A Wildfire Plan for an HOA or Subdivision in Western Montana

Why plan wildfire work at the subdivision level?

Fuel and fire ignore lot lines. DNRC's structure assessment form defines the home ignition zone as the home and its surroundings out to 200 feet, and on a typical one or two acre lot in a timbered subdivision that reaches well onto the neighbors' ground and into any shared open space. The same form notes that managing the outer zones can take cooperation between neighbors, and the 2020 CPAW recommendations to Missoula County said the same about the 30 to 100 foot zone.

Subdivisions also share the things that decide whether people get out and engines get in: the road, the gates, the water supply and the alert list. An HOA is the one body that can plan those as a system. It can also negotiate one contractor schedule for many lots, which is usually easier to manage than forty separate bookings.

What do county and fire district rules already expect of subdivisions?

More than many boards realize. CPAW's analysis described Missoula County's subdivision regulations as prohibiting development in fire chimneys, requiring fire suppression through improved access and water supply, requiring defensible space within 100 feet of roads and water supplies, and ensuring maintenance through developer agreements and HOA covenants. In other words, many approved subdivisions carry ongoing fire obligations in their own documents.

In Ravalli County, the Hamilton Rural Fire District's 2016 standards for new subdivisions make the developer or HOA responsible for installing, maintaining and keeping up any fire water supply system, require HOA documents to say how and by whom it will be maintained, and require a recorded easement giving the fire department unrestricted use of it. The same standards adopt the fire code rule that developments of more than 30 one- or two-family dwellings need two separate access roads unless every home is sprinklered. Pull your plat, covenants and any development agreement and read them for these items before writing a plan; they may already require some of the work.

Who is responsible for what in an HOA?

Sort the ground into three kinds. Common areas, open space, entrance strips and private roads owned by the association are the board's to manage, and the board's to budget for. Individual lots are the owners' responsibility, although covenants may set standards for them. Shared infrastructure, such as a cistern, a dry hydrant at a pond, a gate or a bridge, belongs to whoever the documents name, which is often the association.

Covenants can work for or against fire safety. Some older covenants restrict tree removal or require landscaping that is a poor fit for fire country. We are not aware of a Montana statute that overrides a covenant on defensible space, so changing one goes through the association's own amendment process. That is a question for the association's attorney, not for us. What the board can do is write fire-safe standards into its architectural and landscape guidelines; our guide to HOA landscape and fence approval covers how those reviews usually work.

How does a neighborhood become a Firewise USA site?

Firewise USA is the National Fire Protection Association's recognition program. NFPA's criteria, as published when we checked, are a site of at least 8 and no more than 2,500 dwelling units; a volunteer board or committee that includes residents and partners such as the fire department or a forestry agency, with one resident leader as the contact; a community wildfire risk assessment done with a local wildfire expert and updated at least every five years; a three-year action plan, broken down by year and updated at least every three years; and an annual investment equal to one volunteer hour per dwelling unit in risk reduction work.

The resident leader applies through the Firewise portal, the state liaison approves, and NFPA completes processing. Sites report their activity each year to stay in good standing. NFPA notes that sites are recognized, not certified. Our guide to Firewise USA communities in Montana goes through the application and how Montana sites find a liaison.

What should the risk assessment and action plan cover?

Use the structure the assessors already use. DNRC's form looks at topography (slope near homes, aspect, position on the slope, chutes and saddles), weather and prevailing wind, the roof, gutters, vents, decks and fences of each home, the vegetation zone by zone from 0 to 200 feet, heat sources such as woodpiles and propane tanks, water sources, and access. For an HOA, add the common-area fuel, the road edges and the evacuation routes.

Then sort the findings into a three-year plan with owners, dates and a budget line. A workable first year usually includes roadside clearing and limbing along the main road, the fuel break or thinning in the highest-risk common area, a chipper day for lot owners, and an education event. Our guides on ladder fuels, defensible space zones and acreage fuel breaks are written to be handed to a committee.

How should an HOA plan access and evacuation?

Many subdivisions in the valley have one road in and out. DNRC's form flags that because one route can be blocked by a downed line, emergency vehicles, fire or a fallen tree. If a second route exists as an emergency-only road, keep it cleared and passable, keep its gates openable by the fire department, and make sure residents know it exists. Overhanging limbs and roadside brush along the main road are a common first project; our driveway access guide lists the clearance numbers fire districts use.

Missoula County uses a two-stage process, an evacuation warning followed by an evacuation order, and its emergency management office says you do not have to wait for an order to leave. The county pushes alerts through Smart911: landlines get them automatically, but cell phones only if the owner opts in. Ravalli County uses the Hyper-Reach system, and part-time residents and property owners with a Ravalli County address can sign up. A board can do a great deal of good simply by getting every household registered. See our Ready, Set, Go evacuation guide.

What about water supply and shared equipment?

If the subdivision has a cistern, dry hydrant or pond designated for fire use, someone has to inspect it, keep vegetation back and keep the access open. CPAW described Missoula County's regulations as requiring defensible space within 100 feet of designated fire water supplies, and the Hamilton Rural standards put maintenance on the developer or HOA and state that the fire department will not cover maintenance or electricity costs. Our guide to ponds, cisterns and water supply explains what these systems are.

Insurance is a separate conversation. Montana's 2025 House Bill 136, as summarized by the Council of State Governments West, permits insurers to offer premium reductions for homeowners who use fire-resistant building materials and defensible landscaping. Whether any carrier gives credit for neighborhood-scale work is a question for the insurer; our guide on documenting mitigation for your insurer explains what records to keep.

How should the board talk to residents about it?

Most owners will do more if they can see what the neighbors are doing and know what is expected. Share the risk assessment in plain language, show the map, and tell each owner what the top three items are for their own lot. DNRC offers a free home wildfire risk assessment with a local fire professional, which owners can request individually, and a DNRC representative contacts you within 7 business days. Our guide to free wildfire risk assessments lists the options.

Keep the requests proportionate. Firewood off the deck and needles out of the gutters cost an owner a Saturday and do real good, so start there. Reserve the harder conversations, such as dead trees on a neighbor's lot or a juniper hedge against the siding, for a face-to-face visit from someone on the committee. Our guide to junipers and other high-risk shrubs is useful to hand over in that second conversation.

How do you turn the plan into work every year?

Put fire work on the same calendar as snow removal and irrigation. Book the larger thinning and fuel break work for fall and winter, when ground is firm and bird nesting is over, schedule needle and roof cleanup in spring, and keep summer for mowing, watering and inspection. Keep photos and invoices for each area every year, which also gives you the record Firewise reporting asks for.

We work with associations and property managers across Missoula and Ravalli counties on exactly this: common-area thinning and limbing, roadside clearing, hazard tree removal, chipping, and the regular landscape, irrigation and HOA snow removal that keeps the place running. Our HOA and commercial tree management plan guide explains how we structure multi-year tree work, and the fire mitigation page covers our approach to fuel reduction. The wider Montana Wildfire Guide has a chapter for each part of the plan.

Call HJ Property Care & Tree Service at (406) 215-7319 or request a free estimate and we will walk the property with you.

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