Wildfire Wednesdays #27: Wildfire Wednesdays Live! - FAC NM Leader Profile - Era of Megafires

Hi Fireshed Members,

Fall provides an important time to reflect. After a busy spring and summer, let’s take some time to acknowledge what worked and what didn’t in our wildfire preparedness and community resilience activities. This is how we build community resilience and adapt through time. Please share your stories with us!

This week’s Wildfire Wednesday features:

• Wildfire Wednesdays Live Speaker Series: Debut October 7th, 6:00pm

• A 20-minute version of Paul Hessburg’s Era of Megafires

Best,

Gabe

Wildfire Wednesdays Live Speaker Series Debut!

The Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition is excited to introduce Wildfire Wednesdays Live. This speaker series will feature weekly presentations with forestry and fire personalities that will build common understanding and deepen our conversation about wildfire prevention and preparedness. Presentations will be livestreamed through The Santa Fe National Forest Facebook and weekly links will be provided in our regular Wildfire Wednesdays newsletters. Please join us for the kickoff of Wildfire Wednesdays Live on October 7th at 6:00pm. Come for the speakers, stay for the interactive Q&A in the chat. Save-the-date and stay tuned for more information.

Era of Megafires: Now Available to the Public

Era of Megafires Official Trailer. To watch the full 20-minute version, click the link below

Megafires, wildfires over 100,000 acres, are currently burning our western landscape. How did we get here and what can be done about it? Dr. Paul Hessburg, research landscape ecologist for the US Forest Service, has spent the last 40 years learning about how we got here and what can be done about it.

Watch the full film here: https://vimeo.com/313468778

Wildfire Wednesdays #26: Virtual WUI Summit (WUFS) - How do Homes Burn?

Hi Fireshed Members,  

With so many motivated individuals involved in wildfire preparedness in our communities and across the country there is always something to share through Wildfire Wednesdays. This week I am excited to help promote The 2020 virtual Wildland Urban Fire Summit. If you or those in your community would like to share information or an event through Wildfire Wednesday, please reach out.  

This week’s Wildfire Wednesday features:  

• Information about the 2020 Virtual Wildland Urban Fire Summit 

• A Video by the National Fire Protection Assocition (NFPA) about how homes ignite from wildfire. 

Stay connected,  

Gabe 

The 2020 Virtual Wildland Urban Fire Summit: Register Today! 

Fire season is a challenging time let alone during the COVID-19 pandemic. Local governments, state and federal agencies, and nonprofit organizations that have a passion for fire prevention will host a virtual NM Wildland Urban Fire Summit (WUFS) on Thursday, October 22 and Friday October 23, 2020. The event provides a continuous effort among community leaders, fire responders, and government personnel to share the latest techniques, cohesive strategies, and resources for wildfire adaption and economic resiliency, wildfire preparedness, and planning.  

Registration is open until the day of the summit at no charge. Registration is available at https://www.nmcounties.org/calendar/.  

How do Homes Burn Down in Wildfires? 

Hint: They're not typically overcome by flames. As historic wildfires sweep the western United States, this episode of Learn Something New by NFPA Journal examines the facts of home wildfire ignition and some of the things homeowners can do right now to protect their properties. 

To check Check out this awesome video and find ways that you can protect your home, click here.  

Wildfire Wednesday #25: Wildfire Wednesdays #25: Wildfire Podcasts - Virtual Wildland Fire Conference - COCO Grant Opportunity

Hi Fireshed Members,

To strengthen the wildfire resilience of our communities is an incremental process that requires having challenging conversations year round, even when there is not wildfire smoke in the air. As Fireshed members we are helping to start these conversations in our communities and amplifying the importance of community building and wildfire mitigation. As we move into the cooler months, we encourage you to open up a conversation about potential wildfire effects with those in your community. Help us grow the network and amplify the need for wildfire preparedness across the state!

This Wildfire Wednesdays newsletter includes:

• Two podcasts that provide interesting and useful information about wildfire

• Information about the 2020 Colorado Wildland Fire Conference

• The Action, Implementation, and Mitigation grant program

Thank you!

Gabe

Wildfire Podcasts

If you haven’t already explored the world of podcasts, a podcast is a series of spoken word audio files that a user can download or listen to online – basically a radio-show you can listen to whenever you want. Podcasts are a great way to learn about new ideas and serve as great conversation starters. Here are a couple podcasts that do a good job of talking about wildfire and wildfire preparedness.

