Recent wildfires in California only accentuate the area’s need to be prepared, officials said. Curry County Road Superintendent Danny Davis said such a plan is in development for the county. Focus is being given to areas surrounded by rural grasslands, which are more vulnerable to large scale fires, Davis said. “We tried to pick the areas of the most concern where the grass lays in this county,” Davis said. Davis said a good plan can help the county compete for state and federal grants for rural fire departments to get equipment, training and items like road signs conveying fire threat levels. Fred Rossbach of the Placitas Group said he and his wife, Shelley Rossbach, are working with Curry County to formulate the plan. The county is classified as having a moderate to low fire threat, Rossbach said. The CWP is about one-third complete and will include organization between rural response departments, fire behavior prediction maps and community input. After public meetings are held, he said a draft plan will be created and put out for public comment, followed by a final plan. When multiple agencies converge on one location, making sure they know where to be, what to do and how to communicate with one another is critical, he said. A November 2006 fire in Floyd that burned more than 25,000 acres was a good example of what rural departments can face, he said. “They saw in the Floyd fire how you can have a dozen different fire departments come together from three different counties,” Rossbach said. “You want it to be as organized as possible — you want to know what the whole thing is doing.” Community input is also significant, Rossbach said, because rural residents may have resources already n place for fire protection, or may benefit from open communication with experts. “There’s lots of little things people can do around their homes to help fire safe them,” he said. Mowing and other options will be discussed at the meetings, he said. The point is to have everybody on the same page and prepared in case the day comes where they have to join with their neighbors to fight grassland fire, he said. “Curry County’s risk is moderate. I think what you see is the example of the Floyd fire. For a community like Melrose, it is a concern,” he said. “There are things (a town like) Melrose can do before a fire slams into town.” Curry County wildfire planning open house public meetings: • Grady Senior Center — 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 9 • Melrose Senior Center — 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Information: Connie Harrison 763-6016 or Fred Rossbach 980-8829