New app to help residents make their homes more fire resistant

Idaho Matters

Smoke rising above the Boise Foothills due to the Valley Fire.( Patrick J. Cusick)

Residents of East Boise looked on with trepidation as last month’s Valley Fire burned through more than 10,000 acres of the Boise foothills.

Some homes were told they might have to evacuate, and Warm Springs Road was closed for a time before firefighters knocked down the flames. More and more homes are springing up in and along the foothills, in what’s known as the Wildland-Urban Interface.

The Boise Fire Department is actively working to make sure those homes can survive a wildfire. They are testing a new app that creates a plan for each individual property.

Assistant Boise Fire Chief Romeo Gervais joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.