newsletter

Articles and helpful hints on how to incorporate Firewise® principles.
FALL 2014
Firewise How-To
THIS ISSUE
Firewise Community Example P. 2, 4, 6
Questions and Answers P.7
The Firewise Leader P.8
Firewise Communities/USA® P.10
Upcoming Events
American Society of
Landscape Architects
November 21-25, 2014
Denver, CO
•••
IAFC/WUI Conference
March 24-26, 2015
Reno, NV
Preconference Workshop
Assessing Wildfire
Hazards in the HIZ
March 22-23, 2015
Reno, NV
•••
IAWF 13th International
Wildland Fire Safety
Summit & 4th Human
Dimensions of Wildland
Conference
April 20-24, 2015
Boise, ID
•••
Wildfire Community
Preparedness Day
May 2, 2015
WildfirePrepDay.org
•••
The Firewise Community –
Message to Firewise Participants From
NFPA’s President
This past July, Jim Pauley began his
career with the National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA), as the association’s seventh president. As he took the reins of the
international nonprofit established in 1896,
Mr. Pauley immediately recognized that
the Firewise Communities/USA® Program
embodies the organization’s mission of
“reducing the worldwide burden of fire and
other hazards on quality of life by providing
and advocating for consensus codes and
standards, research, training, and education.”
The Firewise Communities Program is one
of NFPA’s many prevention and public
safety programs, and Mr. Pauley has spoken openly of how impressed he is by the
accomplishments made by the more than
1,100 participating sites located throughout
the nation. In this two minute video, he
extends his thanks and appreciation to the
participating communities for their commitment to reducing wildfire risk throughout
the nation.
•••
Greater Eastern
Jemez
NEW MEXICO
A FIREWISE® COMMUNITY EXAMPLE:
Pilot Community Continues Renewal
Commitment
some of the challenges?
Few communities have a
Ann Cooke: The Greater
Eastern Jemez is located in the
Jemez Mountains. Within the
six neighboring communities
— Areas 1, 2 and 3, La Cueva,
Seven Springs, Thompson
Ridge, Sierra Los Pinos Area, and
Cochiti Mesa – there’s approximately 500 homes. It’s difficult
to count actual residents since
many don’t reside in their homes
year-round, or ever. Using an
estimate of four people per
household, there are perhaps
2,000 people who could be
affected by a potential wildland
fire. One of our challenges is
homes/properties with absentee
owners mixed in with resident
owners, and unimproved properties with never-seen owners;
many of whom we can’t identify
or contact.
better handle on renewal
than those that served as
pilot sites in 2001. Among
those is Greater Eastern
Jemez Wildland/Urban
Interface Corporation (GEJ),
composed of six neighboring
communities in southeastern
New Mexico. How-To spoke
with Ann Cooke, who along
with her husband Brad has
served as longtime GEJ
advocates.
How-To: Greater Eastern
Jemez Wildland/Urban Interface
(GEJ) was one of the pilot sites
for the Firewise Communities
Program 13 years ago. Ann what led the GEJ communities to
participate?
Ann Cooke: Our com-
regard to taking part in Firewise,
it was word of mouth – hearing from our respected friends
in the Forest Service about this
new program being a good idea
that might help get fuel mitigation work underway on private
property. There also was the
lure of grant money. I personally
signed on because I couldn’t figure out any other way to get my
neighbors to both change their
opinion about the forest where
they lived, and to start implementing those changed views
into fuel mitigation on their own
properties.
munities had a shared wildland
fire concern along with the
experience of watching over
350 homes burn in Los Alamos
in the Sierra Grande Fire (2000).
We often discussed the threat
wildfire posed to our small
developments and some of us
actually began mitigation efforts
How-To: How many resiin the 1990s, after noticing the
dents/communities took part in
work being done by the USDA
the initial effort and what were
Forest Service in our area. With
2
How-To: Over the last dozen
years, GEJ has succeeded in
continually renewing its Firewise
status. How has it kept things
fresh for participants, and have
you reached new residents?
Ann Cooke: We aim to pro-
vide new and different opportunities for property owners to
deal with slash, or to help them
find contractors to cut trees, or
just provide friendly information
and discussion. Whatever they
are willing to consider, we are
willing to discuss.
