Neighborhood Watch
John Bear
American Red Cross
Sam Burns
Fort Lewis College
Judith L. Downing
U.S. Forest Service
Ronald W. Hodgson
Bureau of Land Management
Katherine Timm
Colorado State Forest Service
Everyone knows of residents who refuse to cut their brush and trees to make their property safer from wildfires. Fire managers charged promoting wildfire preparedness and hazard mitigation in the wildland-urban interface often grow frustrated by slow progress toward safer homes and neighborhoods. But there are examples of outstanding successes, too. What makes one approach work with one community while another fails?
The American Red Cross, Colorado State Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service formed a partnership in 2001 to deliver wildfire preparedness and hazard mitigation education to at-risk communities in Colorado. The initial purpose was to encourage fire-wise landscaping and construction on individual properties and improve neighborhood infrastructure. As the National Fire Plan evolved and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act was passed, support of community wildfire protection planning became an important part of the education program.
Lessons learned along the way prompted changes, including a two-tiered collaborative education program that engages community leaders and neighborhood residents to learn about wildland fire and take actions to live safely in the wildland-urban interface.
The Colorado State Forest Service provides forestry education to private landowners and other stakeholders. When the Red Cross partnership was initiated, “Are You FireWise?” was already an active Colorado State Forest Service community education program.
The partnership began during the 2000 fire season when two Red Cross volunteers who had retired from the U.S. Forest Service saw the opportunity for the Red Cross to help communities endangered by wildfires. The American Red Cross national office and Washington office of the U.S. Forest Service met their idea with enthusiasm, and at the close of the 2000 wildfire season, plans were made to train volunteers to help at-risk communities prepare for fire and mitigate fire hazards. The western Colorado chapter of the Red Cross managed the pilot project.
State legislation passed in 2000 encouraged county governments to create countywide wildland fire management plans in partnership with federal land managers and private landowners. In turn, the National Fire Plan encouraged fire education and collaboration and provided financial support for planning and education, as well as the implementation of hazard mitigation in the wildland-urban interface.
As the National Fire Plan took shape, a shortage of people to work directly with communities emerged as the most serious barrier to implementation. Due to staffing limitations, the Colorado State Forest Service and federal land management agencies could hope to reach only a small fraction of landowners and stakeholders. However, American Red Cross disaster volunteers offered a ready supply of dedicated people, trained and experienced in working with communities, to be the arms and legs of the Colorado State Forest Service, providing logistics and organization and other assistance for community wildfire preparedness and hazard mitigation education.
The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado State Forest Service provided funding and technical assistance to train volunteers to work with communities. The first course took place in Cedaredge, Colo., in 2001. Volunteers immediately began assisting with community meetings and special events. Some volunteers with the necessary training did home-site inspections under the guidance of the district forester.
The community wildfire preparedness and hazard mitigation workshop is the foundation for Colorado's wildland fire education collaborative. Typically, the American Red Cross works with local fire departments in areas identified as being at-risk from wildfire. The Colorado State Forest Service and Colorado State Parks are the principal state co-sponsors. Other cooperators include the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and county agencies.
Meetings are held at the local fire station, county building or state park facility. Red Cross and rural fire department volunteers distribute meeting announcement fliers and educational materials to residents of the target communities. Advertisements and articles also appear in local media.
Workshops begin with lectures and demonstrations. Representatives from the Colorado State Forest Service or one of the other agencies present an illustrated lesson on wildland fire behavior with a focus on structural ignition. When the videotape Preventing Home Ignitions by Jack Cohen of the U.S. Forest Service became available, it was incorporated. The importance of spotting in spreading fire to structures is emphasized. Talks are oriented to the vegetation types and topography of the local area. Instructors typically collect local vegetation to demonstrate concepts such as arrangement and fuel size. Digital photographs of local conditions illustrate the talks.
The lesson provides participants with an understanding of the effects of fuels, weather and topography on fire intensity and rates of spread. Participants also understand the relationship between fire behavior and fire effects on values-at-risk. As a result, they are able to explain how vegetation management influences fire behavior and how building design, location in the landscape, construction materials and maintenance influence structure ignitability.
The Red Cross discusses preparedness, including information on emergency kits and decisions about what to take if one is asked to evacuate. Preparation of a family disaster plan and other ways to successfully cope with a wildfire disaster are discussed. The Colorado State Forest Service describes fire mitigation cost-sharing resources available to homeowners and communities, as well as the application process.
Finally, the local fire chief describes fire department resources that are available to protect lives and property and the problems the department expects to face when a wildfire threatens the community. Chiefs typically talk about access for engines, driveway standards, water supplies, escape routes and safety zones, and communications.
