Timberton Memo
4/19/2025
The focused intent of these village ‘wildfire’ involved efforts, is to provide a pro-active awareness that complements our basic standards of community value improvement. In this specific situation the suggested guidance is two-fold: (a) “reducing wildfire risks in the ‘home ignition zone’; and (b) reducing the naturally occurring fire fuel vegetation (dead and dying overabundance of visible growth).
The earlier memo (4/17/2025) introduced the availability of a home site survey to be conducted by our local Jefferson County Fire and Rescue team https://wildfireready.dnr.wa.gov/. The invited participation walkabout focused on identifying as much of the naturally occurring overgrowth of ‘fire ready’ fuel, dead and dying vegetation, as readily identified and viewed from the street. The complementary purpose to the community is the reduction of and removal of the of potential ignition vegetation in the common areas.
The walkabout was joined by a large group of our neighbors. The participation fully underscored the importance of pursuit. Wildfire preparedness toward making the community safer establishes a foundation of continuing and future value. As it takes an involved village to build a community, and I’d like to thank all of you who joined together for the visual overview.
In Summary – Noted actions (a) & (b):
- Individual homeowners are encouraged to contact the fire survey team directly. We have 78 homes and residents in the Timberton community. The greater the number of individual participants involved, the greater the potential mitigation of damaging fire destruction. The success of this effort will be determined by how many individuals are motivated to follow through.
- The walkabout identified areas of dead vegetation and multiple areas of dead and overgrown vegetation suggested for clearing and removal. Timberton Drive; Heritage Lane; Timber Ridge Drive; Timber Meadow Drive, and the entry ‘road’ beyond the chain at the parking area ‘top of Timberton. Addressing the removal of some of the vegetation can be readily achieved by a volunteer effort. However, most will require a more aggressive pursuit, beyond pulling in community volunteers, possibly outsourcing to a landscaping entity; or a combination of the two. To be determined.
Moving Forward:
The next step is to note and list each individual area to be addressed. This will be accomplished by your board and supported by pictures and perimeter measurements. Each site will have it’s unique identifier so we can address the outsourcing bid to be incremental and/or individually priced and scheduled. Planning ahead will take into consideration cost, time allocation and the importance of sequencing in volunteers if available. We’ll keep you posted and current.
Two Notes of Involvement Interest:
- We will put out a call for volunteers. The call will be project site specific and set up to sequentially accomplish the removal and reduction of the noted sites; possibly additional areas as may be added. We will also present a cost analysis of possible 3rd party funding out of our current budget. Cost allocations to be presented to the village for board approval.
- To further the comment that it ‘takes a village to build a community’. Forthcoming board elections.
- Three members of our 5-person board of directors will be ‘term ended’ in June. Participation and interest focused on getting involved will be on the table again in May where we will be inviting interested parties to submit a resume’ of their desire to run for the board. A minimum of 3 pro-active individuals is being sought for running for the board. The term is 2 years.
More to Come … Roger