Hot and Dry is an excellent podcast about how climate change is affecting the Southwest and what we can do about it. Episodes discuss how we can live with wildfire, prescribed and managed fire, the wildland urban interface (WUI), The Rio Grande Water Fund, and much more.

To begin listening to Hot and Dry, click here.

Life Kit: 6 Ways to Get Ready for a Wildfire is a 14 minute NPR podcast that features an interview with Fireshed member Porfirio Chavarria who is a Wildland Urban Specialist with The City of Santa Fe Fire Department. This short podcast provides clear, step-by-step guidance for wildfire preparedness.

To listen to Life Kit: 6 Ways to Get Ready for Wildfire, click here.

Colorado Virtual Wildland Fire Conference

Discover Your Role: Reducing Wildland Fire Risk

September 30th, 8:15am – 2:30pm; October 1st, 8:15am – 1:00pm

One of the only good things about social distancing is being able to attend amazing workshops and events virtually. In just a couple weeks, The Southern Rockies Fire Science Network is hosting the Colorado Wildland Fire Conference and you can join into the event from your couch.

To learn more about this event and to register online, click here

Action, Implementation, and Mitigation Grant Opportunity!

COCO has released the Concept Paper and Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Fall 2020 Action, Implementation and Mitigation (AIM) grant. COCO will be accepting Concept Papers though October 8, 2020 until 5:00 PM MT. Click here for the RFP and instructions. Download the Concept Paper here or from the AIM Grant Page.

To learn more about this grant opportunity, COCO is hosting the Fall 2020 Grant Announcement Webinar on September 17, 2020 at 11:00 AM MT. If you are not yet registered, please register here.

Please share this opportunity with colleagues and organizations working on reducing their community's wildfire risk. For more information, please visit co-co.org.

Forest Treatments in the Fireshed aid in Medio Fire Suppression

Buck Wickham, Operations Section Chief for the Southwest Area Incident Management Team 4  and U.S. Forest Service-Santa Fe National Forest Fuels Program Manager Dennis Carril discuss how forest restoration treatments and prescribed fire work aided in suppression efforts on the Medio fire in a new video produced by The Nature Conservancy and Forest Stewards Guild. The full length video can be found on the Medio Fire page on the Coalition’s website. The shortened highlights version is available below.

Wildfire Wednesdays #24: Wildfire Hazard Explorer - Living with Wildland Fire: Virtual Learning Opportunity

Hello Fireshed Members, 

The devastating wildfires burning in California, Oregon, and Washington serve as a grim reminder of the risk of wildfire across the west. Thank you all for continuing to stay engaged in making incremental progress toward wildfire adaptation and helping us bring new people and perspectives into this effort.  As we head into the fall, it is a great time to open up conversations about our community’s wildfire risk with those that live nearby.

This week’s Wildfire Wednesday features:  

• A New Interactive Wildfire Hazard Explorer by The National Association of State Foresters 

• A virtual shared learning series: Living with Wildland Fire 

Stay Safe,  

Gabe 

Online Wildfire Hazard Explorer 

The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) has gone live with their Wildfire Hazard Explorer portal at https://hazexplorer.com/home.  The NASF developed this portal so that a user could easily locate links to available risk assessments, hazard maps, burn probability maps and similar data.  This tool is a great way to gain a deeper understanding of your community’s wildfire risk and to communicate that risk to those that live nearby.

This hazard explorer tool was made possible through funding from the U.S. Forest Service provided.  NASF will continue to host the portal and keep it updated as new information becomes available.  This effort complements the recent work to develop the https://wildfirerisk.org/ tool.   

The western region of the Fire Leadership Council presents: A Living with Wildland Fire Shared Learning Experience

Assessing Firesheds for Prioritization, Planning and Investment 

Tuesday, September 29, 2020 - 3pm MT 

Dr. Alan Ager will be updating us on the advancements in the development of this national “fireshed” dataset and how it can be used to assist decision-makers in prioritizing, planning and investing in cross-boundary, large landscape-level treatments in alignment with the Cohesive Strategy concept of sharing risk and responsibility to achieve landscape resiliency, fire adapted communities and a safe, effective wildfire response. 

Click here to register