How-To: Why is renewal
important to GEJ?
Ann Cooke: Renewal is
important because it offers us
something to point to and a
source of pride. I present our
Firewise status as a gift given
by concerned neighbors to
our communities, in which any
community member can be a
participant — just by helping
themselves.
evaluate for themselves whether go slower, but we also began
it is worth their effort.
our work eight years before our
We have to accept the presence participation in the Firewise
of fire as a healthy, natural thing program, so we’ve been putting
practices into play and influenc— when not catastrophic — to
ing each other for a very long
aid us in avoiding a truly catatime.
strophic fire.
How-To:
My dream is that we will reach
the point where those of us living in the wildland/urban interface welcome fire in our neighborhoods, and that we learn
how to live with fire because we
understand that we don’t have
the choice of excluding it. We
only delude ourselves when we
think we have a choice.
How has continued focus on Firewise practices
served the communities well?
Ann Cooke:
After all these
years of our involvement with
Firewise, viewpoints are changing and consensus is changing
to the belief that fire is part of
our environment and that the
true forest isn’t really what we
have now, with too many trees.
How-To: Several years ago a
fire backed by tornado-strength
winds swept through the area
and GEJ homes were affected.
What were some important
lessons learned from that
experience?
Ann Cooke: Luck mat-
ters. There were those who
had done everything and their
homes burned to the ground,
while others who’d done little
made it through. There are no
guarantees.
How-To: What has been
most rewarding about your 12
years of involvement?
Ann Cooke: It’s been very
rewarding to see the changes
in people and their acceptance
of what needs to be done. For
example, they don’t complain
to the Forest Service when their
staff does a controlled burn.
There’s a social change in that
regard.
When I go to a homeowners
meeting in Los Pinos and tell
them “We can get Firewise
renewal if you report what
Fuel mitigation is one part of the you’re doing,” and they report
solution, but understanding why on $25,000-worth of volunteer
and how buildings burn is also
hours, it demonstrates that peosomething homeowners should ple are taking action and doing
be trying to understand.
things.
How-To: Did that fire
event encourage participation
from those who had previously declined to enact Firewise
principles?
When it comes to individual
communities within GEJ and
influential action, envy can
sometimes be a factor. Part
of what got Thompson Ridge
started was they saw what the
Forest Service did for us in Sierra
Los Pinos and they began to ask,
“why aren’t you doing that for
us, too?” The Forest Service has
and continues to put a lot of
effort into communities up here.
Over time as they thinned trees/
vegetation along the roadside
people would see the differences and realized it wasn’t such
a bad thing to do.
•••
How-To thanks Ann Cooke, president
of the GEJ Wildland/Urban Interface
Corporation, for providing the information for this Community Example.
It’s the
Season to
Renew!
Whether your community has
long-time involvement with the
Firewise Communities/USA®
program, or has just recently
achieved recognition status, the
term “annual renewal” is talked
about a lot this time of year.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
defines renewal as “the act of
extending the period of time
when something is effective or
valid: the act of renewing something: the state of being made
new, fresh, or strong again: the
state of being renewed.
In this issue of How-To, you’ll
find stories about renewals that
fit these various definitions. For
information about the Firewise
Communities renewal campaign, read the Q&A with NFPA’s
Tova Thorpe.
And then there’s the growing
acceptance that thinner landscape (less trees) is an attractive
view. So, there’s less resistance
to “cutting” forest.
How-To: How has GEJ influenced
neighboring communities
dence that some prepared buildto
take
action?
ings still burned, the doubters
pointed to this as evidence that,
Ann Cooke: We’re comreally, there is nothing to be
prised of neighboring communidone to guarantee a positive
ties and understand discussing
outcome. And, you know, they
our similar concerns could
are right. I can’t guarantee a posbenefit us all. Since there’s not a
itive outcome. But I can reduce
centralized homeowners’ assothe odds of a bad outcome. That
ciation, discussing issues among
isn’t as satisfying as a guarantee,
our community members does
though, so everyone needs to
Ann Cooke: With the evi-
3
Kittitas County
Conservation District
A FIREWISE® COMMUNITY EXAMPLE:
WASHINGTON
Washington State: Success Stories in the
Pacific Northwest
In 2009, a county com-
How-To: When did the
missioner approached the
Kittitas County Conservation
District (KCCD) for help with
the Firewise Communities/
USA Program® and fuel
reduction in the county.
