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State fire officials urge home assessments, alarm checks and safe battery disposal
Summary
State forest rangers and the State Fire Marshal’s Office reviewed wildfire and home-fire prevention: sign up for home assessments, maintain defensible space, test smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms, and recycle lithium-ion batteries at transfer stations or retailers.
State wildfire and fire-prevention officials used Henniker’s CWPP meeting to press repeated, practical steps residents can take to reduce the chance of ignitions and to prepare households for escape.
"Wildfires are something that when we mention them, people will typically think out west," said Katie Bowman, a district forest ranger. She described local outreach — including a prevention trailer and school visits — and offered examples of recent incidents that began with escaped debris burning, target shooting and a chicken-coop electrical fire that destroyed a coop and a garage.
Bowman encouraged home and neighborhood assessments to create defensible space, recommended removing roof and gutter debris and using fire-resistant materials where possible, and described how crews sometimes must lay many lengths of hose to reach remote fires.
Olivia Garrity, education and outreach specialist with the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office, urged residents to keep working smoke alarms and carbon-monoxide detectors, test them regularly and replace units older than their manufacture life span. "Working smoke alarms. They really do save lives," Garrity said.
Officials also advised safe ash disposal, proper grilling practices and recycling of lithium-ion batteries at transfer stations or retailers rather than throwing them in household trash.
The panel offered to perform voluntary home assessments and urged residents to visit information tables after the presentations.
