“While this year has been a great year for moisture, as we in Montana know, next year may not and it is always important to be prepared for wildfire season,” said Governor Brian Schweitzer. “We all can pitch in and take personal responsibility with simple steps to create ‘firewise’ zones around our own homes; the time to act is now.”

“We are very excited about this campaign,” said Jan Lombardi, Director of the Governor’s Office of Community Service. “The Are you Ready? outreach efforts will educate Montanans about the importance of having a preparedness plan, should danger from wildfires occur.” Lombardi said.

Please check back for event updates, photos and reports from road!

Learn more about the Fire Ready Montana  events here.

First Stop – Whitefish, Montana!

Nearly 30 people turned out in Whitefish to Get Fire Ready! Representatives from several agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the Whitefish Fire Department and FireSafe Council members joined other community members to learn how they can be better prepared in the event of a disaster. 

Whitefish residents learn how they can help their neighbors prepare

 ”The Map Your Neighborhood training was very interesting and helpful,” expressed Mike Frost, Board member for the Whitefish Area FireSafe Council.  The Whitefish Fire Department also shared how they will be using the Map Your Neighborhood concept and materials to support their GIS mapping project.  FireSafe Council members were pleased that several homeowners attending this community event can now take the information back to their neighbors to coordinate emergency preparedness.  To further enhance volunteer preparedness levels, many participants expressed an interest in receiving Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training provided by the Governor’s Office of Community Service.

Lorri Ward Brown conducts Map Your Neighborhood with Whitefish citizens

The Governor’s Office of Community Service thanks everyone for a terrific community event in Whitefish, especially Mike Frost for coordinating the training! 

Day Two of the Fire Ready Montana Tour - Libby

As we approached the town of Libby today, the fire danger sign read “high”, a reminder of why we are here.    Approximately 20 people attended the Fire Ready Montana event at City Hall.  The Governor’s Office of Community Service presented Map Your Neighborhood training and several Fire Ready partners, including FireSafe Montana, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the Libby Fire Department, Northwest Regional Resource Conservation and Development, the State Auditor’s Office/Insurance Division, Firewise, and the Red Cross were on hand to share important fire mitigation information with the community.   ”The Map Your Neighborhood training was a wonderful educational opportunity for us,” said Vic White, Director, Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency.  He added, “Map Your Neighborhood is a really good, simple plan for our citizens to follow in order to be prepared.”  Additional training was requested for the Lincoln County Fire Co-op, which consists of 10 different fire departments.  We look forward to visiting Libby again!  Special thanks to Don Crawford and Ed Levert for hosting this terrific event!

Pat Cross, State Prevention Specialist and Douglas Turman, Fire Supervisor - Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, State of Montana (left to right)

Libby residents gather information at the Fire Ready Montana Event

Day Three Fire Ready Montana – Missoula, MT

 Governor Brian Schweitzer, surrounded by a crowd of 40 and fire engines, officially kicked off Fire Ready Montana.  Joining the press conference were FireSafe Montana, DNRC, Missoula Rural Fire Department, local legislators, Missoula City Disaster and Emergancy Services, RSVP and community members. 

The Governor        thanked the community for taking a lead in preparing for fires, long before the 30 minute warning to evacuate.   

The Governor showcases the Fire Ready Montana tour map!

The Governor with Missoula Fire District

Mayor Engen welcomes the crowd!

Jake Kreilick of FireSafe Montana was our emcee for the evening.

First Lady Nancy Schweitzer learns how to help neighborhoods

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day Four Fire Ready Montana - Lincoln, Montana

We received a warm welcome in Lincoln!  Crystal Hagerman with FireSafe Montana and Smokey Bear kicked off our Fire Ready Montana event with more than 40 people in attendance.  

Smokey Bear and Crystal Hagerman, FireSafe Montana

We were grateful to have Paul Spengler, Lewis and Clark County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator, and Pat McKelvey, Lewis and Clark County Hazard Mitigation Project Manager present to share vital preparedness information with residents.  Theresa Oakley, with the Department of Insurance for the State of Montana, presented information about insurance in the event of a disaster.  We also learned more about area mitigation activities from Amber Camps, U.S. Forest Service District Ranger.

