Firewood Community Safety Initiative
Heat is important, but safe heat is essential! Join the movement towards safe and secure wood heat for all.
What is the initiative?
The Firewood Community Safety Initiative looks to you, the firewood community, to set a standard of safety that all firewood users can remember, reference, and understand. The USDA Forest Service has funded this initiative through their Wood Education Resource Center and Wood Products grant programs because they believe a basic education around firewood fueled heat is fundamental to any safe biomass heated home. Firewood banks around the county have an opportunity to reduce risk and prevent unsafe firewood use. They engage with thousands of homes and impact hundreds of communities all through the simple provision of cut, split, and seasoned firewood.
Access to heating fuel is only the first step to optimizing wood heat, best burning education and safety standards must be readily available to wood burning households. Preventative planning for long term security, healthy habits that reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution, and a basic stove understanding is imperative for wood heat to remain a safe heat option.
Included in this site are helpful resources for firewood users produced by The Alliance for Green Heat, Environmental Protection Agency, and other partners. The resources outline ways the firewood community can best advocate for and rely on the precious renewable biofuel, that is, firewood.
Join the Firewood Community Safety Initiative today!
Connect your firewood recipients to safety resources and help them gain lifetime skills and education around wood stove safety. This initiative helps to safeguard homes from preventable fire hazards by offering tools and material directly to your firewood recipients. Caring for your community can look like: teaching habits that reduce fuel waste, and taking action that promotes long-term security and reduces indoor air pollution. You get to decide how to educate your firewood community.
Safety Initiative Components:
Partner with community businesses and groups to make your firewood users as safe as possible.
Promote an educational program using a safety toolkit we provide!
Pledge to distribute ONLY seasoned firewood.
Email Hannah to learn more!
Check out this map of firewood banks that have committed to safety!
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Brandt Services, Monticello, Utah
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Clear Creek Wood Bank, Buffalo, Wyoming
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Coeur d'Alene Tribe Firewood Program, Coeur d'Alene Tribe
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Downeast Wood Bank, Blue Hill, Maine
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Firewood Bank of the Ruby Valley, Sheridan, Montana
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Gold Country Senior Services - Senior Firewood Program, Grass Valley, California
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Greater Buffalo Run Valley Firewood for Good Program, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
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Hinton Rural Life Center, Hayesville, North Carolina
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Hughes Wood Bank, Hughes, Alaska
If your firewood bank is taking extra steps to prioritize safety & education, we want to hear about it!!
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Mountain Communities Fire Safe Council, Idyllwild, California
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Nahata Dziil Woodbank, Sanders, Arizona
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New Life Church Polson, Polson, Montana
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One Spirit Red Shirt Firewood Bank, Pine Ridge, South Dakota
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St. Michaels & All Angels Episcopal Church Wood Bank Ministry, Eureka, Montana
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University of Tennessee Firewood Bank, Knoxville, Tennessee
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Village of Bacavi Wood Project, Bacavi, Arizona
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Warmth for Hopi & Tewa, Kykotsmovi, Arizona
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Chinle Chapter Government, Chinle, Arizona
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Woodbank at Nativity Lutheran Church, Bend, Oregon
List of Participants:
Safety Toolkits
Protecting your home and your loved ones is easier with a few small tools, cleaning and burning habits, and routine maintenance. We would like everyone to access these tools easily, so we are offering firewood banks that join our initiative safety toolkits stocked with low-cost supplies that increase safety and optimize heat production.
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Air Quality Monitor
This bluetooth compatible Temtop air quality monitor records particulate matter pollution that is most harmful to your health
Our citizen science opportunity brings attention to the things you could easily overlook. Through observing your indoor air quality we can better understand how much behavior and stove condition impacts air quality.
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Do you live with smoke in your home and wonder what impact it may have on your health?
We invite firewood users to participate in a citizen science project that combines air quality education with common home heating behavior. We will give you a simple air monitor that reads particulate matter concentrations and you will track your indoor air pollution and stove activity, sharing data and information about your wood stove use along the way. Please reach out here, to participate in the project!
Smoke From Your Wood Stove Can Harm Your Health
The particulate matter pollution that is most harmful to your health is not visible to the naked eye.
Using an indoor air monitor gives you a reference point for what your indoor air quality is throughout the heating season. Mobile air filters can help reduce exposure to PM2.5 pollution in addition to an upgraded EPA certified efficient stove.
Click here to learn how to make your own box fan filter!
The Importance of Seasoned Wood
Firewood burns better, hotter, and cleaner when it's dry! Always use seasoned firewood with 20% moisture content or less to heat your home.
How do you know?
Seasoned firewood will feel light when you pick it up, have a greyish color and more than likely the bark has fallen off. A moisture meter will tell you the exact water concentration.
How do you season?
Seasoned firewood is dried out either naturally or intentionally before the heating season. Dead, fallen trees are typically pre-seasoned. Green cut trees require 2-6 months to dry, depending on your location.
Follow the split, stack, cover, store rules when preparing for the season.
Lifecycle of Firewood
References
1 National Forest Foundation
2 USDA Forest Service
3 EPA Burn Wise
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