How Big Sky’s neighborhood ambassadors are helping prepare the community for natural disaster
By Mel Crichton EBS COLUMNIST
We live in an unusual place. For many people, paradise is where we want to go when we’ve taken our last breath. But we are already there. Yet Big Sky is different from other towns in paradise. We are a community of 3,000-plus, yet we have no municipal government. We rely on our homeowner associations to make and enforce the rules. And we rely on neighbors to do what’s best.
With 80 HOAs that need to get wildfire-ready, our fire department could be spread very thin—that’s a lot of HOA boards to schmooze. Here’s where our neighborhood ambassadors come in.
So what in heck is a neighborhood ambassador? Simply, an NA connects the Big Sky Fire Department—and other entities that are part of Fire Adapted Big Sky—to the community, often through the HOAs. The NA lives within or near the HOA’s boundaries. Our NA program formed a year ago under Fire Adapted Big Sky, and we are steadily growing in number, now reaching 16 of Big Sky’s 80 HOAs.
Ambassadors are people like you and me. We live here because we love it here, and we hope to keep it close to paradise. But if it burns? Paradise lost. Sorry, John Milton, but the devil isn’t part of this story. OK, if somebody dies in a wildfire, the devil may get a piece of the action, but our goal is to cheat Old Nick and prepare everyone to get out alive. Our other goal is to help ensure that we have homes to come back to after a fire. But that takes cooperation from homeowners.
Our NAs are accessible and willing to help. You can ask your nearest NA about preparing for evacuation, signing up for disaster alerts or taking steps to reduce fire risk to your home. If you have breathing issues, we can help you cope with wildfire smoke. NAs can be a resource to HOAs in long range planning or just to organize a fuels removal day with a pitch-in barbecue. We don’t know everything about wildfire, because that takes years to learn. But we know where to get answers.
Our NAs have more good ideas than resources to implement them. So far, we’ve listed factors in selecting a home site mitigation contractor—posted on the Build Better Big Sky website—and held a community presentation on home hardening for wildfire. You might have seen us at farmers markets or moving firewood away from homes in your neighborhood. You don’t have to be an NA to help. We count on volunteers to help with neighborhood projects.
To find out more about being an ambassador, or to learn who they are, please reach out to the Big Sky Fire Department or contact me. And mark your calendar for a community session on wildfire evacuation to be held on June 23 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center and online.
One last thing: we’ll be posting reminders about evacuation and home preparation, like the one here. It’s time to get your home and yard ready for wildfires.
Mel Crichton is neighborhood ambassador for Aspen Groves and coordinates the Big Sky NA program.You can reach him a kj9c@arrl.net.