Local fire officials were on hand to talk with residents. “Anytime you can get people involved in any degree is good.  Even though there is no smoke in the air, people need to be aware and prepare,” said Rocky Infanger, Fire Chief, Wolf Creek/Craig Fire Service Area.  “Our motto is neighbor helping neighbor and that’s what this is all about,” he added.

Rocky Infanger, Fire Chief, Wolf Creek/Craig Fire Service Area

The Map Your Neighborhood Training we offered was well received.  “I really appreciate this training because it helps us understand what we can do as a neighborhood and how we can work together,” expressed Lincoln area resident Sharon Etzwiler. 

 

Another special feature of the evening was a presentation by Greg Ross with the Montana Conservation Corps, one of the Governor’s Office of Community Service AmeriCorps programs.  He highlighted the service activities and partnerships Montana Conservation Corps has with several agencies. 

We also learned about the service initiatives from Jackie Girard and Amy Busch of the Corporation for National and Community Service.  “Through the service initiative, we are encouraging everyone to get involved and find an opportunity to serve their communities.  There are many different ways to serve, from raking leaves for a neighbor to working on projects such as Citizen Corps and Community Emergency Response Teams,” said Amy Busch.

Amy Busch and Jackie Girard of the Corporation for National & Community Service talk with Lincoln residents about service!

Special thanks to the Senior Corps/Retired Senior Volunteer Program for promoting the event and serving the community.  RSVP member Walt O’Hara is currently working on entering data from homeowner safety surveys into a database for the Lewis and Clark County Fire Mitigation Program. We appreciate all of their hard work!

We would also like to thank Zach Muse of the Lincoln County Fire Department for hosting us and offering a tour of the station and equipment.

Amber Camps, U.S. Forest Service District Ranger shares information with Lincoln residents

What a great event in Lincoln – thank you!  We are off to Bozeman now… 

Day Five Fire Ready Montana – Bozeman, Montana

The Fort Ellis Fire Department hosted more than 30 people for our Fire Ready Montana event. 

 

 

Thanks to the Fort Ellis Fire Department in Bozeman for hosting our event!

People came from as far away as Butte and Park County to attend. Barbara vander Mars with the Insurance Division of the State of Montana presented insurance information for homeowners and Lorri Ward Brown did a great job presenting the Map Your Neighborhood training.   Representatives from two home owner associations attended and were looking forward to taking all the information they had learned back to their neighbors.  “This is exactly what I have been looking for.  It is hard to get information together and develop a plan.  This will help us a lot,” Susan Spanjol, HOA representative. 

Cathie Sheldon came from Butte and is taking the lead in spreading the word about Map Your Neighborhood across Montana and other states.  We are pleased to have her support!

 We appreciate the Fort Ellis Fire Department and residents of Bozeman for having us!

 

 

Bozeman residents take part in Map Your Neighborhood training

 

Craig Campbell of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation reviews an area map with residents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Day of the Fire Ready Montana Tour - Lockwood/Billings, Montana

Local fire officials at the Fire Ready Montana event in Lockwood

We had a great time in Lockwood on the last day of our Fire Ready Montana tour! It was a beautiful day and all the local fire and emergency officials were there, along with several community booths.  Residents came out with their kids to meet Smokey Bear and enjoy the fire truck demonstrations.  It truly was a community event!

Fire Chief William Rash (far left) and Robert Guenther of the Lockwood Area Fire District talk with residents

More than 40 people attended and heard remarks from William Rash, Fire Chief, Lockwood Fire District; Crystal Hagerman, FireSafe Montana;  Jim Kraft, Yellowstone County Disaster and Emergency Services;  and Artis Brandt, a Lockwood resident.  Artis has been through two major fires in Lockwood and was given 20 minutes to evacuate during the Emerald Hills fire in 2006.  Thanks to firefighters, her home was saved – not once, but twice.  Unfortunately, two of her neighbors were not so lucky. 

Residents gather to be prepared!

“Our hope is that we all take care of our property because if one is okay, the next one will be okay.  By taking care of our individual property areas, all Lockwood residents can be safer,” said Brandt.  “I hope this event will grow in the future and we will have it every year to remind us to always be prepared.  We are all going forward as a community and our success will be readiness,” she added. 

