“California’s emergencies and disasters include wildfires, earthquakes, flooding, mudslides and more. Local officials and public safety professionals recognize that we need to take a new approach when addressing disaster preparedness, recovery and resilience, particularly in the wake of the numerous major wildfires that have ravaged California in recent years. In response, the League made this a strategic goal in 2019: Improve disaster preparedness, recovery and climate resiliency. Every disaster, whether it’s a wildfire, earthquake, flood, mudslide or other event, has three phases: before, du ..read more

“Part of our goal is to have fire services and the insurance industry stand shoulder to shoulder and look at the mitigations that actually change the needle on outcomes, because we have the same goal – the protection of life and property.” Chief Frank Frievalt, who leads the Insurance Section of the Wildfire Policy Committee Action Plan, gave an interview on wildfire mitigation, policy, and the Western Fire Chiefs Association partnership with ISO. View the entire article HERE The post WILDFIRE RESPONSE: A CONVERSATION WITH CHIEF FRIEVALT appeared first on The Wildfire Initiativ ..read more

On May 4th we celebrated Wildfire Community Preparedness Day. Its purpose is to promote wildfire preparation in communities throughout the US. This year, the NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) and State Farm awarded 150 project teams with $500 to help fund their own wildfire risk reduction activities. The awards were given to incentivize individual communities to implement prevention techniques and education as they see fit.   The NFPA started this day with a focus on how the public can better interact with the natural world and help to prevent wildfires. Wildfires have been a par ..read more

On April 15th-16th the WFCA Wildfire Technology Summit held in Boise, Idaho brought together a unique combination of Western Fire Service leaders, technology industry experts, and federal partner representatives. The purpose was three-fold: discuss and determine how the fire service and federal partners can share data across systems; develop broad language for use in department RFQ/RFP when acquiring technology solutions to ensure current and future needs are met; and lastly begin to build solution-specific specifications for the software and hardware products most needed in the fire ..read more

Following a particularly dangerous and destructive wildfire season, the Wildland Urban Interface Conference (WUI) provided an ideal space for wildland fire service leaders to connect and discuss forecasted environmental challenges and possible solutions for the upcoming fire season. Hosted by the IAFC in Reno, NV at the end of March, the conference focused on these three important factors: Innovation, Leadership, and Collaboration. Attendees were offered hands-on training and tasked with figuring out adaptive ways to face the new landscape of wildland firefighting. Jeff Johnson, retired Fire C ..read more

Since its inception, the Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) has spearheaded many initiatives that have directly and positively impacted the communities and fire services agencies in the western states and in the nation. Following the devastating 2017 fire season, it became clear that the major wildfires in the west were not one-off anomalies, but were becoming a pattern and creating the new normal. In the Spring of 2018, the WFCA hosted the Wildfire Policy Summit in Sisters, Oregon with the goal of creating actionable initiatives to address and mitigate the increasing wildland fir ..read more

The Western Fire Chiefs Association is pleased to announce that Chief Kim Zagaris has accepted the position of Wildfire Policy and Technology Advisor.  The position is a new one, created in response to the destructive wildfires that have unfolded across the west. Chief Zagaris, or Chief Z as some call him, most recently served as State Fire and Rescue Chief for the State of California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). He has an extensive background in fire service, emergency management, and homeland security which includes working with local, state, federal and international a ..read more