Kellye Junchaya: Welcome to the EIIP Virtual Forum Round Table! Kellye Junchaya: The Round Table today is our monthly CFP discussion, and I am pleased to serve as your host. Kellye Junchaya: A couple of quick reminders for any first timers with us today... Kellye Junchaya: The session will consist of about fifteen minutes of introduction and overview, and then we will open it up to audience participation. Kellye Junchaya: If a URL is displayed in the chat window, it will appear blue. If you click on it, it will open the linked Web page in your browser window. Kellye Junchaya: After the first one, the window may not come to the top automatically, and be hidden behind your chat screen. Use the buttons on your status bar to bring the browser window forward. Kellye Junchaya: Our topic today is "Firewise - Wildland Fire Safety" Kellye Junchaya: The focus for this topic is the Firewise web site. It is located at http://www.firewise.org Kellye Junchaya: This website is an excellent resource. I encourage you to give it a good look when you have time. You may even want to consider adding a link to this page from your own sites. Kellye Junchaya: We are pleased to have Judith Leraas Cook with us. She manages the Firewise website and has written several articles on Fire Safety for prominent publications. Kellye Junchaya: Among other notable accomplishments, she was previously the National Fire Prevention Officer for the USDA-Forest Service, created the National Firewise Landscaping Task Force, she supervised the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program,... Kellye Junchaya: and she developed "Ignition Management", a course which became part of the curriculum at the National Advanced Resource Technology Center in Arizona. Kellye Junchaya: Judith is joining us using the html option so responses may seem a little delayed. Please be patient. Kellye Junchaya: Welcome Judith, and thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Judith Leraas Cook: Thanks! It is a pleasure to be here! Kellye Junchaya: The wildland/urban interface wildfire problem has increased over the last twenty years. Why? Judith Leraas Cook: The American population has moved in great numbers from metropolitan (city) areas into the nation's wildlands... Judith Leraas Cook: People moving into wildland areas often lack an understanding of what they need to do to protect themselves in the event of a wildfire... Judith Leraas Cook: .Many arrive with the expectation that they will have the same fire service in the wildland they did in their former city homes. Kellye Junchaya: Could you give us a little background about Firewise? Judith Leraas Cook: Yes, The program is sponsored by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group... Judith Leraas Cook: To give you a little history, the NWCG noticed the demographic change in the wildlands--- Judith Leraas Cook: and a corresponding increase in wildland/urban interface wildfires... Judith Leraas Cook: The wildland/urban interface is the zone where homes and wildlands border one another... Judith Leraas Cook: The NWCG initiated the National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Protection Program approximately 15 years ago to address wildland/urban interface issues...Committee members discovered that folks were not very interested in their messages... Judith Leraas Cook: In 1991, they decided to try something new and created the Firewise Landscaping Task Force... Judith Leraas Cook: Comprised of landscaping professionals, academics, and botanists, these people explained what THEY would listen to about wildfire protection... Judith Leraas Cook: .At that time a Firewise Landscaping Seminar was created and presented in Denver, Ontario (CA) and Seattle... Judith Leraas Cook: It has since been given in Salt Lake City as well... Judith Leraas Cook: The seminar targets landscaping professionals and attempts to provide them with Firewise landscaping information they can use on projects in fire prone areas. Kellye Junchaya: When did you create the Firewise Home Page? Judith Leraas Cook: The Firewise Home Page, http://www.firewise/org, was created in June of 1996...In June of 1999, the page's monthly hits numbered 85,196... Judith Leraas Cook: Firewise allows users to self-register to receive Firewise information... Judith Leraas Cook: The registration list contained 840 at the end of June. Kellye Junchaya: What kinds of information are available on the Firewise Home Page? Judith Leraas Cook: Wildfire protection information---some of it targeted toward the fire professional and some toward the homeowner... Judith Leraas Cook: The page includes electronic publications, the Wildfire News & Notes newsletter, educational interactive elements which include Making Your Home Firewise and a Firewise IQ quiz... Judith Leraas Cook: .landscaping and construction checklists, on-line publications, a peak fire seasons map, a forum area, and other enhancements... Judith Leraas Cook: It has an events section as well as an extensive links area... Judith Leraas Cook: Users can ask questions which are answered directly by fire technologists, post questions in the forum area, and conduct their own page evaluations. Kellye Junchaya: What are the things that most affect a home's ignition potential? Judith Leraas Cook: The most important element in residential wildfire protection is the composition of the roof...Shake-shingle roofs are extremely flammable...Class A roofs (tile, tin, composite) are fire resistant, and the better choices... Judith Leraas Cook: Second, the character and quality of surrounding vegetation (the volume, placement, health and species of plant materials) greatly affect a home's flammability Kellye Junchaya: How do you assess your vulnerability to wildfire? Judith Leraas Cook: Have you ever walked around your house with the purpose of evaluating exactly how it could catch fire?.. Judith Leraas Cook: The Firewise Home Page helps people make this sort of assessment intelligently... Judith Leraas Cook: It contains a Shockwave presentation about Firewise construction. The page also has a great deal of information about Firewise landscaping practices. Amy Sebring: (I think