FAC Net blogs include success stories, lessons learned, resources, tips and even failures related to community wildfire resilience. Please contact our blog manager if you have a story to share.
Credit: Esmé Cadiente, Forest Stewards Guilld
Sep 20, 2018
Don’t Reinvent the Prescribed Fire Wheel: Must-Have Liability, Timing and Outreach Resources
By: Allison JolleyAre you planning any controlled burns this fall? (Or winter? Or spring?) This blog offers a collection of resources… Read More
Editor's Note: All blog entries are reviewed and edited for length and clarity by Network staff before approval for posting.
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DYK? Out-of-town farmers voluntarily provided the irrigation equipment needed to protect Yellowstone National Park's historic Old Faithful Lodge during the 1988 wildfires. Credit: National Park Service
Dec 13, 2018
Unsung Heroes of the 1988 Yellowstone Fires: Church Leaders and Farmers
By: Liz Davy, Island Park Sustainable Fire Community Matthew WardA burning cigarette butt landed on a pile of sawdust, soaked with oil and gas. And like that, a firewood cutter started the North Fork “Yellowstone” Fire, a fire that… Read More
Topic: Collaboration Wildfire
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Credit: Mike Caggiano, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State University
Dec 06, 2018
Using Community Base Maps to Improve the Safety and Effectiveness of Wildfire Response
By: Mike Caggiano, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State UniversityThe Importance of Spatial Data When responding to wildfires, firefighters often have difficulty figuring out where the fire is, where it’s going, and what’s in its way.… Read More
Topic: Planning Wildfire Wildfire risk assessment
Type: Tools / Resources
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"I assumed residents shared their board’s enthusiasm for the wildfire risk mitigation project [ ... ] I assumed wrong." Photo credit: Pam Wilson
Nov 29, 2018
Fantastic Failure: Why Would Residents Refuse Wildfire Mitigation Money?
By: Einar Jensen, South Metro Fire RescueA high-risk neighborhood refusing a $13,500 mitigation grant is a fantastic failure. The year was 2013, and I was on top of my game. I was (and still am) a risk reduction… Read More
Topic: Communications / Outreach Defensible space / Firewise Fuels treatment / Prescribed fire
Type: Fantastic Failure
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Nov 15, 2018
Florida, Prescribed Fire, the National Association of State Foresters, and Risk Mapping: Meet John Fish
By: Florida Forest Service, John FishEditor’s note: If you work in the realm of controlled burning, wildfire risk mapping, outreach or forestry, John Fish is someone you should meet. John is the fire chief of the… Read More
Topic: Communications / Outreach Evacuation outreach/planning Fuels treatment / Prescribed fire
Type: Interview
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FAC Net's co-director, Michelle Medley-Daniel, was about 20 miles (as the crow flies) from the Carr Fire. In this post, she shares some of her journal entries from last summer. Photo credit: Nick Goulette, Watershed Research and Training Center
Nov 08, 2018
Views of the Carr Fire: Journal Entries from Trinity County, California
By: Michelle Medley-Daniel, Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, Watershed Research and Training CenterJuly 20, 2018 I picked you up from the Redding airport on a cloudless Friday afternoon. You remarked on the hot wind. “They’re sculptures. Twisted limbs reaching… Read More
Topic: Evacuation outreach/planning Wildfire
Type: Essay
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Are you maximizing local residents' roles in fire adaptation? Read this blog to learn about a volunteer empowerment approach that works: the Neighborhood Ambassador program. Photo: Neighborhood ambassadors for Cedar Mesa Ranches after a community chipping day, which was planned in recognition of National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, 2018. Credit: Amanda Brenner-Cannon, Wildfire Adapted Partnership
Nov 01, 2018
Enhancing Fire Adaptation Through Active Volunteers: The Neighborhood Ambassador Approach
By: Ashley Downing, Wildfire Adapted PartnershipDespite burning over 50,000 acres, the 416 Fire did exactly what the Falls Creek Ranch community wanted it to. The fire burned right up to the community boundary and because… Read More
Topic: Communications / Outreach Defensible space / Firewise Local workforce capacity
Type: Tools / Resources
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Thanks to the fuels treatments done by the Colorado State Forest Service and its key partners, fire response crews were able to contain the Golf Course Fire before it entered nearby communities. Keep reading for 15 more examples of wildfire mitigation efforts that worked. Credit: Grand County Sheriff’s Office
Oct 25, 2018
We recently published a story highlighting six examples of wildfire mitigation paying off in 2018. You asked for more, and I’m happy to report that just for 2017 and 2018… Read More
Topic: Defensible space / Firewise Fuels treatment / Prescribed fire Ignition-resistant home construction
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A collaborative group discusses a prescribed fire and its effects as smoke still lingers. Credit: Ed Keith, Deschutes County
Oct 18, 2018
How Do You Want Your Smoke? Why Oregon Is Exploring a New Smoke Management Plan
By: Ed Keith, Deschutes CountyIn Oregon, prescribed fire smoke is regulated by the Oregon Smoke Management Plan, which is overseen by the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and the Department of… Read More
Topic: Communications / Outreach Fuels treatment / Prescribed fire
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True or false: Poison oak produces poisonous smoke when burned? Lenya Quinn-Davidson takes a dive into the research on a quest to find out. Credit: David Dennis shared via Flickr Creative Commons
Oct 11, 2018
I came out of last week looking like someone who’d just been released from a hard labor camp. My hands were covered in blisters from digging soil pits for a research… Read More
Topic: Fuels treatment / Prescribed fire
Type: Research Synthesis
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Wildfire smoke increasingly travels thousands of miles, sometimes across the entire country. Get a rundown of the latest wildfire-smoke science, opportunities to mitigate it, and tools to communicate about it in the blog post below. Photo: Smoke from 2017 California wildfires spanning the U.S. Credit: NASA
Oct 04, 2018
How Healthier Forests Can Mean Less Smoke: The Science, Tools and Strategies Related to Smoke Management in Fire-Adapted Forests
By: Dr. Leland Tarnay, USDA Forest Service Region 5 Remote Sensing LabThe Air Quality Problem With disconcerting regularity, smoke from large wildfires keeps saturating the skies of California (and other states) for days on end, over vast… Read More
Topic: Communications / Outreach Fuels treatment / Prescribed fire Wildfire
Type: Research Synthesis