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Wildfire Lessons from Waldo Canyon

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Last summer marked an especially destructive wildfire season in Colorado with insurance claims exceeding $450 million. One fire in particular – the  Waldo Canyon blaze that raged through the Colorado Springs area in June and July – burned more than 18,000 acres, destroyed almost 350 homes and caused the evacuation of more than 32,000 residents.  Reportedly, it was the most expensive fire in state history, causing more than $350 million worth of insurance claims.

Obviously, a fire of this magnitude can teach some valuable lessons for future mitigation efforts and earlier this week the Fire Adapted Communities Coalition (FAC), a national partnership dedicated to promoting best practices to reduce wildfire-related damage, released “Lessons from Waldo Canyon,” an investigative report that examined what happened. The report determined that the fire could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the mitigation efforts of the Colorado Springs Fire Marshal. In one neighborhood alone, mitigation efforts saved millions:

According to estimates provided by the Colorado Springs Mitigation Section and FEMA, the cost benefit ratio for the mitigation efforts for the Cedar Heights neighborhood was 1/257; $300,000 was spent on mitigation work and $77,248,301 in losses were avoided. Combined cost benefit ratio was 1/ 517 for the three neighborhoods with the highest impacts.

The report presented a variety of findings that could help other communities mitigate their own wildfire risk and outlined the importance of proper building construction and maintenance, reduction of fuels for fire, and partnerships with other organizations to spread the preparedness message.

The FAC also developed a companion video entitled, “Creating Fire Adapted Communities: A Case Study from Colorado Springs and the Waldo Canyon Fire” that includes dramatic footage of the fire and interviews with emergency personnel and residents to further drive home these mitigation lessons and hopefully prevent future disasters.

Wildfire Risk in the United States Will Rise Throughout the Next Century

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Scientists from the University of California at Berkeley, and Texas Tech University expect more wildfires throughout North America and Europe by the end of the century as temperatures continue to rise across the globe. In summing up the results of their new study, which was conducted by using 16 different climate models (something they called “one of the most comprehensive projections to date of how climate change might affect global fire patterns”), one of the researchers was not necessarily surprised by the fact the threat is increasing. But he was surprised by how quickly it is increasing.

“In the long run, we found what most fear: increasing fire activity across large parts of the planet,” said study lead author Max Moritz.

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“But the speed and extent to which some of these changes may happen is surprising.
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”

This obviously means that regions that cities, states and nations that are already struggling to control the wildfires of today (for example, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA) need to figure out new ways to adapt to an even-riskier future. “We need to learn how to coexist with fire,” said Moritz.

And as with seemingly everything regarding climate change, it seems that the world’s poorest, most-vulnerable region’s will have the hardest time adapting.

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 “In Southeast Asia alone, there are millions of people that depend on forested ecosystems for their livelihoods,” said study co-author David Ganz.

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“Knowing how climate and fire interact are important factors that one needs to consider when managing landscapes to maintain these ecosystem goods and services.”

There is some good news, however. Equatorial regions may actually see fewer wildfires. This is due to projected increases in rainfall in those regions as the climate changes.

Other scientists who contributed to support the study include the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Science Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

National Preparedness Month Takes FEMA to School

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September is National Preparedness Month (NPM) and FEMA has launched a series of initiatives designed to promote disaster readiness throughout the country. Some of the programs that the agency is promoting include Ready America (which helps educate families and individuals), Ready Business (which breaks down the preparedness basics for companies and may be very helpful to many of our readers) and Ready Kids (which is an attempt to ingrain the concept of preparedness to the next generation).

Many states have jumped on board with the national effort and despite the fact that September seems a little late in the hurricane season for states like Louisiana and Florida to push the concept, awareness is the key here — any extra attention that FEMA’s outreach can get will be helpful.

In Colorado, the agency has had some particular success with its outreach as it took to Elbert Elementary school to promote the same agenda advocated on the Ready Kids website. With some help from Disney, FEMA was able to bring some edutainment to the kids, who had a good time and hopefully learned a little too.

Elbert Elementary received one shelter in place kit for each classroom, which included food, water, blankets and additional items to assist teachers and students for up to 12 hours in the event of an emergency situation.  Teachers were educated on the kit and encouraged to add to it as needed.
READYColorado and Elbert Elementary kicked off preparedness events with a Radio Disney Party.  As part of each assembly, Radio Disney educated the children on various elements of preparedness, including fire safety, emergency kit packaging, pet safety in emergencies, and flu readiness.  Radio Disney also featured fun contests including various preparedness trivia games, a Readiness Toss, kit creation, and a Readiness Scramble.  There also was plenty of dancing and singing with Radio Disney DJs.  Kids received prizes and were encouraged to think about preparedness actions they can take at home and at school.
Other school preparedness parties are scheduled throughout the state during the month of September.

Elbert Elementary received one shelter-in-place kit for each classroom, which included food, water, blankets and additional items to assist teachers and students for up to 12 hours in the event of an emergency situation. Teachers were educated on the kit and encouraged to add to it as needed.

READYColorado and Elbert Elementary kicked off preparedness events with a Radio Disney Party. As part of each assembly, Radio Disney educated the children on various elements of preparedness, including fire safety, emergency kit packaging, pet safety in emergencies, and flu readiness. Radio Disney also featured fun contests including various preparedness trivia games, a Readiness Toss, kit creation, and a Readiness Scramble. There also was plenty of dancing and singing with Radio Disney DJs.  Kids received prizes and were encouraged to think about preparedness actions they can take at home and at school.

Other school preparedness parties are scheduled throughout the state during the month of September.

The video below isn’t all that compelling, honestly, but it provides a decent idea of what the day entailed. I’m not sure how many resources or people the agency has devoted to such endeavors, but I would urge any educators who would like to get involved in something similar or just want to receive educational materials to contact FEMA through it’s Ready America contact page.