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Interagency Fire Education Programs

Authored By: C. Fowler

National Fire Plan

The National Fire Plan website has a variety of educational resources. The section called “NFP Helping Your Community” has links to programs on Firewise, Rural Fire Assistance, State Fire Assistance, and Volunteer Fire Assistance. NFP provides funding for fire education and prevention programs. The Resources section has links to other websites of interest to communities and homeowners and with information about outreach efforts. The Community Assistance sub-section of the Success Stories sections has a report on the CD-Rom “Living on the Edge in Florida.” Several documents are available on the website that may be of interest to technology transfer and fire prevention specialists such as “A Collaborative Approach to Reducing Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and the Environment: 10 Year Strategy”. NFP has funded many educational efforts including the SCA Fire Education Corps and an exhibit at the Science Museum of Western Virginia.

National Interagency Fire Council (NIFC)

Smokey Bear Spanish Language Poster

The Wildland Fire Communicator’s Guide is a resource for teachers and natural resource professional that contains educational information about fire ecology, social dynamics, and policy. This Guide discusses ways to improve the communication of wildland fire messages. The advice provided in the Guide is drawn from studies of the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and backgrounds of natural resource professionals who are involved with communicating to the public about wildland fire.

Protecting Your Home from Wildland Fire is a tip sheet with helpful hints on creating a survivable space.

Wildland Fire Prevention and Education Teams assist with the prevention of unwanted human-caused wildfires. Users can download many instructional tools from the websites including graphics, templates, programs, posters, fact sheets, cards, tip cards, public service announcements, bi-lingual applications, power point presentations, promotional material, fire prevention education kits, and home-owner presentations.

NIFC also has a Wildland Fire Prevention and Mitigation page with links to a few resources on wildfire prevention analysis and risk assessment strategies.

National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG)

The goal of NWCG’s Wildland Fire Education Working Team is to develop education programs that provide information about wildland fire ecology, management, protection, and prevention, prescribed fire, natural prescribed fire, fire suppression, and public safety. This Team also assists other working teams of the NWCG in developing projects and training courses in public affairs and communications. The Team has produced several public service announcements in English and Spanish on fire management, wildland-urban interface, fire safety, and prevention. They publish the brochure “Wildland Fire in the United States” covering Reducing the Risks, Fire in the Right Places at the Right Times, Fire Can Benefit Everyone, Partners—Now and Always, and The Fire Story. The website provides access to a list of materials for fire educators with downloadable copies of “Fire Communication and Education,” “Establishing Fire Prevention Education Cooperatives and Partnerships,” and other documents. The Team has designed several key messages about wildland fire to promote uniformity of the information that is being communicated to the public about fire by all of the NWCG partner agencies. These key messages are:

Wildfire is an essential, natural process.
Society’s influence has altered historic fire cycles, leading to a dangerous and difficult build-up of vegetation in our wildlands.
Land management agencies are committed to a balanced fire program that will reduce risks and realize benefits of fire.
Improving the health of the land and reducing risks to communities requires partnerships among federal and state agencies, tribal governments, fire departments, communities, and landowners.
Public education is necessary to the success of fire management programs.

NWCG develops training courses for firefighters and fire managers.

Firewise

Firewise was created to teach people who own homes in or near wildland areas how to protect their property from fire damage. Firewise educates homeowners by handing out brochures, giving speeches to community organizations, and posting information on a website.

The Firewise website contains a large volume of information for homeowners, educators, and firefighters. Viewers can access audiovisual materials, print publications, and electronic newsletters such as “Wildfire News and Notes,” that discuss the procedures for protecting property from fire damage. They can learn about creating Firewise communities such as Briargate in Ormond Beach, Florida. There are also resources for firefighters such as information about firefighter safety. Users can take a virtual tour of a Firewise home. There are large selections of photos and educational videos for users to view; for example, “Home Improvement: A Firewise Approach,” “Protecting Your Home from Wildfire,” and a series of more than 13 clips on Firewise Landscaping. The website has a calendar of Firewise events around the country, a forum, and an ask-an-expert tool. There is also a bank of links to fire prevention and protection websites in all the southern states. A large selection of books, CDs, videos, and educational materials in other formats can be ordered from the Firewise Electronic Catalog.

The Firewise Communities/USA program recognizes communities around the country. Highlights of the pilot Firewise communities can be seen on www.firewise.org/usa. PowerPoint presentations on the projects in Ormond Beach and Wedgefield Estates that were given at a National Wildland/Urban Interface Roundtable in 2002 are available for viewing. Many Firewise communities are located in the South:

Alabama: English Trace
Arkansas: Holiday Island; Norman; Oden; Ozark County Estates; Pine Ridge; Pencil Bluff; Sims; Story; Joplin
Florida: Briargate in Ormond Beach; Wedgefield Estates in Orlando; Lakewood; Verandah
North Carolina: Story River Run Plantation; Saint James
Tennessee: Cumberland Cove; Upper Bluff Mountain
Texas: Wildcatter Ranch
Virginia: Windsor Forest

The Arkansas Forestry Commission recently awarded Firewise grants to fifteen additional cities in Arkansas to conduct “Community Risk Assessments.”

Florida Firewise Communities shows Florida residents how to create a Firewise home, using fire-safe landscaping and construction materials. Viewers can download a pdf brochure depicting a firewise home.