How-To spoke with Suzanne
Wade, a GIS Specialist with
KCCD.
Kittitas County Conservation
District become involved with
promoting Firewise practices in
Washington and why?
Suzanne Wade: In 2009,
one of our county commissioners approached us to help with
Firewise Communities and fuels
reduction in our county. As
a non-regulatory agency that
works with and provides technical, education and financial
assistance to landowners in our
county, it seemed like an ideal
fit.
Our aim is to ensure the longterm use of natural resources in
an economically, socially, and
environmentally sustainable
manner using non-regulatory,
voluntary approaches, and this
aligns well with the Firewise
Communities Program and its
approach of using volunteer
activism.
How-To: How many communities took part following the
initial efforts?
Suzanne Wade: In the
beginning, we concentrated on
two communities. We found the
community of Sky Meadows
had previously been a Firewise
Community—but it’s participation in the program lapsed. So, I
contacted them and we worked
on shaded fuel breaks along
some roads.
I’d also been contacted by the
Wagon Wheel Community located in Teanaway and I teamed
up with a community leader
who was very helpful in getting
the word out to landowners.
4
There was only one landowner
who didn’t want to participate.
We completed over 90 Firewise
assessments and a 40-acre
shaded fuel break. Wagon Wheel
earned their Firewise recognition in 2010.
To this day, we continue to offer
a roving chipper for community members to use for debris
they’ve cleared. And we offer
individual cost-share opportunities for folks who haven’t participated in the past, and for others
to maintain their defensible
space.
How-To: Has there been
wildfires in the area that reinforced the need for action?
Suzanne Wade: In 2012,
the Taylor Bridge Fire burned
23,000 acres and 61 homes
in our county. It swept across
shrub-steppe lands, as well as
some agricultural and forested
lands. We had just finished working with DNR on a major shaded
fuel break inside the perimeter
of the fire. They had completed
the fuels break, and we had
worked with individual landowners who wanted to reduce
fuels and increase defensible
space around their homes.
As the fire raged we listened to
the scanner and talked with one
of the fuels reduction contractors who watched the fire burn
through the area. I could hear
the fire personnel calling off
addresses on the scanner where
the fire had burned through and
I recognized quite a few of them,
so I was concerned the intense
fire might have burned some of
the homes in our project.
Fortunately, one of the firefighters notified me that all the
projects I’d worked on survived
the fire. KCCD had a total of
six projects in the perimeter.
The fire began burning in the
shaded fuel break and stayed
on the ground because of the
lack of ladder fuels. It burned
quickly through the acreages
that had been treated, leaving
the homes and many of the
ponderosa pines. I visited one
of the larger acreages that had
been treated (approximately 10
acres) and could see the home
still standing, while neighbors’
homes on both sides burned to
the ground.
How-To: Over the past five
years, how many communities
have achieved Firewise recognition status and taken action
to protect their homes and
property?
Suzanne Wade: We started with zero in 2009, but were
able to reactivate Sky Meadows
and then in 2010 Wagon Wheel
became a recognized community, then we added four more in
2012, and seven in 2013. We’re
anticipating three more by the
end of this year.
How-To: Will you share a
success story that illustrates
how Firewise principles can help
protect homes in the event of
wildfire?
Suzanne Wade:
Following the Taylor Bridge
Fire, I received calls, texts and
personal visits from landowners thanking KCCD for their
help. Here’s one of the notes I
received:
GREGG, ROBERT
KUNTZ, GLEN
SCHNEBLY, T
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Firewise Home Assessment
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This data is provided “as is" without warranty of any kind. Further, the Kittitas County Conservation District does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or results from the use of the data in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise. Photo may not be ortho-rectified.
