Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
Guide for protecting communities from wildfire available

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 7, 2005) - LaJuana S. Wilcher, secretary of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC), is releasing a publication in recognition of National Fire Prevention Week, which begins Sunday.

A Guide for Protecting Communities From Wildfire is a joint publication of three EPPC agencies - the Office of Housing, Buildings, and Construction, Kentucky Division of Forestry and the Kentucky Office of Insurance. The guide gives local officials a tool for saving lives and property and for controlling costs.

The guide includes information on creating "defensible space," providing adequate vehicular access, "Firewise" landscaping, signage, availability of water for fire suppression, structural design and construction and controlling open burning.

The guide is being distributed to county officials this week to assist in implementing defensive space concepts and standards and increasing public awareness of wild land fire hazards. For a copy, contact one of the above agencies or visit the Division of Forestry’s Web site at <http://www.forestry.ky.gov/programs/firewise/>

National Fire Prevention Week has its roots in the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871. The fire killed 300 people, left 100,000 homeless and destroyed more than 17,000 structures.

President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the first National Fire Prevention Week in October 1925, noting that fires killed thousands of people. His proclamation then holds true today: "The waste results from the conditions which justify a sense of shame and horror; for the greater part of it could and ought to be prevented".