Fire Break – Wildfire Safety Blog

Hot in Texas

The Texas A&M Forest Service has released a report on the state’s 2011 fire season. The report is easy-to-read, and focuses on the common factors in home destruction and survival. By breaking down the long-term and immediate impacts of development in wildfire-prone areas and documenting home losses and “saves,” it offers a comprehensive look at the benefits of being Firewise.

Among the primary factors leading to home ignition during the 2011 Texas wildfire season:

• Wildfires driven by high winds

• Landscapes with highly combustible vegetation, such as flammable plants

• Combustible attachments to homes that were not pre-treated with fire-resistant paint or chemicals

Go to the Spring Firewise How To newsletter to read more and get the link to the full report.

 

2012 Firewise Communities/USA annual report

For the year 2012, the number of recognized Firewise Communities/USA sites increased 23%, with 878 communities now actively engaged with the program. Recognized communities can now be found in 40 states and on two tribal nations. More than 1.4 million people live in recognized Firewise communities, and have invested $136 million dollars in local wildfire mitigation projects since 2003. Program retention rate stands at 80% over its 11-year history. 

Learn more about the latest progress in the 2012 Firewise Communities/USA/Project report. It has been a wonderful year for the National Fire Protection Association in support of all the Firewise Communities/USA sites.  A big congratulations to all the folks throughout our nation who make this Federally supported outreach program a huge success.   

To help continue this fantastic momentum participate in the 2013  Firewise Communities/USA recognition program challenge.   

New NFPA resource offers wildfire planning and regulatory guidance

There are many audiences that NFPA reaches out to: homeowners, foresters, community leaders, fire practitioners, and development professionals.  In recent years we have made a special push to work with this last category – particularly planners and regulators.  Although this group is sometimes overlooked because they aren’t seen as a traditional audience for addressing wildfire concerns, their potential role is significant. As preferences for second homes and suburban lifestyles increase, so does the wildland-urban interface.  Planners and regulators are in a unique position to address development through regulations and better site planning that consider wildfire hazard. 

To further encourage the involvement of planners and regulators in addressing the wildland-urban interface, NFPA contracted with Clarion Associates, LLC, a national land use planning and law firm, to create a best practices guide, “Community Wildfire Safety Through Regulation.”  This guide is designed to help planners and local communities considering wildfire regulations better understand their options and implement a successful public process to adopt effective wildland-urban interface tools that match local needs. 

A free PDF copy is now available.  Download your copy today, and get sound technical advice and legal justifications for adoptions of wildfire regulations, tips on what planners should do before the community embarks on a formal wildfire safety regulation adoption process, and appropriate community tools to address wildfire risk.  

Which mulch is the right mulch? Research on mulch and fire helps you decide!

Spring is almost here and time to get out and start doing some yard work. As I stand in front of all of the different types of mulch at my local home repair store, I can’t decide which one to use. Which one will be the safest? Which one will last the longest? Which one will look the best the longest? Which one will be the safest? I know, I already mentioned that one but being a firefighter by trade, these things cross my mind -- a lot!

There are many choices to use to beautify your landscaping. There are wood chips, pine bark, pine needles, shredded rubber and more. But which one is the safest? I asked an employee in the garden section if he knew of any fire spread ratings of any of the mulches in the store and he looked at me with a blank, faraway, confused look. So, I decided to look into this myself.

Mulch has many positive attributes. It reduces the water requirements of plants, cools the soil temperature, controls weeds and soil erosion, and visually enhances the landscape. But a major drawback is that many are combustible, which presents a huge problem in fire prone areas. Embers from an approaching wildfire can ignite areas where mulch is used. If these areas are adjacent to the home, it could be wind up to be a disastrous mix.

An evaluation of mulch combustibility was performed in 2008 by the Carson City Fire Department, the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, the University of California Cooperative Extension, and the University of Nevada Cooperation Extension. The results from this project offer recommendations for uses of mulches in wildfire hazard areas. Mulch can be defined as any material that is used to cover the soil surface for a variety of purposes. They can be classified as organic or inorganic. Organic mulches usually come from plant materials and include pine needles, pine bark nuggets, shredded western cedar and even ground or shredded rubber. Inorganic mulches consist of rock, gravel and brick chips. These inorganic mulches tend not to burn and are safe to use in any setting.

Eight mulch treatments were evaluated for three characteristics: flame height, rate of fire spread and temperature. On the test day, the National Fire Danger Rating System value was Extreme. All eight mulches were found to be combustible but varied considerably in the three areas measured.

• Shredded rubber, pine needles and shredded western red cedar showed the greatest potential for all three characteristics.  
• Shredded rubber burned at the hottest average temperature (in excess of 630 degrees F at a height of 4 inches) and produced the greatest flame length at over 3 feet.
• Shredded western red cedar had the most rapid rate of spread, traveling at an average rate of 47.9 feet per minute. It also produced embers that moved beyond the plot perimeter and ignited adjacent mulch plots.
• Composted wood chips showed the slowest spread rate and the shortest average flame length, usually smoldering.

