FAC Self-Assessment Tool

Is your community prepared for fire? How can you and your partners improve your resilience? Use the FAC Self-Assessment Tool to find out. 

We created the Fire Adapted Communities Self-Assessment Tool (FAC SAT) to help communities assess their fire adaptation efforts and to plan and track their capacity to live safely with fire over time. If you’re a leader in making your community more wildfire resilient, the FAC SAT can help. This tool can be used to assess individual neighborhoods, cities and even large counties.

The FAC SAT is designed to help community members:

• Identify their community’s values at risk;
• Identify their community’s capacity to implement FAC activities;
• Assess any gaps or limitations in funding, resources, partnerships and workforce/volunteers;
• Prioritize future fire adaptation activities;
• Complement other work plans; and
• Increase understanding of long-term community fire adaptation needs.

The FAC SAT is solely for the use of communities. It is not a national tracking, comparison or monitoring tool, and communities will not be required to share their assessment information with FAC Net or anyone else unless they voluntarily choose to do so.

Where is the FAC Checklist?

It doesn’t exist! You’re never “done” working on fire adaptation. Changes in social dynamics, landscape conditions, local economies and more mean you’ll always need to be working with partners to adapt and prepare. 

More About the FAC SAT

The tool is a PDF document containing a series of questions. Completing the assessment is a four-step process. Detailed information about who should be involved and how long the process takes can be found in the FAC SAT User and Facilitator’s Guide.

• Step 1: Stakeholders come together and define the community being assessed.
• Step 2: Complete the assessment form. Questions will guide you through a process to rate your community in the following areas:
  • Wildfire hazard and response capability,
  • Community values at risk,
  • Residential and commercial properties at risk,
  • Community plans and regulations,
  • Wildfire mitigation/risk reduction programs,
  • Resources and funding,
  • Public outreach and input, and
  • Landowners and other stakeholders.
• Step 3: Prioritize community fire adaptation needs
• Step 4: Create a Community Fire Adaptation Action Plan

Learn more about using the FAC SAT in this brief webinar by Michelle Medley-Daniel.

A Network Product

An earlier version of the FAC SAT was tested by FAC Net communities who provided feedback to help us improve the tool and develop guidance about different ways communities could use it. If you have feedback or questions about FAC SAT, we would like to hear from you.

If you would like to share this tool, please share the link to this page: https://fireadaptednetwork.org/resources/fac-assessment-tool/

We ask that you do not share the PDF directly. By sharing the link to this page, users will have access to the most up-to-date version of the tool. 

Download the FAC SAT by entering your name and email below:

Disclaimer: FAC Net Staff may email you to request your feedback about the FAC SAT. Your response is optional and you will have the opportunity to opt out of further communications.