City of Big Bear Lake Earns Firewise Community Distinction

Have you created defensible space around your home? If yes, you are among the residents who have contributed to the City of Big Bear Lake’s distinction as a Firewise Community. For the second consecutive year, Big Bear Lake has been honored by the national Firewise/USA Communities (a nation-wide program formed in 2002); Big Bear Lake is only the second incorporated city in California to receive this distinction. The city’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan, formed with state, federal and local agencies, is just one of the factors that contributed to the Firewise honor; other efforts include the 2008 passage of the Native Brush and Shrub Ordinance and the Wood Shake Shingle Roof Ordinance, the offering of free Home Ignition Zone training workshops (attended by local businesses involved in creating defensible space), the Neighborhood Curbside Chipping Program (which brought in roughly 400 tons of vegetation), and the availability of the Firewise Planting Guide, which the Big Bear Lake Fire Department created with the Sierra Club Big Bear Group.