Despite a relatively quiet wildfire season this year in the region, local and state agencies on Saturday warned that fire danger is always present and helped area residents prepare for future fires.

Held in the courtyard between the Lockwood intermediate and primary schools, "Fire Ready, Montana" was sponsored by the Governor's Office of Community Service that featured about a dozen local and regional resources for wildfire preparedness and prevention.

"It's for neighborhoods to be prepared in case a disaster, like a fire," said Lorri Ward Brown, Citizen Corps training manager for the Governor's Office of Community Service. "You need to be prepared."

The event, which was open to the public and funded through a federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security, featured about a dozen booths of organizations ranging from the Lockwood Fire District to the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and all of them had plenty of information and advice to hand out.

Later in the day, fire experts sat down with community members to map out neighborhoods, create emergency phone lists and develop emergency action plans.

"There's a lot of personal responsibility for living in wildland/urban interface areas," DNRC spokesman Pat Cross said. A lot of it is just common sense, but it's a continual process. You've got to keep up with it."

Keeping up with it includes clearing space around your home of possible fuel for fires, such as tall dry weeds and brush, hanging tree branches and wood piles, which should be moved about 150 feet away, Lockwood Fire Capt. Robert Guenther said.

In 2006, 2007 and 2008, fire crews battled wildfires that torched more than 4,500 total acres in the Emerald Hills subdivision in Lockwood. Guenther said those fires, still fresh in the memories of many Lockwood residents, helped bring "Fire Ready, Montana" to the area.

Lockwood resident Beverly Fergus is a member of the fire-preparedness committee that also helped bring in the event, which has made five other stops around the state since Aug. 24.

"It's to help the community become more fire ready and fire safe," she explained.

Community members in attendance agreed that while it's been pretty tame fire-wise this year, being ready is important because you never know when a new blaze will strike.

"A lot of people aren't thinking about fires because we haven't really had any so far," said Keith Kolstad, a member of the Blue Creek Volunteer Fire Department, who attended to see what useful information he could find there. "It's been a mild fire season, but 2010 could be a much worse one."