Quincy, MA – Education about fire safety in the wildland/urban interface is now available to interested individuals all over the world through the Internet. Developed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Wildland/Urban Interface Working Team and its Firewise Communities program, the Firewise Learning Center offers courses at no charge – and anyone can join.
The Firewise Learning Center is designed to encourage self-paced learning on a variety of topics. The courses feature video, lectures, interactive quizzes and tests.
Two courses are available – Fire Fighter Safety and Firewise Landscaping. The firefighter safety course addresses problems faced by structural and wildland firefighters when fighting fires, especially those threatening structures, in the wildland/urban interface. It examines the technical aspects of fire – why it burns, the role of fuel, the effects of weather, structure protection strategies, and fire fighter safety. The online course gives students the option of watching video lectures from firefighters who share their experience from the field, such as fire fighter Timber Weller in Florida, as well as the accompanying text, making the Firewise Learning Center easy to use and accessible.
“Over the past few decades, the typical wildfire battleground across the nation has changed from remote wilderness to predominantly wildland/urban interface fires,” said Weller, wildfire mitigation specialist. “Wildland fire fighters and managers must adapt our training, tactics, and equipment to account for these differences, primarily by reexamining how to apply fire fighting fundamentals to the peculiar conditions inherent to wildfires in the interface. The Firewise Learning Center Fire Fighter Safety course is an important step in the right direction and a useful tool.”
The Firewise Landscaping course overviews the essentials of landscape design in wildland fire-prone areas and demonstrates how a well-planned landscape can offer effective protection from wildfire to any home. The course provides landscape planning suggestions that will create a desired effect as well as the best Firewise use of materials. Examples of Firewise homes are used to illustrate the elements of design. Firewise Landscaping also includes several maintenance tips, as they are the most important factor in keeping the Firewise landscape functioning as a fire resistive barrier.
Additional courses will soon be added to the curriculum, including Conducting Community Assessments and Firewise Construction Techniques. A link to the Firewise Workshop page leads users to information about how to put on one-day workshops covering Firewise community planning topics.
“The Firewise Learning Center is designed to be an educational, empowering resource accessible to everyone who is interested in the issue of wildland fires in the wildland/urban interface,” said Jim Smalley, manager of the national Firewise Communities program. “The topics addressed are relevant to both those who own homes in the wildland/urban interface and the fire fighters who work to defend those homes.”
The Firewise Learning Center is available at http://www.firewise.org/learningcenter. The Firewise Learning Center is part of the newly re-designed Firewise Web site, which features a new look and easier navigation. The site also launched a blog this month, titled “Firewise Forum,” which will facilitate dialogue on a range of Firewise topics.
Also new for Firewise is the “Be Firewise Around Your Home” brochure, which offers helpful tips for residents in the wildland/urban interface. The brochure is available at http://www.firewise.org/catalog.
For more information, visit http://www.firewise.org.
