Pine Island is one of only a handful of FireWise communities on the Outer Banks
Home owner fire-wise is available Firewise Home Assessment.pdf
Firewise Safety Topics:
Pine Trees: You may have noticed dead or dying pine trees in Pine Island and all along the Outer Banks. Many of these are Japanese black pines that are susceptible to a pest problem called "pinewood nematode". Pinewood nematode is a microscopic organism that interferes with the black pine's circulatory system preventing the delivery of water from the roots. The pinewood nematode is transferred by a beetle called a pine sawyer. Once the tree is infected there is no way to reverse the problem. Infected trees should be removed as soon as possible. All remnants of the tree must be removed and delivered to a landfill. All owners should inspect the pine trees on their properties for signs of disease and infestation and take immediate action. Not only should the trees be removed to stop the spread to other trees, but dead and dying trees are both unsightly and could be inadvertent fuel for a brush fire. Fire mitigation and prevention is a major focus of the Pine Island Firewise Program.
Meter Boxes: The Firewise program has been monitoring the condition of electric meter boxes not only from a fire prevention stand point, but a safety one as well. Due to the elements of being an oceanfront community, Pine Island homes' electric meter boxes should be monitored by homeowners for rusted through holes to the top, sides and bottoms of the housing of the meter box. These rusted through boxes can start a fire &/or give a deadly shock if rusted out holes are large enough to have a hand reach inside. Painting the meter box is not suggested if holes are present due to paint leaking inside the meter box. Homeowners, please contact your electrician and Dominion Power for replacement of the electric meter box and meter base if your meter box shows signs of major rust and holes in the housing. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”, Ben Franklin.
Visible Street Address Numbers for Emergencies: The Pine Island Firewise Program would like to encourage all homeowners to add house numbers that are visible from the street for emergencies purposes. When calls for emergencies to the Fire Department and EMS occur and time is of the essence, a visible house number posted is a major help to first responders. It has been observed that a number of homes only have rental number signs on the house or numbers are not visible due to vegetation buffers around some homes. In these cases, why not add a reflective road side address number sign? These signs may be posted 8 feet off the roadside beside the driveway mounted on a 4” x 4” post. The reflective address signs can be purchased at the Pine Island Corolla Fire & Rescue Department at 470 Ocean Trail. The sign cost is $21.35 and money goes to support our local Corolla Fire and Rescue. The Pine Island Station Shop number is 252-453-0468. Current hours are Wednesday-Friday 10am to 4pm & Saturday 10am-3pm. Call Pine Island Station at 252-453-0468 for more information.
FIREWISE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Roger Crafe (Chair)
Wallace Thomas
Adam Goldman
Eddie White (Facilities Manager)