From FireWise:

Click to Download the 2018 Spring Walker Firewise Newsletter

2017 Wow what a year!

It started off mild enough, but then at the end of February came the big wind that resulted in several days of power outages and hundreds of damaged and downed trees.

Then on June 24 came the Goodwin Fire. A fire, aided by gusty winds that fed on tall chaparral over land that had not been treated for almost 50 years. The fire caused the evacuation of Mayer and then later several other communities including Walker, Breezy Pines, Big Bug Mesa, Potato Patch and others. We owe a huge thanks to all of the firefighters who, through their efforts, managed to stop this fire before it entered our community.

All of these events created a large demand for Firewise services. It resulted in a record Chip & Haul event that lasted through April and May, and then an unprecedented de-mand for Wildfire Risk Assessments and financial assistance requests. Unfortunately, the grant funds received in December had been exhausted by May. Twenty-two families have had to wait until February of this year for the WFHF 17-102 grant to be funded be-fore they could proceed with their projects.

The 2018 Chip & Haul is postponed.

DO NOT DELIVER SLASH TO THE FIRE DEPARTMENT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Hopefully conditions will be favorable for a fall event. At this time the Yavapai County grinder is out of commission. It needs a clutch, which in all likelihood will need to be manufactured. The estimated time to affect repairs is 6 months. Once repaired, the county will need to concentrate on a backlog of grinding before it can commit to us for our Chip & Haul.

For additional information about Chip and Haul, look for the FAQ here.

Last year’s Chip & Haul was a huge success and set a new record for the amount of wildfire fuel chipped up and hauled away.

30 each, 40 yd roll-offs, 1,200 Cu Yds., approx. 335.7 tons
1 ea. 30 yd roll-off, 30 Cu Yds., 8.39 tons
Totals = 1,230 cubic yards weighing approx. 344 tons

Community participation:
664.4 volunteer hours, valued at $21,617.37 (24.14 per hour)
856 miles, @ .535 per mile, $470.80
$22,088.17 total value of community participation.

The cost of hauling, parking lot maintenance and supplies was paid for by your donations amounting to $7,595.90.

The costs of grinding was donated by Yavapai County Public Works Department.

Thank you Walker for doing your part!