We are hoping all of you can attend these functions. For those who are not members, we encourage you to join our Association.It has a rich history of serving the Brazos property owners.

2012 Annual Meeting - TBA

Cliffview Restaurant (New Owners) is now open for lunch and dinner on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The menu will be posted outside . Closed for the winter.

Presidents Message

Forester’s Log: Fire Triangles

© Mary Stuever, January 2006

The Forester’s Log is a syndicated monthly column published in newspapers and magazines primarily in the American west. Mary Stuever is the Burn Area Emergency Rehabilitation Coordinator for the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

This winter wildland fires are regular stories on the evening news. Texas. Oklahoma. Colorado. New Mexico. California. Places that do not usually have a severe winter fire season. Generally firefighters dedicate the first few months of the year to training, learning new skills and reviewing basics. With this recent dry weather, the tenor of these workshops is sobering. Firefighters throughout the Southwest are concerned about the coming fire season, and hopefully homeowners are as serious about preparing as well.

When thinking about fire, triangles become a useful shape. Firefighters generally review two major triangles. The standard fire triangle consists of three necessary components to have a fire: heat, oxygen, and fuel. Remove any of these legs of the triangle, and the fire will go out. Although structural firefighters use water to cool and smother the flames, wildland firefighters generally attempt to remove fuel through the construction of fire lines and back burns.

Wildland firefighters refer to the fire behavior triangle (weather, topography, and fuels) to describe factors that affect how fires burn on the landscape. As with the fire triangle, the easiest leg to influence is the fuels. Forest managers are keenly aware that areas that have recently been thinned or burned are less likely to sustain long-term damage from wildfires in extreme conditions.

I propose a third important triangle for understanding today’s fires, and this one I call the fire disaster triangle. The three legs include excessive fuel accumulations, prolonged drought conditions, and increased construction of homes and businesses in fire-prone forests and woodlands. In the past century, the spread of fires throughout the landscape was significantly reduced. In the absence of regular, light intensity burning, both live and dead fuels have reached unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, in the last decade we have been experiencing one of the worst droughts in the past 500 years. However for about half a century before this drought we were in one of the wettest periods of the last few millennia. Under this wet regime and even continuing into this drought, the number of buildings in fire-prone forests has exploded, with miles of extensive communities and subdivisions spreading through what were once regularly burning wildlands.

As with the other triangles, the vulnerable leg where we can take action to mitigate the fire impact is the fuels. The people who are in the best position to save homes from burning this summer are not firefighters but homeowners who start taking action now.

The key to preparing for the fire season is to think about your home environment in terms of fuel. Obviously the construction materials of buildings define protection or vulnerability. Metal roofs, stucco siding, and rock foundations are examples of building materials less likely to ignite, while wood shake shingles and siding are a clear invitation for disaster.

For most homeowners though, the major efforts around the house include removing flammable vegetation near the home, closing in open decks and porches, clearing areas around propane tanks, and addressing each feature on the property as a fuel. Activities might include relocating wood piles away from homes, propane tanks, and power lines, clearing weeds away from outbuildings, thinning thick forests and undergrowth, and cleaning gutters and roofs of leaves and woody debris. Communities are more likely to survive, when these kinds of efforts are widespread.

Recently I was sharing some concerns with fellow firefighters in my hometown of Placitas, New Mexico. We talked about the fire we fear most, which would be a wildfire moving through the village. Here homes are tightly packed by rural standards and surrounded by dense vegetation, especially sumac bushes and weeds. As we strategized our actions in such a scenario, we realized that like firefighters all over the west, we would have to pick and choose our battles. We would not be able to save every house and would have to put our energies where homeowners had already done their part to make their properties less fire prone. At least our village has multiple roads leading in and out that would make evacuations safer and allow for emergency equipment to come on scene faster.

Although each community has unique features and concerns, most fire issues for communities surrounded by forests, woodlands and grasslands are similar. A national Firewise program (visit www.firewise.org) offers information and free materials for homeowners and community leaders. There are many examples to encourage homeowners to invest an afternoon or two now that might make a difference in whether their home burns or survives during this year’s wildfires.

Special Note:

The North Central Solid Waste Authority has returned the dumpster to its location in front of Cliffview Restaurant. The Solid Waste Authority will monitor the type of waste that is deposited. If they determine that there is any misuse of the dumpster in the future, the dumpster will be locked. Only current paid customers in the Upper Brazos will be issued keys or combinations to the lock(s) from them by mail.

Speed Limit:

The bin is now at the parking area across from the CliffView restaurant. Only Paying customers of the North Central Solid Waste Authority will be allowed to use the dumpster in the future.

Board Meetings:

All members are encouraged to attend board meetings. Contact Catherine Sanchez-Praiswater for meeting times and place.

UBPOA New Address:

HC 75, Box 117, Chama, New Mexico 87520.

New All Terrain Vehicle (ATV);Bill for New Mexico.

Please exercise caution and respect private property while operating ATV's.

See Senate Bill SB0252

Get Adobe Reader or Obtain the Latest Version of Adobe Reader

Of Interest:

Something not known to many folks that use computers. As we get older, even some of the young folks, it gets harder to read the type on the computer monitors. So a good way to increase or decrease the size of the type on the monitor is as follows.

If you have a mouse with a wheel. Most do.

• Depress the CTRL key. Continue depressing.
• Move the wheel on the mouse.
• Forward - small print.
• Backward - Large Print.

Surprised? Enjoy.