GREGG, ROBERT
KUNTZ, GLEN
DEFELICE, ROBERT
SCHNEBLY, T
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FREILINGER, NORMAN
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Produced by the Kittitas County Conservation District on 10/6/2011
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DL
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FEDERAL HOME LOAN
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NELSON, ANTHONY J
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RAUNIG, DONALD
AY
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Chipping
POWELL, ROGER
Wagon Wheel Community
BO ON
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DOGG
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BURGET, ZDENEK
0
WAG KELLY, JOHN
ON
WH
EE
L
125
250
500
Feet
This data is provided “as is" without warranty of any kind. Further, the Kittitas County Conservation District does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or results from the use of the data in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise. Photo may not be ortho-rectified.
T21 R15 S23
NA
WA
Project Site
211524
3.6 acres
4.3 acres
TE
A
3.4 acres
Y RD
Produced by the Kittitas County Conservation District on 10/6/2011
MID
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Approximately 10 miles after turning
North onto the Teanaway Rd off
of SR 970
L
AN
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AY
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The Snag Canyon Fire and South
Cle Elum Ridge Fires brought
about quite a few requests for
assistance this year. I was invited
to speak at one of the fire briefings during the South Cle Elum
Ridge fire where we expected
HALL, JERRY
NELSON, DREW
HOPP, JOHN
L
CHRISTIANSON, RONALD
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GOODFRIEND, HOWARD
E
MIK
N,
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the Taylor Bridge and Table
Mountain fires in 2012 that
burned more than 65,000 acres
in Kittitas County the interest/
response we got during and
following those fires was amazing. I went from doing five or six
Firewise assessments a month
to seven a day during the fires,
which has since tapered off to
about five to seven a week during the current fire season.
SCRIBNER, WILLIAM
BORKAN, M
H
Suzanne Wade: During
EVERSON, LEON
EVERSON, LEON
EVERSON, GERALD
R
BO
•••
How-To thanks Suzanne Wade, GIS
Specialist with the Kittitas County
Conservation District, in Washington
State, for providing the information and
photographs for this article.
DEFELICE, ROBERT
W
major fires this year. How
did those events reinforce
the message about Firewise?
We continue to provide assessments and work with many
agencies to get grants for fuel
reduction projects. We’ve set
up an interagency agreement
with a local fire department that
provides a crew to limb up, thin,
and chip trees, and to help landowners reduce fuel loads and
increase defensible space.
FORBES, BOB
FREILINGER, NORMAN
N
O
How-To: You’ve had two
about 40 people and over 300
attended! This demonstrated
how KCCD can provide help during a fire. Since we don’t fight
fires, we can focus on answering
questions and providing assistance to landowners while other
agencies are fighting fire.
AG
W
“Our cabin is the realization of a
dream we first had in high school.
We have been planning it, building it, refining it, and loving it
and the land for 25 years. It is at
the center of our plans for enjoying the remainder of our lives.
Clearly, we do so appreciate your
foresight, initiative, and hard
work to get so much land prepped
just in time for the “big one.” We
feel so very fortunate that our
dream come true can live on, and
certainly wish those who have
lost theirs could have benefitted
similarly from your program. We
cannot thank you enough.”
2.5 acres in the
road buffer
1.9 acres
8 acres
SR 970
T21 R15 S25
SA
ND
YR
ID
12.8 acres
MID
DL
E
T21 R15 S26
FO
RK
GE
TE
AN
AW
AY
Wagon Wheel Fuels
Reduction Project (39.3 acres)
1.1 acres
1.7 acres
D
0
Road
Shaded Fuel Break- MF
Road Buffer
300
Feet
600
Section
This data is provided “as is" without warranty of any kind. Further, the Kittitas County Conservation District does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representations regarding the use of, or results from the use of the data in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability, currentness, or otherwise.
5
Kittitas County
Conservation District
WASHINGTON
Melinda Mays and her husband Tyler live in the state of
Washington. Melinda anecdotally shares the story of a
recent fire that threatened
two of their family cabins
and how implementation of
Firewise principles helped
protect both.
A FIREWISE® COMMUNITY EXAMPLE:
A Tale of Two Properties
My story is about two properties
- my husband’s family’s land and
my own family’s property, each
located in the area of the 2014
Snag Canyon Fire.
On my husband’s side of the
family a cost-share program
through the NRCS has been
utilized over the past four years
to thin 60-acre sections of land.
The recent Snag Canyon Fire
burned like crazy around the
entire section of land that had
been thinned and maintained.