we may have lost Kellye ... Amy Sebring: Judith, how is a hazard analysis done? Kevin Farrell: I thought it was me... Judith Leraas Cook: You can learn to do this by studying the Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Hazard Assessment Methodology located at http://www.firewise.org/pubs/WHAM/nfpa/ on the Firewise Home Page. Amy Sebring: Have communities adopted the Firewise concept? Judith Leraas Cook: The National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Protection Program is preparing to present Firewise 2000... Judith Leraas Cook: This is a series of workshops to be presented during the year 2000 around the United States. Community leaders from all over the United States will be invited to learn about Firewise practices for their jurisdictional areas. Kellye A Junchaya: We will now give the audience an opportunity to ask questions or give comments, however please first enter just a question mark to indicate you wish to contribute, prepare your comment, but wait until you are recognized by name... Kellye A Junchaya: then either hit the Enter key or click on the Send button. We will take comments in the order the question marks are submitted. We are ready to start now. Amy Sebring: ? Ken Patterson Sr: ? Kellye A Junchaya: Amy, please Amy Sebring: I tend to associate this hazard with the West, but I suppose it is everywhere? Amy Sebring: I see NJ is having a problem for example. Judith Leraas Cook: Yes, wildfires have occurred in all areas of the United States... Clayton Wine: Florida 1998 Judith Leraas Cook: Remember the fires on Long Island and in New Jersey?... Amy Sebring: Ken please. Ken Patterson Sr: Is there anything that will assist us Southerners understand/explain the issues that the Westerners face on a yearly basis? Judith Leraas Cook: And in Florida last year? The page strives to help folks protect themselves in such situations. Ken Patterson Sr: As a student in the EM program, and a citizen of Florida, I found most of the information to be presented in a Western outlook, and had to adapt several things to Florida to explain it to my community Judith Leraas Cook: Florida has specific ecosystem issues that it deals with... Amy Sebring: ? Judith Leraas Cook: Wildfire regimes exist from the NC mountains through Florida and the rangelands of Texas Kellye A Junchaya: Amy? Amy Sebring: What role does, or can, homeowners insurance play in mitigation? For example, are there any incentives for using appropriate building materials? Avagene Moore: ? Judith Leraas Cook: At this time, on a few areas of the country offer insurance incentives. Kellye A Junchaya: Avagene, please Avagene Moore: I may have missed this, Judith; I apologize if you mentioned it. Does the site have a section for children's education in this topic? Amy Sebring: ? Judith Leraas Cook: High school kids use it a lot. This year we are creating an archive of available educational tools. Kellye A Junchaya: If people want to sign up for your Firewise mail list, how can they do that? Judith Leraas Cook: They access the easy-to-locate registration area on the page. Kellye A Junchaya: Amy, please. Amy Sebring: Unless I miss my guess, I would expect very few states to have comprehensive hazards analyses of the wildfire hazard. Is this type of analysis pretty much up to the local community, and do you know of any good examples where this has been done? Terry Storer: ? Judith Leraas Cook: Hazard analysis is definitely at the discretion of communities Some work has been done in Boulder, CO and in California that is noteworthy. Kellye A Junchaya: Terry, please Terry Storer: Should we have a mitigation standard for wildfires like we do for floods? We limit development on flood plains , why not in areas of naturally occurring wildfires. Judith Leraas Cook: For those who entered after we started, the page is located at http://www.firewise.org... Amy Sebring: no punctuation http://www.firewise.org Amy Sebring: I think we have had a disconnect ... Amy Sebring: our time is up at this point ... Amy Sebring: although I think Terry has raised a very interesting question. Judith Leraas Cook: Fire is an interesting and rather subjective area. The NFPA has developed a standard that is proving difficult to enforce. Kellye Junchaya: Thank you audience for participating today and thank you Judith for being here today. I would like to remind you to take the time to visit the Firewise web site when you have time. It contains valuable CFP information and it is an excellent resource. Kellye Junchaya: Avagene, can you please tell us what is coming up in the Virtual Forum? Avagene Moore: Thanks, Kellye. Thank you, Judith. Enjoyed learning about Firewise. Good session. ... Avagene Moore: Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 11, 12 Noon EDT, James McGinty, President of Protection Planning, will be with us in the Virtual Classroom to discuss Bomb Threat Management. Jim is a recognized speaker on Critical Incident Management and Bomb Threat Assessment. ... Avagene Moore: Jim knows his topic --- he is a 24 year veteran of the Philadelphia Police force, Lieutenant Commander retired. Jim's expertise spans from patrol service to investigation, retiring as the commander of the fifth largest bomb squad in the country. ... Avagene Moore: Jim's skills were called upon to help investigate both the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings. Don't miss this session. ... Avagene Moore: Next Tuesday August 17, 12 Noon EDT, the Round Table will be hosted by the Congressional Fire Service Institute (CFSI). ... Avagene Moore: On Wednesday, August 18, 12 Noon EDT, you are all invited to the 2nd Anniversary / Birthday Party of the EIIP Virtual Forum! A gala event is planned with distinguished speakers but the emphasis is on celebration. Be in the Virtual Forum early -- we can only accommodate 50 party-goers. ... Avagene Moore: That's all for now, Kellye. Amy Sebring: If you have not pledged yet ... Amy Sebring: please see http://www.emforum.org/eiip/pledge/pledge.asp Ken Patterson Sr: Thank you all for a good session Kellye Junchaya: Feel free to stick around and chat for a few minutes. Thank you so much Judith. Excellent job.