Notes from the Field

Fire Departments Conduct FAC Learning Exchange Austin, Texas and Boise, Idaho Share Means of Meeting Their Similar Challenges February 2015

Members of the Austin and Boise Fire Departments met in Austin Key Learning Questions Set for the Exchange during the first week of February to exchange knowledge and best prac- • What is the best approach to right-size resources to align tices that will help their communities with wildfire danger? become more resilient to inevitable wildfires. The idea for the exchange • What are some best practices related to transitioning from a originated at the 2014 Fire Adapted structural protection fire department to an all-hazards (in- Communities Learning Network an- cluding wildfire) department? nual workshop, when network mem- bers from the two cities recognized • What are some best practices related to pre-planning for that they shared similar challenges. incidents in the wildland-urban interface? On August 25, 2008, Boise had a tragic wildfire that left one person • What are some best practices and lessons learned with dead and 10 homes lost. It prompted wildfire mitigation and public outreach? the City of Boise to update building codes for wildland-urban interface areas and develop an interdepart- mental Wildfire Mitigation Team. In homes. The group also heard from meeting of the Austin Travis County 2011 Travis County, Texas—which the Jester neighborhood’s Firewise Wildfire Coalition. The final day was includes Austin—had its worst wild- coordinator to get a homeowner’s dedicated to an after action review fire season on record, with more than perspective on how fire departments and planning for future joint activities. 100 homes lost. That was a wake- can help at-risk neighborhoods learn up call for both the community and to live with fire. In the afternoon the first responders, and it prompted the group visited the Lady Bird Johnson Austin Fire Department to create a Wildflower Center and discussed Wildland Fire Division. Both depart- research on prescribed fire effects, ments and communities have made media outreach and more. progress in the years since then— A series of presentations on the but realized that by learning from second day provided a good op- each other, they can do even better. portunity to introduce additional members of the Austin department The Agenda to the Boise delegates. The third The first day of the exchange day started with a visit to the Wild- was spent in the field exploring land Fire Division’s base camp and and discussing a mechanical fuel continued with a series of meetings Fire adapted communities learning exchange participants view map showing treatments reduction project in the Balcones at the Office of Emergency Manage- conducted in the vicinity of the Jester Estates Canyonlands Refuge adjacent to ment, including attending a regular Firewise Community. Photo: TNC/Wendy Fulks Profiles of the Fire Departments Travis County, Texas Ada County, Idaho Full-time firefighters 1,100 600+ Fire stations 45 29 Population 885,400 in Austin 225,000 in Boise 1,024,331 Travis County 450,000 Ada County Percentage of department 100% 100% with wildland training (S130/190) WUI acres 284,832 About 35,000 acres in the Boise WUI and 1.5 million acres countywide Homes in WUI 398,430 About 6,500 homes in the Boise WUI and 16,000 countywide Land ownership Mainly private Private, city and federal Primary vegetation types Oak juniper woodlands, dry climate Sage-steppe invaded by cheatgrass grasses, juniper woodlands, and other species; juniper is a aggraded juniper woodlands concern in places. Primary fuels reduction Mechanical, some prescribed fire Goat grazing, mechanical, herbicide techniques Threatened / endangered 23 total with primary being golden- Mulford’s milkvetch, Aase’s onion species affected by fire cheeked warbler and black-capped and slickspot peppergrass management vireo, karst invertebrates Watershed concerns Yes Yes related to fire Threats to ecosystem Oakwilt, drought Invasive plant species such as health cheatgrass, medusahead rye, rush skeletonweed and hoary cress (whitetop)

