Federal Fire Agency Programs
USDA Forest Service
The Forest Service website has a Fire and Aviation section with a sub-section on Fire Education where viewers can learn about 1) Fire Prevention and Wildland/Urban Interface, 2) Fire prevention links, 3) Learning about Fire: education links, 4) NWPD National Database of State and Local Wildfire Hazard Mitigation Programs, and 5) Wildland Fire Use. Click on “Learning about Fire: education links” to get to a list of links including “Fire in Florida’s Ecosystems” – a fire ecology instructional package for educators.
“The USDA Forest Service has developed the NED DSS (Decision Support System) fire risk program for homeowners and landowners across the South to evaluate and mitigate their particular landholding. The DDS applies to both WUI and rural forest situations and is based on vegetation conditions, local topography, and structural characteristics” (Helmers, this volume).
The Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information conducts research and provides information on relationships between changing demographics and land management in the South. Their publication Human Influences on Forest Ecosystems: The Southern Wildland Urban Interface Assessment (Macie and Hermansen 2003) discusses the effects of a growing wildland-urban interface on the use of fire in land management, wildfire patterns, and wildfire suppression operations. The InterfaceSouth website has an interactive fire module that demonstrates how property owners in Florida can modify their homes and yards to protect their living environment from fire. They have sponsored research in shrub flammability, landscape flammability, risk reduction, and other topics.
The National Wildfire Program Database is a national database of state and local wildfire hazard mitigation programs that serves as a clearinghouse of information about nonfederal policies and programs that seek to reduce the risk of loss of life and property through the reduction of hazardous fuels on private lands.
The Smokey Bear website is all about Smokey Bear, whose motto is “Only you can prevent forest fires,” is a familiar icon of fire and beloved national symbol. The Smokey Bear campaign to educate children and adults about the wise use of fire in natural areas is sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, the Association of State Foresters, and the Ad Council and is the longest-running PSA campaign in U.S. history. His image is the property of the USDA Forest Service. On the Smokey Bear website teachers can access Smokey Bear Teachers Guide for grades K-5, Smokey Bear Activity Book, Smokey Bear Kid’s Poster. Visitors to the website can view a virtual art gallery of Smokey Bear memorabilia from the past 50 years. Children can explore the kid’s section which contains games and stories. The “Only You” section of the website contains educational information about fire science, good fires/bad fires, fire suppression, fire prevention, and the latest television commercial.
The Natural Inquirer Issue 4, Number 1, Spring 2003 focuses on Wildland Fire. This edition is available as a printed brochure or as a pdf file that can be downloaded from their website. Articles in the Wildland Fire Edition include:
- Let’s Clear the Air: The Danger of Forest Fire Smoke to Firefighters
- Fighting Fire With Fire: Protecting the Homes of People and Birds
- Time Will Tell: Does Wildfire Damage the Prairie?
- Who Gives a Hoot? Determining the Value of Owl Habitat
- Smoke and Mirrors: Detecting the Amount of Gases in Wildland Fire Smoke
- Liar! Liar! House on Fire! The Relationship Between Trees, Wildland Fire, and Damage to Homes
- Dew It! Which Weather Measurements Are Related to the Occurrence of Wildland Fire?
Living With Fire is an educational game for people 10 years old and up that allows the player to take the perspective of a fire manager and simulates a wildland fire situation. The website provides a lesson plan for educators and work sheets for students. Players learn about fire ecology, behavior, weather, suppression, and attitudes among the public in the process of playing the game.
Fire Science Lab
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Fire Science Lab, located in Missoula, Montana gives access to educational resources. Among other resources, visitors can find ordering information for the video titled “Protecting Your Home from Wildfire” on the FireLab site.
Bureau of Land Management
BLM’s Learning Landscapes Fire website has resources for educators who want to find materials to use to teach their students about fire, as well as information for students who want to find out more about fire in the landscape.
Burning Issues is a multimedia education program developed by BLM and Florida State University for middle and high school students on the role of fire in ecosystems and the use of fie in managing natural resources. The website offers a CD-ROM with 30 minutes of video, 4 ecotours including 1 of a southern pine ecosystem, slides of animals, plants, and fire, 5 EocVentures including “Flames”, interviews with Fire Center scientists and consultants, and a hotlink to Firewise. This is distributed through an agreement with Project Learning Tree.
BLM produced “Share the Adventure! Exploring Wildland Fire.” In this live satellite broadcast student reporters from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, and Florida reported from several sites around the country including a Nature Conservancy site in Lake Wales Ridge, Florida where prescribed burning is used to manage the ancient sand dune ecosystem. This site includes 30 conservation sites where 26 endangered and threatened plants and animals live. The “Share the Adventure!” website Includes an educator’s guide and defines basic wildland fire concepts.