Fire did burn through sections of
the thinned land, but since we’d
limbed and cleared there was
more space between healthy
trees and it mostly stayed on the
ground and eventually burned
out. Our family cabin was saved
by these efforts. We figure we
lost around 80 acres of harvestable timber, but our cabin was
untouched.
My family owns land on the
opposite side of the canyon. One
morning, as the fire was burning
on the “Wilson” side, I drove to
our cabin to retrieve family logbooks, pictures and sentimental
items. While there, I raked pine
needles away from the footings/
base of the cabin into piles. I
tried to get a 10 to 12-foot swath
around the cabin down to bare
dirt. Later that day, family members removed the pine needle
piles along with more fuels/pine
needles from the perimeter of
the cabin. While that section
of land hasn’t been logged in
several years, we do keep the
timber and brush thin around
the cabin.
6
The fire did burn through our
property and got close to the
cabin, but it stopped short
of reaching it. The raking and
clearing we did that day likely
helped, but so did the work
we’d done far in advance.
Upwards of 10 to 12 cabins were
lost in the Snag Canyon Fire.
•••
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH:
Tova Thorpe
How-To: Describe the
Firewise Community renewal
process and its objective?
Tova Thorpe: Every year
In this issue we spoke with Tova
Thorpe, who supports community requests and administration for the Firewise program.
From her daily conversations
with Firewise Community
contacts, Tova discusses the
Firewise renewal process.
during the fourth quarter we
work with program participants
to complete their annual renewal application which keeps their
recognition status up-to-date
and active.
How-To: There are now
more than 1,100 communities
participating in the Firewise
Communities/USA ® program.
How many have completed the
renewal process for 2014; and
how many have reached 5, 10
and 12-year benchmarks?
years of continuous recognition for their participation in the program – 373.
How-To: What must a community do to achieve renewal
status?
Tova Thorpe: To achieve
renewal status, a community
must complete several steps.
The forms and instructions can
be found online, plus our staff is
available to provide assistance
throughout the process.
Each community must conduct
a Firewise Day event. It can be
done anytime during the year,
and the event can be customized to meet local needs. It
can range from a community
Tova Thorpe: Currently,
there are 280 Firewise communi- clean-up day, to a fair, an activity where Firewise principles are
ties that have submitted their
put into action, or a door-to2014 renewal applications; we
anticipate that number will grow door effort to promote local risk
reduction activities.
exponentially over the next 60
days as we move closer to the
Time and effort related to
renewal deadline of December
Firewise actions must also be
31, 2014.
documented. Each year, the
Participants with 12-years of
recognition were part of the
inaugural year of the national
Firewise Communities/USA program and served as the pilot in
2002.
To-date, the following participation benchmarks of 12, 10 and 5
years has been achieved:
community’s Firewise Board
must demonstrate a level of
effort equal to at least $2 per
capita. That can be accomplished through tracking of volunteer hours (worth $22.55 as of
December 2013), grants, in-kind
services, contract labor, or rental
equipment. If it’s Firewise work,
it counts!
Tova Thorpe:
Communities can contact their
state liaison; a listing for each
state can be found on our website, www.firewise.org, or give
me a call at 617-984-7494.
How-To: Why is renewal so
important?
Tova Thorpe: Renewal
shows that the community is
actively working to keep their
homes, property, and common
areas safer from wildfire.
How-To: Once a community
has completed their requirements and is ready to begin the
renewal process how do they get
started?
Tova Thorpe:
They visit
Firewise.org to renew online
or download a copy of the
renewal form that can be submitted via email, fax or mail to
NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations
Division: [email protected],
fax: 617-984-7056; or NFPA Firewise, 1 Batterymarch Park,
Quincy, MA 02269.
•••
• Communities reaching 12
years of continuous recogni- The renewal application process
tion for their participation in is easy and can be completed
online. It’s also an opportunity
the program – 9;
to update a community’s con• Communities reaching 10
tact information.
years of continuous recognition for their participation in How-To: How can commuthe program – 55; and
nities get assistance with the
• Communities reaching 5
renewal process?