The meeting is followed by neighborhood walk-arounds and courtesy home-site inspections. People attending the workshop sign up for an assessment or volunteer their homes as demonstration sites. The fire chief and firefighters, wildland fire agency representatives, and Red Cross volunteers visit homes on the list. When possible, neighbors are invited to walk around with the homeowner and firefighters. Issues discussed in the lessons such as fire ladder, roofing materials, maintenance, vent screens, crown closure and fuel continuity are pointed out. Experts recommend ways to increase home-site and neighborhood fire safety.
More remote home sites are visited later by Red Cross and rural fire volunteers or Colorado State Forest Service representatives. Those who ask for a home-site inspection are urged to invite their neighbors in an effort to reach more landowners and accomplish neighborhood-scale mitigation.
The workshops have enjoyed a wide range of success measured by attendance and hazard mitigation work done. One of the earliest workshops held at Vega State Park for residents of two neighboring communities brought more than 40 people to the morning session and a nearly equal number in the afternoon. Other workshops attracted more agency people and local firefighters than residents. Sometimes, however, these workshops led to later widespread community involvement.
For example, the workshop held at the Ridgeway City Hall attracted fire chiefs, property-owner association officers and local officials, but few community residents. However, property-owner association officers from Elk Meadows invited the Red Cross and the Colorado State Forest Service to assess the fire threat in their community and make recommendations. During that visit, more than 45 home sites were evaluated and recommendations were made to improve roads and other infrastructure. A resident of Log Hill Mesa was distressed by how few of her neighbors attended, so she organized a day-long potluck at her house. More than 80 neighbors came.
Over time, workshops have been changed to reflect the elements of more successful workshops. The organizations involved in the program learned that three things were necessary for people to do hazard mitigation on their properties or to cooperate with their neighbors, including neighboring public land managers.
- People had to have the means to do the work
Sometimes, residents are not physically able to remove vegetation because of age or disability. Sometimes they don't have the money. Non-resident landowners make up a substantial part of many communities. Some don't have time and can't find people to pay to do the work. Large numbers of people do not know what to do — specifically — to mitigate the wildfire threat.
- People had to have the opportunity to do the work
Renters, for example, don't have the authority to clear vegetation or make fire mitigation improvements to the buildings. Frequently, homeowners' properties do not extend far enough to make the necessary landscape modifications. The hazards that threaten their homes or other values-at-risk are on lands owned by someone else.
- People had to have the motivation to do the work
While this barrier occurred less often than one might imagine, concerns about how vegetation treatments will change the landscape aesthetics or affect wildlife reduce some residents' motivation to mitigate. The belief that insurance will rebuild lost homes seems to motivate others to ignore hazard mitigation. Some, though few, people are apathetic or fatalistic.
Clearly, if people are not treating the wildfire hazard on their property because they are physically unable to do so, or because they don't know what to do to make it safer, or because they are concerned about the effects on wildlife or aesthetics or soil erosion, more motivational messages may not be effective. If legal barriers or financial disincentives such as high fees at the landfill exist, instruction on how to thin vegetation may not result in more mitigation being done. The workshops need to address the real problems with the right people.
Perceived barriers are important. It's often just as important to address the things that make fire hazard mitigation possible as it is to focus on making mitigation happen. This realization resulted in the development of a series of workshops, each with different purposes and different target audiences.
The national Firewise program and its Colorado counterpart recognize that wildfires threaten whole communities, not just individual properties. Living safely with wildland fire is a community problem, not just an individual problem.
The Firewise workshops bring together builders, developers, elected officials, appointed officials, property-owners association officers and community residents to learn about fire and what can be done to mitigate the threat. These workshops have been successful in raising awareness and motivating community action. The Red Cross and Colorado State Forest Service wildfire preparedness and hazard mitigation workshops, on the other hand, focused at the community and neighborhood levels. A coordinated series of workshops addressing the range of fire education needs was not occurring in a systematic way.
As a result of the Western Colorado experience, we see five different kinds of collaborative wildland fire education workshops divided into two major types. The first type is workshops to make mitigation possible, and the second major type is workshops designed to make mitigation happen.
Much like the Firewise workshops, workshops to make mitigation possible are directed to leaders of government, non-government organizations, businesses, media and community opinion. The purpose is to make community leaders aware of wildland fire, its role in wildland landscapes, and the dangers of fire to values-at-risk. Awareness is followed by an exploration of the kinds of actions and conditions needed to live safely with wildland fire and the institutional barriers that may prevent people and organizations from adopting fire-wise practices.
As a result of participation in these workshops, community leaders recognize barriers to mitigation in their spheres of influence and take actions to address them. For example, certain zoning regulations or covenants, codes and restrictions may make it difficult to treat flammable vegetation or replace wood roofs. Participants also find opportunities within their spheres of influence to create incentives for mitigation, such as tax and insurance incentives or mitigation cost-sharing. Media, educators and community opinion leaders will help keep wildland fire on the public agenda for discussion and action.
