Red Tag, Green Tag
I was reading through an article about some wildland firefighters that are expecting an early fire season (from KOLD.com). The end of the article really caught my eye:
Captain Rodeffer of Northwest Fire says he sees the day coming when crews issue red tags or green tags to homes.A red tag would mean there are too many hazards, so in case of a wildfire, firefighters wouldn't be able to defend the home and would leave it to burn.
While that day may be a bit far off, wildfire season is just about here already.
I've heard some talk of this type of thing, but nothing serious, just coffee table talk. This is already done during major wildland/urban interface fires while the incident is in progress. There aren't red and green tags, but the structures are "triaged" and the buildings that can't be protected are ignored while the firefighters move on to others that can be protected.
Doing structural triage before an incident happens is a good idea, but how do you identify the structures that should be protected and those that shouldn't. Hanging tags off of the houses won't work. Perhaps if they were affixed to the inside of a window facing the street or driveway, it would work.
This brings up a question though. How would you keep a homeowner that has received a red tag from placing a green tag in their window?
What are your thoughts on this issue? Will pre-incident structural triage work?