Themes that Emerged from the Exchange

Unique Role and Challenges challenge for some firefighters and To meet the challenges, partici- for Fire Departments departments. It’s not uncommon for pants recommended departments: departments to have become some- • Improve internal collaboration; As the wildland-urban interface what insular, for example, hiring only • Recognize that firefighter unions (WUI) grows, more municipal fire from within. This can hinder or slow are stakeholders, and engage departments are facing serious the adoption of new approaches, them early in the change process; wildland fire challenges, which raise making it difficult to effect the type • Conduct wildland fire training that new issues and require new ways of of cultural change that is needed to includes multiple divisions, includ- working. address wildland fire issues. ing operations; Unlike structural fires, which are Multi-scalar collaboration is not • Seek input from operations per- fairly static, wildfires are dynamic easy; however, it can reap many sonnel when identifying and priori- and often cross jurisdictions. There- benefits. For example, participants tizing wildfire mitigation projects; fore, preparing for, responding to, noted that having multiple partners • Promote the benefits of cross- and recovering from them requires involved in projects strengthens pub- training; and a great deal of interagency collab- lic outreach efforts and lends them • Ensure that all partners use the oration. The necessary degree of more credibility. One participant said, same messages when communi- cooperation and integration can be a “our voice is louder together.” cating with the public. were able to discuss burning in the WUI, as well as share information about fire training, monitoring, and working with the media to deliver messages about good fire. Take-away messages from these conversations included: • In some cases, especially next to houses, you might only be able to make incremental progress when A shaded fuel break is being created by the Austin Fire Department adjacent to Jester Estates. using fire and mechanical treat- Participants toured this work as part of the exchange. Photo: TNC/Wendy Fulks ments to restore habitat. • Land owners/managers have a Community Planning meets with battalion chiefs regularly responsibility to reduce fuels in to conduct pre-planning exercises for Exchange participants also talked areas that could pose a wildfire about evacuation planning and the WUI fires. This is a way for incident threat to homes. need to let residents know that, commanders to analyze multiple • Cross-boundary burning can save depending on conditions such as fire scenarios in different parts of the time and resources, but if orga- start location, wind speed, traffic and county, and is intended to speed up nizations don’t use the same fire poor road infrastructure, they might decision-making when serious fires qualifications and training stan- not be able to evacuate in case of occur. dards, it’s hard to work together. wildfire. This is one reason creating Fire departments can play a vital • Leveraging the media to deliver defensible or survivable space is so role in helping communities live with messages about the benefits of important. fire. They are respected as experts controlled burning requires a sig- nificant amount of capacity—but recently by homeowners and land managers Austin and Travis County the benefits can be tremendous. completed a community wildfire alike, and can help the two groups protection plan and, due to serious take coordinated action in a given Participants returned home with traffic concerns, the top priority was area. Outreach to homeowners and fresh ideas and perspectives—and to improve wildfire evacuation plan- land managers is a high priority for look forward to continuing sharing ning. As a result, the fire department both Austin and Boise. The Bureau knowledge with colleagues at FAC has collected information on traffic of Land Management (BLM) is a events and through personal patterns and expected fire behavior major land manager in Ada County contacts for years to come. to create a draft map of “drivesheds,” and a key partner for the Boise Fire that will indicate the best evacuation Department—the Boise delegation, routes for citizens in the different in fact, included a BLM mitigation parts of the county. They are also and education specialist. in the process of identifying poten- tial safety zones within the county, Controlled Burning including schools, businesses and Although most of their fuel treat- churches. The public will have a ments are mechanical, the Austin Several exchange participants were interviewed chance to learn about this effort on Fire Department does regularly con- as part of a video project. Photo: TNC/J. Bailey National Wildfire Preparedness Day duct small prescribed fires to reduce on May 2, 2015. fuels. The Boise Fire Department For more information about the Mapping out alternative evacuation wanted to learn more about these Fire Adapted Communities Learning routes is part of a larger pre-planning prescribed fire efforts because they Network, contact: need that many WUI communities are interested in burning near ripar- Michelle Medley-Daniel have. In Boise, the operations chief ian areas—light, flashy fuels and [email protected] topography prevent using prescribed fire in most of the Ada County WUI. Wendy Fulks As participants toured the Lady Bird [email protected] Johnson Wildflower Center they Or visit: http://facnetwork.org/

The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior through a subaward to the Watershed Research and Training Center. An equal opportunity provider and employer. The group discussed evacuation planning, com- munications technology and inter-agency coordi- nation at the Travis County Office of Emergency Management. Photo: TNC/Wendy Fulks v. 17 Mar 15/WF