Bolivar Fire Department to be first Firewise in area
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BOLIVAR, Tenn. — A West Tennessee fire department is looking to become the first of its kind in our area to be part of the Firewise program, an effort that could save your home from wildfire. It’s the first ever Bolivar Firewise Expo. This nationally recognized program is designed to educate residents on how to prevent their home from being burned down by a wildfire. “It is a threat. We don’t have a lot of wildfires, but we do have a lot of grass fires that can turn into a wildfire,” Chief Lynn Price said. Every year, there are on average more than 2,000 wildfires in the state, destroying about 20,000 acres and putting hundreds of homes at risk, according to the Tennessee Department of Forestry. “These people’s homes that we hope to protect from wildfire, they are taking on the responsibility of those Firewise practices to help protect their homes from wildfire,” Chief John Kirksey said. Other ways to protect your home is by building porches and roofs to be fire-resistant and making sure your driveway is at least 12 feet wide with a slope of less than 5 percent for emergency vehicles. “Any time we don’t have rain for two or three weeks in Tennessee, we start having wildfires,” Kirksey said. If Bolivar manages to create a Firewise safe community, it will be the first of its kind in the area. “Once we get our recognition, it ill be the first in West Tennessee,” Price said. “We got lots of city’s in East Tennessee that have done this. We will be the first in West Tennessee.”
