Southern Area Fire Prevention Education Team

Transcription

1 SREF-CFS-059 Southern Area Fire Prevention Education Team The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy is a national collaborative effort to bring a broad cross-section of stakeholders together to address wildland fire management challenges. The Strategy directs wildland fire planning activities and has three primary goals: restore and maintain landscapes, develop Fire-Adapted Communities, and improve wildfire response. Activity Total potential people reached Potential $ saved through prevention efforts # FPET personnel Impact 6,686, million 32 By late October 2016, several southeastern US states were experiencing severe drought and the frequency of human-caused wildfires led to an increased need for fire personnel. The Southern Area (Fig. 1) was rated as a Preparedness Level 3, indicating that a fairly large portion of the area is in high fire danger and experiencing significant fires (Fig. 2). To address the increasing severity of the situation, an area-wide fire prevention strategy was coordinated by an interagency Fire Prevention Education Team (FPET). This team located their headquarters at the Southern Area Coordination Center (SACC) in Atlanta, Georgia. SACC is the interagency dispatch and coordination center for wildfire and other incidents and covers 13 southern states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. FPETs work with state and local partners to reduce unwanted human-generated fires through activities such as risk assessments, community awareness and education, coordination between the public and organizations/ agencies, assisting Incident Management Teams, and much more. Serving as a de facto geographic areawide fire prevention command team, the SACC-FPET began the strategic placement and coordination of field FPETs across key states in the Southern Area, including Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. To achieve maximum impact, their mission was for all FPETs working in these states to have consistent messaging on drought awareness and fire prevention and to work with federal, state and local organizations and agencies to prevent duplication of outreach efforts. The SACC-FPET supported field teams by providing vetted and Ad Councilapproved fire prevention messages, products, and other content on a shared online resource that all teams could access (Fig. 3 & 4). This included supplying timely situational Success stories highlight regional wildland fire accomplishments that support implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy in the Southeast. The stories demonstrate how the Southeast is improving it s fire resiliency through technology, education and outreach, forest management, collaboration, and more. Success stories also serve as a model for other communities to follow. For more information: hcampbell@sref.info 1

2 messages, announcements of interagency restrictions and closures, and talking points for outreach to the public and special target groups. Materials were also provided that promote public and personal responsibility for fire prevention in the wildland/urban interface by publicizing Firewise and Ready, Set, Go programs. Every-other-day teleconferences and sharing of daily, written reports from each team enhanced coordination and information sharing among teams. The SACC-FPET also maintained a regularly-updated social media presence for prevention- and educationrelated messaging on Facebook ( Fig. 1 Credit: National Interagency Coordination SACoordinationCenter/) and Twitter (#SouthernBlazes) to to complement and augment field team efforts. In addition, the SACC-FPET worked with international and regional airports, network news sources, and outdoor recreation and construction corporations to widely distribute and display material with fire prevention messages suitable for a broad audience. Fig. 2 2

3 Field-based FPETs communicated with the public through a variety of outreach actions ranging from targeted door-todoor approaches to large public events, including major college sporting events, parades, and school rallies (Fig. 5, 6,7). Teams also supported individual fire education efforts in conjunction with community meetings by providing advice and materials to help communities prepare for and respond to local fires. Prevention teams have been deployed during extreme fire events in the past, but both the number of teams coordinated by a single FPET and the hosting of the FPET at a geographic area coordination center was a novel approach compared to past efforts. Due to the effective coordination provided by this arrangement, the various FPETs worked in concert with each other to increase drought and fire prevention awareness and education across the respective states in which they were working. This success was achieved despite the fact that various FPETs relied on different funding sources. Fig. 3 Credit: National Fire Protection Association, Firewise. Fig. 4 Credit: North Carolina Forest Service. Initial Outcomes This geographic area fire prevention model proved to be an extremely effective effort on prevention messaging. While it is difficult to immediately quantify the impact this messaging had on the prevention of unwanted wildfires, one study1 suggests that every dollar spent on prevention yields up to $35 in savings in suppression and wildfire damages. Using this model, the estimated savings due to this prevention effort could approach $11 million. In total, approximately 35 FPET personnel were involved with the month-long prevention effort. A conservative estimate is that the FPETs were responsible for reaching millions of people with targeted fire prevention messaging. Select accomplishments include: Over 20 social media outlets (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) were utilized with a collective following in excess of 50,000 people. The actual reach is difficult to measure, as some postings had thousands of shares or re-tweets. At the SACC level alone, the Facebook reach increased from 0 to 104,000 people during the month of November. Over 3.1 million people travelling through the Atlanta and Asheville airports during the Thanksgiving holiday were exposed to Public Service Announcements (PSAs) with prevention messages. Dolly Parton produced a PSA with Smokey Bear. The thirty-second PSA was referenced in numerous national, regional and local media outlets including CNN, People.com, and USAToday and has been viewed 110,400 times on YouTube. Lamar Outdoors and Clear Channel Outdoors donated billboard space for fire prevention messages. In the Atlanta area alone this was the equivalent of 3.2 million weekly impressions. The JumboTron at Thanksgiving weekend s Clemson vs. USC game presented a prevention message to 82,000 fans. A FPET also had a presence at the Iron Bowl game and the Alabama State University Turkey Day Classic parade reaching approximately 40,000 fans. PSAs were also developed and distributed via the I Heart Radio network and numerous local outlets. 3

