If people who live in glass houses should not throw stones, how should people who live in wooden houses treat fire? The answer, of course, is carefully – much more carefully than they often do.

Toward that end, an alliance of state and federal land management agencies, including the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado State Forest Service, produced "Living with Fire, A Guide for the Homeowner." It was distributed in this area as an insert in the Cortez Journal, the Mancos Times and the Durango Herald.

It should be read by anyone living, or considering living, in Southwest Colorado. More to the point, its recommendations should be put into practice. The advice in it could someday save millions of dollars of property and who knows how many lives.

The message in "Living with Fire" is that homeowners can and should take responsibility for protecting their houses. In rural areas fire departments are not always just a few minutes away. Moreover, firefighters should not be asked to put themselves in danger because a homeowner allowed a bad situation to develop or refused to acknowledge the threat of fire.

Central to that is the creation of "defensible space." That can be as simple as trimming back some brush, but it really means understanding the particular needs and vulnerability of the house and acting accordingly.

"Living with Fire" shows how to calculate how much defensible space is required around a house. It varies with the slope and according to the type and configuration of the vegetation nearby.

A home on flat land and surrounded by grass, for example, needs 30 feet or so of defensible space. For a place in the forest and on a steep slope, that rises to 200 feet.

Within that zone the rule is "lean, clean and green." It should be landscaped so as to provide minimum fuel, maximum access and with plants kept green to keep sparks from taking hold.

Construction techniques, types of roofing and emergency water supplies also ought to be considered. So should the width and grade of roads or driveways.

In the end, though, the key is understanding that for those who live in or near forests and wildlands, fire comes with the territory. It is not a question of if, but of when – and what happens then.