Fire Safety Effort in Rapid City Gets Initial OK

Rapid City, S.D., firefighters have gotten initial city approval for an effort to encourage residents in areas prone to wildfires to take steps to make their properties safer.

The Rapid City Journal reports that the city’s Legal and Finance Committee has given its approval for the fire department to seek matching grant funds for the voluntary Survivable Space Initiative.

The $600,000 initiative is a cost-sharing program to help landowners reduce fire risk in the most wooded and fire-prone areas of the city. Property owners would have to pay the cost of upgrades up front but could get half their money back later. They also would get personnel and equipment help from the fire department.