So what does all of this mean? We have a variety of mulch choices in our landscaping – and we need to know the best uses for each choice. Immediately next to your home out to five feet, the best mulch to use is an inorganic one (rock, brick, pavers) or fire resistant plant materials that are well watered and maintained. Composted wood chips are the best choice of the materials tested for residential landscape use. However, they are organic and will still burn. They do tend to burn at the lowest speed and lowest flame length. If this material is ignited, it could still ignite siding, plant debris and other combustible materials. The smoldering of this product could also go undetected by firefighters during a wildland fire event. Shredded rubber, pine needles and shredded western red cedar can have their place in your landscaping design, just further from your home. These materials could be used selectively for landscaping at least 30’ from your home.

So, with this new information that I have now learned about mulch, I think I’ll use some nice gravel with a few larger stones for some accent close to my house and save the other stuff to use away from the house. You never know when a fire is going to approach your home and I don’t want to lose the biggest investment I’ll ever make.

Photo: A home in Rockland County, NY, damaged by fire starting in mulch in flower beds, from a white paper, "Mulch Fires: What Should the Label Say," by Thomas Williams and Michael Lane, at Vermont Chapter of International Association of Arson Investigators

Annual communities at risk to wildfire report

The National Association of State Foresters  (NASF) recently published the FY 2012 Communities at Risk (CAR) report.  The purpose of the report is to determine progress in identifying communities at risk and developing Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs).

Image: US regional map showing total communities at risk (CAR); communites covered by a CWPP, recognized Firewise Communities/USA sites and communities at reduced risk for FY2012. source: NASF & NFPA.

In summary there are over 72,000 communities at risk in the United States, with 20% covered by a CWPP or equivalent. A little less than 4,000 or  6 percent of these communities at risk are considered to be in a 'reduced risk' status due to the wildfire mitigation activities they have already implemented and continue to maintain.

Based on the NASF report, one can reason that there is still a lot of wildfire mitigation work needed.  In addition to learning about CWPP's please visit the following websites to learn more on how your community can effectively reduce its wildfire risk: Fire Adapted Communities, Firewise and Ready, Set, Go!

Wildfire Magazine highlights importance of engaging young stakeholders

 

The March/April issue of Wildfire Magazine highlights the work NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations Division is doing to include the nation’s estimated 8.8 million youth, in grades six through twelve living in wildland/urban interface areas, in wildfire awareness and preparedness outreach efforts. 

This young demographic has traditionally been under-utilized in the development of most education programs and strategic messaging; even though they hold tremendous potential and have the power to be valuable conduits for getting mitigation information into their homes. Their ability to initiate family conversations about wildfire preparedness and motivate their family to implement actions is significant and should be a key component in all outreach efforts. 

If you have kids, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren, take a moment to think about the times they’ve been the motivator and reminder for you to incorporate safety actions into your everyday life; and how those things have now become part of your daily routine.  Young people can be very persistent in getting us to change our mindset about what and how we do things. Ask any parent about the power their kids hold in getting them to make changes.  Those conversations cover many topics…seat belts, talking on a cell phone while driving, reminding us to change the batteries in our smoke and CO alarms, wearing helmets while bike riding or skiing; the list is long.  Begrudgingly, we need to give our kids the credit they deserve for being effective at giving us those annoying and not so gentle nudges in tackling the things we tend to avoid, or put on the back burner, even though we know they’re important.

So let’s empower them to nag a little more and get their families to take actions that reduce wildfire risk, and help them prepare for the day that a wildfire may be an uninvited guest knocking at the door. Young people are great motivators, positive influencers and messengers.  They’re our future mitigation champions!

NFPA's report Engaging Youth in Reducing Wildfire Risk — Community Conversation Workshop Findings and Research is available in the Youth and Families section of the Firewise website.

Fire Adapted Communities Coalition releases Waldo Canyon Fire report and video

The Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) Coalition has released a report, “Lessons from Waldo Canyon” and companion video, “Creating Fire Adapted Communities: A Case Study from Colorado Springs and the Waldo Canyon Fire.” Both the video and report are available on the Fire Adapted Communities website.

In the wake of the June 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire that destroyed 345 homes and resulted in the evacuation of more than 30,000 residents from the City of Colorado Springs, CO; members of the Fire Adapted Communities Coalition visited the area to learn how the city’s decade-long wildfire safety programs had affected the outcome of the fire. The report and video are the result of interviews, field visits and tours of the city’s most affected neighborhoods during a three-day postfire visit in July 2012.

Pam Leschak, WUI/Fire Adapted Communities program manager for the USDA Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management shared that, “To a large extent, the mitigation tools used by the Colorado Springs Fire Marshal’s Wildfire Mitigation Section for the past 10 years, mirror the recommendations of the Fire Adapted Communities program.  The findings of the report conclude that damage as a result of the Waldo Canyon Fire would have been more wide-spread if these practices had not been implemented.”