These workshops draw community leaders from a single county or multi-county area that is linked economically, politically and geographically. Workshops are advertised to the public, but special efforts are made to encourage leaders in different segments to attend and participate.
A second level of these “making mitigation possible” workshops is held for smaller economic and political areas within the larger regions served by the first-level workshops. Some of the participants in the earlier workshops contribute by making presentations or guiding discussions. Again, workshops are advertised to the public, but special effort is made to recruit community leaders. These workshops are designed for local elected and appointed officials, officers and active members of property-owners associations, fire districts and departments, road and water associations, non-profit organizations with interests in public safety and values-at-risk, and active citizens.
The objectives of the second tier of workshops are similar to those of the first tier and encourage participants to organize at-risk neighborhoods to develop wildfire preparedness and mitigation plans and do hazard mitigation. Under the National Fire Plan, federal agencies are expected to collaborate with local governments and private landowners to plan for and manage wildland fire seamlessly across jurisdictions and land ownerships within appropriate landscapes. Under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, communities at risk are expected to prepare protection plans that include identification of the wildland-urban interface for those communities.
One measure of success of the second-tier workshops is the percentage of neighborhoods-at-risk that prepare plans in collaboration with local, state and federal agencies. A second measure is the degree to which landowners work with each other on neighborhood-scale hazard mitigation. Success is indicated clearly when community landowners and stakeholders work with managers of neighboring public lands to plan and manage wildland fire across property lines on a landscape that encompasses the community and its values-at-risk.
Neighborhood workshops are the first of the “making mitigation happen” workshops. Targeted toward neighborhood residents, they inform and educate participants about wildland fire and ways to live with it safely.
The goal of the neighborhood workshop is to motivate residents to work together to plan for wildfires and to take joint actions to mitigate the threat to values-at-risk. Education in the fundamentals of wildland fire and fire ecology are necessary so that residents can make informed decisions about fire management on their own properties and participate effectively in community decision-making about wildfire.
The second level of these workshops is held with small groups of neighbors, perhaps along a single street or cul-de-sac. These meetings, which typically take place at one of the resident's homes, are tailored specifically to the needs of the group and may include demonstrations, videos or other instruction. They almost always include a walk-around of the properties to discuss in detail what can be done to improve the safety of the buildings and landscapes relative to wildfire. Neighborhood cooperative projects in which people prepare a demonstration site, clear hazards along access roads and escape routes, improve road signage, or do other work for the common good also fit into this second level.
The third level of making mitigation happen involves engaging residents of wildland-urban interface neighborhoods with public land managers in the preparation of mitigation plans. Because WUI landscapes often contain private and public lands, protecting community values-at-risk requires that wildland fuels be treated simultaneously on both. To treat one or the other alone generally doesn't provide adequate protection. Collaboration is essential in such situations.
Working on mitigation plans offers excellent opportunities for truly collaborative wildland fire education. Adults learn best when they are involved in the actual work of planning and implementing projects. They prefer to learn information and skills as they become necessary and useful. They also prefer to participate in their own education — to be both student and teacher — and to discover knowledge experientially. Adults typically don't like to learn a subject first and apply it later.
Residents of wildland-urban interface communities have many skills and resources needed to prepare community wildfire protection plans for both private and public lands. An inventory of skills may identify retired firefighters, botanists, lawyers, engineers, archeologists, accountants, GIS and computer mapping specialists, and writers. Both professionals and amateurs can contribute.
This opens the opportunity for agencies to recruit community members to work on fire planning for neighboring public lands and learn more about wildland fire and fire ecology. At the same time, agency personnel can learn more about the community and advise landowners on vegetation management for private lands. At-risk values are better identified when public land managers work side by side with private landowners. The agency also receives valuable help in data collection, analysis, and interpretation, and assistance in writing the plan and associated documents.
In western Colorado, the American Red Cross and Colorado State Forest Service, with the assistance of the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service, are implementing collaborative fire education projects that engage local fire departments, sheriffs, and county elected and appointed officials.
We've learned that a series of workshops that inform, educate and engage community leaders in a wide range of government, business and volunteer enterprises before progressing to small neighborhood workshops works best. The workshops begin with making mitigation possible by removing barriers and creating incentives. They then progress to making mitigation happen by focusing on the neighborhoods and individual streets where the actual work is done.
We also have learned that residents of the wildland-urban interface often are highly educated and have skills that are useful in conducting studies and developing plans for fuels treatments on public and private lands. By engaging neighbors in the daily details of fire planning for the neighborhood wildland-urban interface, collaborative fire education can happen, where both the community and the agencies learn as they work together.
We have come to this point through experience. It wasn't our intent to implement a sequence of community fire education workshops organized in this fashion, but experience has brought us this far. As we continue to learn, we expect to further refine the community wildfire preparedness and mitigation education process in Colorado.
