More than 30,000 structures have been lost to wildfires in the United States since 1970. Fighting these fires has cost taxpayers $25 billion, and an additional $10 billion have been spent by the insurance industry to repay victims of wildfire. There are many reasons behind this trend of catastrophic wildland fire, including population growth in areas with higher risks of wildfire, our past practices of fire suppression, and climate change.

This workshop is aimed at addressing these issues by:

1. Improving safety in the wildand/urban interface through sharing responsibility for fire prevention
2. Creating and nurturing local partnerships in fire prevention and suppression efforts, and
3. Integrating Firewise concepts into local community and disaster planning.

This conference is intended for community leaders including planners, elected officials, tribal leaders, builders, homeowners, realtors, bankers, fire safe council members, resource advisory committee members, insurance representatives, emergency managers, local fire officers, and forest fire officials from Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mendocino, and Siskiyou Counties.

Some of the country’s top experts will lead the two-day event, which will center on a state-of-the-art fire protection planning exercise. Participants will be a part of a team that determines how to design a hypothetical community that is Firewise. Participants will learn about current research on home ignitability and examples of communities that have successfully adopted fire protection programs, how to recognize fire hazards and how to incorporate Firewise planning into their communities.

Other organizations that are assisting with the coordination of this event include:
Six Rivers National Forest, Humboldt Fire Protection District, Humboldt County Fire Safe Council, Del Norte County Fire Safe Council, Lower Mattole Fire Safe Council, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Humboldt County Planning Department, and the Trinity Resource Conservation & Development Council.

Visit the Firewise Communities website at http://www.firewise.org/communities for more information.