With support from the U.S. Forest Service, the mitigation assessment team was comprised of representatives from the FAC Coalition including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with invaluable assistance from CSFD’s Fire Marshal Brett Lacey and the department’s Wildfire Mitigation Section.    

For more information about Fire Adapted Communities visit http://www.fireadapted.org/.

 

 

 

Wildland fire data reporting initiative

This past November, NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations Division with the help of the National Association of State Foresters (NASF) and the US Fire Administration (USFA) convened a group of 18 wildland fire data reporting experts from local, state and federal organizations  to discuss different wildland fire data collection, reporting and research initiatives that are occurring throughout the United States.

The fundamental purpose of the meeting was to answer this complex question: How can wildland fire organizations consolidate existing wildland fire agency and national fire incident reporting system data sets effectively and efficiently to produce an accurate national cohesive wildland fire risk profile?

For more information about this ongoing initiative please visit this NFPA link to download a copy of the meeting report.

Teachers respond to questions about wildfire education programs for youth

This is the final post in our five part series on NFPA’s recent Wildland Fire Operations Division's report that examines the need and importance of middle and high school age students having a role in reducing community wildfire risks.

Following last summer's six youth community outreach workshops, National Firewise Program staff wanted to also get input from middle and high school teachers in areas recently impacted by a wildfire.  We wanted insight into what the student's had shared about their experiences at school since a large percentage said they received very limited information at school about wildfire preparedness, prevention and mitigation; both before and after their local wildfire.    

An electronic questionnaire was used to get the teacher's input - they were asked about the informational resources they used following the fire; who they look to for wildland fire educational information, if they incorporated wildfire related information into lesson plans, and the best places for students to receive wildland fire information.  It was distributed via email to teachers in four communities. The fires in two of those four communities occurred during the scheduled school year and the other two happened during the summer of 2012.

Teachers were asked if they provided classroom time for a discussion on wildland fire related topics when the students returned to the classroom (shortly after the fire or when the school year resumed), and 38% said they did, but the information shared was very basic. Almost two-thirds said they did not search for grade appropriate wildland fire classroom resources/materials following the fire.

With all the constraints today on a teacher’s time we wanted to know if the classroom isn’t the best place for students to receive wildfire education and awareness information where should it come from (teachers could select multiple choices); and 71% of the respondents said it should come from their local fire department; and another 55% felt it should come from the student’s parents.  Only a third of the responding teachers said there is both time and opportunity for schools in high risk wildfire areas to provide awareness and education information to students. Additional findings are available in the Engaging Youth in Reducing Wildfire Risk - Community Conversation Workshop Findings and Research report. 

The past five blogs have included a small sampling of the information collected at the six community conversation workshops, the extensive literature search and questionnaire to teachers.  I encourage you to take the time to read the report in its entirety and learn why it is important for the youth demographic in areas with a wildfire risk to know the importance of mitigation and general preparedness.  Programs targeted to middle and high school students provide benefits beyond the students themselves, as they have the capacity and ability to impact individuals, neighborhoods, and entire communities.

Empowering youth with life-long knowledge about the importance of mitigation and preparedness impacts both current and future wildland/urban interface land and homeowners; and moves forward the goal of reducing the losses and long-term recovery impacts caused by wildfires each year.

What youth want and need to learn about wildfire

During the discovery process of researching how to effectively connect with youth about the topics of wildfire safety, prevention and mitigation; Firewise Program staff knew the target audience had to become a large piece of the project and they implemented the don’t do anything about me, without me, concept discussed in yesteryday's blog. 

Connecting with middle and high school students through six wildfire community conversation workshops produced input that was consistent and forthright - and participants voiced what needed to be incorporated to make it impactful.  Attendees adamantly stressed that wildfire safety messages need to be delivered by peers who'd been personally impacted by a wildfire; and if possible include an entire family to make the messages even stronger.  They felt it's important to learn from real people that can make the topic relatable – not actors, celebrities, government officials or politicians. Firefighters were another acceptable delivery mechanism for wildfire messages; but they felt if a teacher was used in that role, they prefer it be one that was (you guessed it) also impacted by a wildfire. Who they want to hear from was loud and clear, but they also want the information to be realistic; not scary, but definitely honest and straightforward.

They believe human-to-human information sharing is much more effective than advertisements in any form. One group adamantly stressed that, “if you want us to pay attention – the messages need to get our attention!”

This demographic expects and demands information that's real without any sugar-coating.  They want to know what's at stake and what they could lose.  Pets and animals of all kinds are very important to them and they want to know how wildfire could impact them.

They might be entrenched in texting, email and Facebook, but the teens we talked with said their most common source of wildfire information is traditional media sources; and tied for the second most frequent source of information was parents and school, followed by the Internet. 

School may have been cited as a common source for information; but the majority of participants said extremely limited information was shared with them at school before or after the fire in their communities; even though all the fires that impacted attendees occurred during months that school was in session.  

The full report on our conversations with youth includes in-depth information on how they want to be reached and the topics they prioritize as important.  In our next blog, we examine the results of a questionnaire distributed to teachers in four communities that recently experienced a wildfire.