7
Arkansas Forestry
Commission
ARKANSAS
There are many ways to
fulfill your Firewise Day
activity requirement - some
communities put on an
annual event, and others
keep things fresh by offering
something new. For insights
on planning a Firewise
Day, How-To spoke with
Sheila Doughty, Arkansas
Firewise Information Officer
with the Arkansas Forestry
Commission. Arkansas currently has 139 communities
with Firewise Communities/
USA recognition status
– leading the nation in
the total number of active
communities.
THE FIREWISE LEADER:
Arkansas is a Firewise State of Mind
How-To: Arkansas communities have employed some unique
activities to encourage participation. Tell us about some of the
innovative ideas.
Sheila Doughty: Every
year during the fourth quarter
we work with program participants to complete their annual
renewal application which keeps
their recognition status up-todate and active.
Communities must renew
each year to retain their active
Firewise status and an education
or mitigation project ties them
into the local fire department’s
education and mitigation goals.
One of the things I love about
Firewise is that each community
can tailor the program, both
education and mitigation, to
meet its needs.
One of our communities does a
Firewise Day that is part of the
Halloween program at a local
school. The entire community
turns out and each trick-ortreater gets Firewise handouts
and candy, and is registered for
a door prize. We also have communities that do hayride bonfires in conjunction with Firewise
education and treats or hayrides
with Santa giving out Christmas
toys and Firewise literature. All
across the state, our communities look at their resources and
educational needs and make
the program work for their local
community.
We also encourage new participants from Girl and Boy Scout
troops, youth groups, and community groups connected to
local churches and clubs. We
stress that fire departments in
8
most communities are run by
volunteers and reinforce how
residents can make firefighters
jobs easier and safer by doing
their part to make homes both
safer from fires and safer to
defend against a fire.
How-To: What are some
favorite ideas you would recommend to others trying to
determine what to offer their
own communities? And what
are some things to keep in mind
when planning a successful
Firewise Day?
Sheila Doughty: Look
at what activities your community already does and tie-in to
those. For example, one of our
communities does a haunted
house and is going to combine
it with their Firewise Education
Day. Another community incorporated Firewise education into
its Christmas parade, handing
out Firewise educational materials. Many communities connect their activity with the fire
department open house, chili
supper or fish fry, auctions; and
fair booths are also popular.
It’s important to remember to
be real and not talk down to
people; and to know what’s happening in your community - if
a large number of folks attend
opening day of deer season, or
the local football game, don’t
schedule an event on that day.
Have food and be sure to offer
fun for the kids.
If you do a formal presentation,
keep it short and ask for questions. Be sensitive to people and
listen to them. Everyone in the
community can contribute and
by listening, you show you care
- if people sense you care about
them, they will listen to your
message.
Think your community
should try for Firewise
Communities/USA®
status?
For additional information on the Firewise
Communities/USA recognition program, please
visit www.firewise.org. And
remember, you can contact your state forest service liaison for assistance;
he or she is an excellent
resource for guidance in
formulating your plan and
offering activities that can
energize your community
to take part. The Firewise
web site includes this contact information as well.
Sing Their Praises!
•••
Do you know of a state,
region or community
whose efforts deserve
special recognition? Write
Lucian Deaton at:
[email protected] and
share your story.
9
FIREWISE ONLINE
RENEWAL
Submitting Your Firewise
Renewal Online is easy!
Viewing this short tutorial
video demonstrates how
to use the online renewal
system where you can easily post your annual event
details and input your
investment information.
You can enter additional
events or investment documentation at any point
during the year. Recordkeeping for your renewal is
now quick and simple.
FIREWISE COMMUNITIES/USA®:
Firewise By The Numbers
During the third quarter, Firewise
Communities/USA welcomed 35 new communities into the Firewise fold. This brings
the total number of currently active Firewise
Communities/USA sites to 1,117.
Whether your community is new or an “oldtimer,” being Firewise means greater awareness and safety for your home and community. The more Firewise Communities/USA sites
there are, the more of you there are who will
be preparing to prevent fire from reaching
your homes and property.
Congratulations to all of our Firewise communities for making awareness of wildfire and
the safety of your communities a top priority!
