A Question of Value

What is your home worth to you? That was the key question posed by DPI President Chuck Warren in an appeal to Kayenta homeowners – a 2,000-acre community within the City of Ivins. On the heels of a fire safety meeting in Kayenta where Santa Clara Ivins Fire Chief Dan Cazier provided tips on how to prepare for and deal with a potential fire, Warren asked Kayenta residents to consider what they could do to minimize risk.

Warren reminds us that Kayenta is about community—not community as a place, but community as a spirit, where we work together to make where we live the best it can be. Taking personal responsibility—committing your own time, energy and effort—is what DPI needs to tackle the removal of the dangerous and highly flammable invasive tamarisk that grows in the Kayenta washes.

The facts are these: tamarisk increases both fire danger and the risk of fire frequency. In a fire, tamarisk ignites quickly, leading to a more severe burn.

While you should certainly keep a cleared area 3-5 feet around your home, trim dead branches, remove debris, and check what kind of roofing was used on older homes as flat roofs can be particularly dangerous, working alone is not enough. As Chief Cazier says “a small flame can turn into a major fire in 30 seconds. Don’t try to put it out yourself, as fire moves very quickly” particularly when driven by the wind.

Also, he adds, “don’t try to wet down your home as the fire department’s equipment is much more efficient and effective.” The department needs all the water pressure it can get to put out a fire before it grows and potentially takes out more homes.

During the last three years DPI has expended 3,000+ hours in volunteer field labor removing stands of tamarisk on 30 properties, some completed in a few hours, others requiring 100s of hours. Although 65 volunteers have signed up, the fact is only about 20 regularly contribute to the cause, building community and taking a role with DPI, according to Warren.

If you don’t see yourself picking up a hedge trimmer or a saw, or pulling branches out of a wash, there are still key jobs you can fulfill, including monitoring for regrowth, contributing to outreach and communication, working on site restoration and replanting, serving as a board member, managing project initiation/ACC/Landscaping approval requests, writing grants, coordinating volunteer schedules and more.

Let there be no doubt. The project is big, and pressing. Fire professionals who have walked Kayenta’s washes with DPI tell us “that fire risk here is the highest in the hundreds of square miles for which they are responsible.” But about 90% of the tamarisk in our community remains to be removed.