick over unpaved roads that fire trucks could not get through. Even delivery truck drivers were complaining, Spa lding said.

Using a state grant and association money, a $4,500 dry hydrant will be installed next to the boat ramp with lines to the Currituck Sound. Fire trucks can connect to the hydrant and pump water directly from the sound.

"We're just getting started," Spalding said. "We have a long way to go."

Spalding hopes to get grants to install 911 address markers on every property.

In the long term, plans are to get an emergency exit route to the county park that sits adjacent to the community. There is only one way in and out right now.

Part of the appeal of living in Point Harbor Beach is privacy, and some residents are resisting clearing efforts, he said.

Homes with a 100-foot buffer zone could survive a wildfire, research s from the California wildfires showed. That much clearing may not be possible in Point Harbor Beach.

"We're not advocating that they cut down all their trees," Gay said.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com