How-To newsletter is pleased to welcome the
following communities:
Alaska – Kennicott/McCarthy, Ester Lump
Arkansas – Pleasant Hill, Halley
Arizona – Prescott Skyline, Ellison Creek Cabin
Home Owners Association, Highlands at the
Rim
California – Redwood Valley/Chezem,
Berryessa Highlands, Shelter Cove, Berry
Creek, Shelter Ridge Homeowner’s Association
Firewise® and Firewise Communities/USA® are programs and
registered by the National
Fire Protection Association.
Copyright © 2014 NFPA.
All Rights Reserved.
This publication was produced in
cooperation with the USDA Forest
Service, the US Department of the
Interior and National Association
of State Foresters. NFPA is an equal
opportunity provider.
Colorado – Pinehaven, Creek View, The
Highlands at Breckenridge Golf Property
Owners Association, Fisher Canyon South,
Cherokee Meadows, Canyon Creek, Goshawk,
Forest Gate Subdivision, Glenwood Highlands
Georgia – Young Harris College
Montana – Big Mountain Fire District
North Carolina – Winding River Plantation,
Kitty Hawk Landing
New Mexico– Valle Escondido, Taos Canyon
Nevada – Glenwood-Maidu-Charlene
Oregon – Glendale Southwest, Pine Creek,
Lazy T Ranch, Ridge at Eagle Crest, Barrington
Heights
Tennessee – Lone Mountain
Virgina – Laurel Woods
10
In the 12 years since a dozen communities participated in the
inaugural year of the Firewise Communities/USA program,
Firewise has experienced exponential growth. The magnitude
of the risk reduction work being done nationwide at every level
is illustrated in this infographic.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
Firewise Virtual Workshops
To offer a variation on the famous line from the popular film
“Field of Dreams, “If you ask for it, we will build it.”
At the 2013 Backyards & Beyond® conference, many attendees
commented on how much they’d learned and the immense
value of the sessions. They also expressed a desire for more frequent educational opportunities without the need to travel long
distances.
Don’t miss this opportunity to share your experience or case study at
the 2015 Backyards & Beyond® Wildland Fire Conference!
Those comments resonated, and served as an impetus for us to
build new educational opportunities through a series of 60-minute virtual workshops. Using input from our Firewise Community
point of contacts four topics were selected along with a highcaliber group of “Ask an Expert” presenters.
The Backyards & Beyond Conference is widely regarded as the premier event for wildland fire safety information bringing together a
diverse audience of leading wildfire experts, emergency responders, Firewise® community representatives, community planners,
civic leaders, homeowners and residents, insurance professionals,
landscape architects and others. The conference offers attendees a
chance to network with other professionals and share best-practices
that they can take back to their communities and workplace.
Each session’s agenda included a 30-minute informational presentation followed by a 30-minute “Ask an Expert” Q &A.
2014 workshops included:
• Dr. Steve Quarles, senior scientist with the Institute for Building & Home Safety, presenting “Understanding How Embers
Ignite Roofs in a Wildland Fire – and How to Make It More
Survivable” (July 15)
• Dr. Steve Quarles, presenting “Mulch Combustibility – Choosing the Right One for Wildland/Urban Interface Landscapes”
(August 19)
• Linda Masterson, author and researcher, presenting “Surviving
Wildfire: Get Prepared, Stay Alive, Rebuild Your Life”
(September 16)
• Jeremy Keller, a wildland and structural firefighter, fire officer
and fire instructor, presenting “Improving Access for Wildland
Firefighters” (October 23)
Each session in its entirety can be downloaded at firewise.org.
Transcripts are also available. Due to the immense interest and
positive comments the workshop series will return in early 2015.
NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations Division is seeking education session proposals for the 2015 Backyards & Beyond® Wildfire Education
Conference October 22-24, 2015, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Share your knowledge and best practices on these key wildfire issues:
·
Community Safety Approaches and Strategies
·
Home Construction & Landscape Design
·
Research (Physical, Social, Ecology and Environmental)
·
Technology, Policy & Regulations
·
Wildfire Planning, Suppression & Operations
All proposals must be submitted online by:
Monday, December 15, 2014
By participating as a speaker, you can:
·
Share your knowledge and expertise
·
Increase your exposure and visibility in wildfire safety
·
Add to your resume and your list of achievements
·
Meet valuable contacts and resources for your professional
network
·
Receive a complimentary registration to Backyards & Beyond
Conference.
11