BLM encourages its firefighters to perform community outreach and education when they are not fighting fires. The Jackson Hotshots in Mississippi achieve this by teaching school children about the duties of a wildland firefighter and building Firewise homes, visiting patients in children’s cancer centers and building handicap ramps in Hospice facilities (BLM 2004).
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
The USFWS Southeast website has links to the websites of many of the refuges in each state in the region, some of which have information on fire education. The Fire Management webpages also have some instructional information. The Southeast Louisiana Refuges division of the USFWS, in partnership with the St. Tammany Parish School system and Audubon Louisiana Nature Center, sponsors an Environmental Education program to teach fire ecology in the Louisiana marsh, swamp, and pine forest ecosystem to 7th and 8th graders by taking them on field trips to Bayou Sauvage and Big Branch Marsh.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
The Learning Web on the USGS website provides educational materials for the classroom, including a fact sheet on “USGS Wildland Fire Research,” on Fire that can be accessed through Exploring Earth Hazards.The Wildfire homepage for USGS has links to a downloadable fact sheet on “Fire Ecology in the Southeastern United States.”
National Park Service (NPS)
The NPS Fire and Aviation Management website has an education link with resources for students, teachers, and researchers and a public and media link with news, tools, photos, and other information.
The Resource Management Education Unit of NPS has developed fire ecology materials to help teachers and students become better informed about land management issues and the responsibilities of natural resource management agencies. The goal of the program is to connect students with the management of public lands and help them develop skills in issue analysis and problem solving. The Fire Facts section of the website provides instructional materials on cultural interpretations of fire, the fire triangle, fire behavior, fire spread, and fire in loblolly and shortleaf pine ecosystems. Teachers can access a series of Lesson Plans on fire adaptations, fire feelings, hot questions, reporting blazes, and fire in the wildland urban interface. Resources are also available for Researchers on research needs and opportunities, grants, sabbaticals in the park, conferences, and continuing education. Students can find information about the junior fire fighting program and fire facts.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The NASA Earth Observatory website contains a section on Natural Hazards>>Fire where visitors can view the locations of current wildfires on a global map and read news reports about each event. Global Fire Monitoring, also on the NASA website, contains information on the role of fire in ecosystems and climate change, smoke emissions, and the equipment (e.g., spacecraft, satellite sensors, aircraft) that NASA and NOAA use to monitor fires around the world. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center website also has fire information for kids and a tool to build your own composite of a burning landscape using images from the MODIS Airborne Simulator.
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEMA’s Resources for Parents and Kids viewers can download the Fire Curriculum for Students to use in the classroom.
The FEMA Wildfire Resources website contains downloadable fact sheets on wildfire, tips to help homeowners reduce fire risks, and strategies for fire prevention programs in American Indian communities.
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
NFPA has a Public Education division that produces a lot of useful information. The NFPA website has links to numerous fact sheets on fire and fire safety. Outdoor Fire Safety tip sheet to help protect you and your family from fire risk outdoors. The “NFPA Special Report: Wildland Fires Video” has case studies of three major wildland/urban interface fires that demonstrate the importance of fire fighter training and the need for more public awareness of fire risks in the wildland/urban interface.
“Risk Watch: Natural Disasters,” is an educational program for school children, has a module for wildland fires with tips about responding to fire before, during and after an event. It also includes instructions for preparing disaster supply kits for families and children.
The National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Program produced a series of three safety videos titled Fire Behavior in the Wildland/Urban Interface, Structure Protection Strategies in the Wildland/Urban Interface, and Firefighter Safety in the Wildland/Urban Interface. The videos are free for firefighter training programs and come with slides and an instructor’s guide.
“NFPA 1144 Standard for Protection of Life and Property from Wildfire was developed to provide minimum planning, construction, maintenance, education, and management elements for the protection of life, property, and other values that could be threatened by wildland fire (National Fire Protection Association 2002)” (Helmers, this volume). Other standards that apply to wildland firefighting and can be read to learn more about the issues are:
- 1143 Standard for Wildland Fire Management
- 1051 Standard for Wildland Fire Fighter Professional Qualification
- 1906 Standard for Wildland Fire Apparatus
- 1977 Standard on Protective Clothing and Equipment for Wildland Fire Fighting
National Symbols Catalog
The National Symbols Catalog is a collection of clipart representing fire education, fire prevention, and conservation education. It also provides video and audio clips, CD-ROMs, posters, bookcovers, lessons, ideas, activities, and events to assist educators. A list of contact information for conservation educators in federal and state agencies is provided on the Links and Resources page.
Encyclopedia ID: p810
