![Image source: https://www.columbian.com/news/2023/sep/02/fighting-fire-with-firewise-columbia-river-gorge-towns-push-for-more-wildfire-safety-practices/](https://wadistricts.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1014492008-09-02-wildfire_8.24_TB01-1226x0-c-default.jpg)
Dan Richardson, Underwood Conservation District’s Firewise coordinator, likens wildfires to physical ailments.
Specifically, Richardson describes how fire was once viewed as acute, such as a broken bone, versus chronic, like a stress fracture. Fires occasionally razed a home in the woods, but now these events can potentially wipe out a small town every fire season.
“Wildfire is something that individual residents need to take action to adapt to, as opposed to just waiting for a fire district or helicopter with a bucket full of water to come and rescue them,” the lifelong Gorge resident said.
Source: Fighting fire with Firewise: Columbia River Gorge towns push for more wildfire safety practices