Fire-adapted communities

"[1] The National Wildfire Coordinating Group definition, which was developed and approved by the Wildland Urban Interface Mitigation Committee, is "A human community consisting of informed and prepared citizens collaboratively planning and taking action to safely co-exist with wildland fire.

The term has existed for a number of years, but was given prominence in the 2005 “Quadrennial Fire and Fuel Review (QFR),” a publication that examines the future of wildfire in the United States and provides insight and predictions about potential changes in mission, roles and responsibilities.

“The premise is that all partners recognize a general set of common operating precepts: namely, fulfilling pre-fire mitigation, defensible space, and individual responsibilities, applicable regulations; and providing a robust local response capacity … Other key steps include building community defensible space or fuels reduction zones … as an essential component of a larger integrated fuels management portfolio …” [7] Achieving fire-adapted communities is an approach that concentrates on plans and activities that reduce risk before a wildfire occurs.

Representing the National Association of State Foresters, she testified, “Our work builds on the vision that effective partnerships, with shared responsibility held by all stakeholders of the wildland fire problem, will create well-prepared, fire-adapted communities and healthy, resilient landscapes.” [9] Pam Leschak, wildland-urban interface program manager for the USDA Forest Service, compared the overall efforts of fire-adapted communities to an umbrella.

Partners at every level joining forces, before a wildfire starts, to use existing and new … tools to creative fire-adaptive communities, which have taken the necessary actions to safely survive a wildfire with little or no additional structural protection resources while sustaining little or no damage.” (Pam Leschak, USDA Forest Service, “Strong Partnerships and the Right Tools: The Pre-wildfire Strategy of Fire-adapted Communities,” Institute for Business and Home Safety magazine, “Disaster Review,” March 2010, p. XX) In 2009, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension's Living With Fire program received funding from the Nevada Division of Forestry and USDA Forest Service to bring the concept of Fire Adapted Communities to five of Washoe County's high and extreme fire hazard neighborhoods.