We also held the Map Your Neighborhood training and were grateful to have Robert Guenther of the Lockwood Fire Department participate with residents.  Ryan Sylva, Regional Program Coordinator for the Montana Conservation Corps was also on hand to talk about AmeriCorps and all of the great work the Montana Conservation Corps is doing across the state.

Ryan Sylva, Regional Program Coordinator for the Montana Conservation Corps talks about service!

Sheri Centifan, an AmeriCorps VISTA serving with the United Way as the Disaster Services Coordinator participated in the Map Your Neighborhood training.  “We have started coordinating Map Your Neighborhood training programs throughout Yellowstone County.  We have a group of volunteers that are trained to teach the program to area residents.  We look forward to working with communities and helping them become better prepared,” said Centifan.

 

 

 

 

We appreciate FireSafe Montana, the Lockwood Fire District, and Lockwood School for bringing the Fire Ready Montana tour to the community.  Special thanks to all of the community residents and volunteers for making it happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Governor’s Office of Community Service looks forward to hitting the road again next year for Fire Ready Montana!  Thank you again, everyone – it was a great tour across Montana!

 

 

Be prepared: for more information about Map Your Neighborhood, Citizen Corps, and Community Emergency Response Team development, please call Lorri Ward Brown of the Governor's Office of Community Service at 406.444.1718.

Make a difference!  To learn more about how you can get involved in your community, please contact the Governor’s Office of Community Service at 406.444.9077.

Montana ranks #6 in volunteerism in the U.S. - keep our communities strong and SERVE MONTANA!

 

The story of my life, one day, may be divided into chapters like a novel. If I’m lucky, it might even be interesting enough for someone to want to read it. However, I would imagine that most of it would sound pretty common. There may be a chapter titled “Awkward High School Stage” and another titled “College Bound”. Maybe someday there will be a chapter titled “Marriage” or even “My Firstborn”, not exactly groundbreaking material for a page-turner.

Typically, every good story has a plot twist or turning point in it, where the reader begins to think that maybe it’s not the same old story they’ve heard a thousand times before. That chapter for me thus far in the novel of my life would be titled “The Rejuvenation of Mud and Soul”.

It would start off with me in my jeep, a stack of papers with times and places to be, and a trunk full of camera equipment. Driving a hundred miles a day around Monroe County in Northeastern Pennsylvania shooting photo assignments for a small newspaper nobody read. It would go on to explain my demeanor… dejected, tired, unmotivated, and easily irritated. It would describe in vivid detail the way I slept late into the afternoon and ate cereal for dinner. It would number the total of close friends I had, 3.

And it would illustrate how at the ripe age of 24 I was already jaded by my career choice and unfulfilling lifestyle. The chapter would conclude with a 25-year-old version of myself, wearing a tattered and faded pair of Carhart pants and a dreadfully worn in green t-shirt, standing in a drafty and stale trailer near the highway, a sheet of plastic in my hand, a cold window in front of me and a warm feeling in my heart.

I’m a crew leader in the Montana Conservation Corps, the tattered Carharts and shirt is my uniform distressed from over 2,000 hours of National Service volunteering. The trailer belongs to a low-income resident of the community I belong to and am a part of. And the plastic in my hand is the remedy for the cold window, weatherizing the home and helping the family that lives in it to save money and stay warmer in the face of the cold Montana winter months to come. Lastly, the warm feeling in my heart is the result of a life change that spanned the length of the country and turned my world on its head.



Somewhere in the deep and pristine wilderness of the great West, thousands of miles away from anything and anyone familiar, I scratched a hole in the Earth and my soul began to renew. I quit my job as a photographer, abandoned most of my belongings, and drove across the country. The hole I was digging was to function as a drain for water on a trail; it was my first day of trail work as a member of the Montana Conservation Corps. I began writing a new chapter in my life, one that involved me getting dirty, the kind of dirty that acts as proof of the hard work accomplished And despite my unfamiliarity with everything and everyone around me, I felt more like myself than ever before in my life. And the reason for it, was the fulfillment a received from serving others and the environment, instead of only serving myself; and to share in that service with the likeminded people around me.



I believe the only certain happiness in life is to live for others. This idea of contentment through service is one of the many things I learned during this epic chapter of my life. And it is the one thing I hope above all, remains a driving theme in every chapter in my life still to be written.