4 Fig. 5 Credit: Paul Gellerstedt and Terri Jenkins. Fig. 6 Credit: Paul Gellerstedt and Terri Jenkins. Fig. 7 Credit: Paul Gellerstedt and Terri Jenkins. Lessons Learned Developing messaging that was standard across jurisdictions and agencies was challenging. Some messages needed to carry a local twist. It is not advisable to assume that every state and federal agency wants to be part of a regional FPET coordination concept. Lack of a designated budget may require teams to think outside the box. The central area command FPET should be aware, and accommodating, of the expectations that field-based teams home units may place on them if teams prevention/education work is performed within their normal work jurisdictions. Teams should be sensitive to all partners concerns and needs. The specific language used for arson messaging can be a delicate issue. Teams should work closely with states to ensure that arson messaging follows states norms and meets expectations. Recommendations A centralized geographic-area-level approach should be considered for coordinating FPETs when extreme fire danger covers a wide area of the South. A graphic design support expert is very important and should be available on site if possible or remotely. A Google drive was established with files for talking points, videos, articles and strategies to provide field information officers with a library of approved materials to use. Any such drives set up for this type of use in the future should be maintained until the contents can be transferred to the appropriate location on the SACC website. It is beneficial to select a Prevention Education Team Leader (PETL) who is very familiar with the Southern Area. Working in close proximity with the R8 Office of Communications public affairs specialist streamlined the approval process for posting information to social media. Participation by FPETs in the daily calls between Regional and Incident Management Team PIOs was useful. 4

5 Supporting the Cohesive Fire Strategy Through the use of materials aimed at improving fire safety awareness and land and homeowner preparedness (e.g., Firewise, Ready, Set, Go!), this project supports the Cohesive Strategy goal of promoting fire-adapted communities across a large portion of the Southeast. This goal is also supported through the widespread and multi-pronged public outreach efforts and the centrally-coordinated approach taken to achieve project objectives. The impact of these messages may have been especially large due to the unusually high level of fire activity occurring during the messaging period. While this wildfire prevention and education model did not directly address the Cohesive Strategy goal of improving wildfire response, it contributed indirectly by encouraging behaviors and actions that prevent the ignition and spread of additional wildfires that increase demand on already-strained fire response resources. 1 Prestemon, J.P.; Butry, D.T.; Abt, K.L.; Sutphen, R Net benefits of wildfire prevention education efforts. Forest Science. 56(2): Additional Resources: Facebook Page: Dolly Parton and Smokey Bear Work Together to Prevent Wildfires Video: Twitter: #SouthernBlazes Contact: Paul Gellerstedt, Cooperative Fire-All-Hazard and Prevention Program Manager, pgellerstedt@fs.fed.us Partners: Southern Area Coordination Center (SACC), USDA Forest Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, State Forestry Agencies, State Fire Chiefs, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, The AD Council, Smokey Bear, Dolly Parton, and numerous: public schools, hardware stores, churches, community groups, airports, and billboard companies For more information: hcampbell@sref.info 5