Communities at Risk

 

Communities in the West are increasingly built in fire prone landscapes—landscapes that have been shaped by fire, adapted to fire, and reliant upon it for ecosystem health. Communities throughout the West, like Merlin, Oregon, are looking for ways to be resilient in the face of wildfire and climate change. While communities like Paradise, California that have been impacted by wildfire are looking for new ways to rebuild. How do we begin to rethink how and where we build our communities, especially those that overlap with fire prone landscape? And how do we start to introduce fire back to the landscapes where we live?

In this episode of One Foot in the Black, we examine communities at risk. We dive into the Wildland Urban Interface and look at ways to protect our homes, our communities, and each other. And we ask the question, how can we better plan and prepare our communities for wildfire and climate change while also learning how to build back better when we are impacted by wildfire?

Listen & Subscribe:

Links & Resources

Cited study on the numbers of houses being built in the WUI: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/3/3/50/htm

Press on the Applegate prescribed burn featured in this episode: https://www.mailtribune.com/top-stories/2021/05/22/regular-people-learn-to-do-prescribed-burns/

Featured guests:

Charles Brooks, Rebuild Paradise Foundation

Janet Lancaster, Firesmart Merlin

Chris Chambers, Ashland District Wildland Division Fire Chief

Rich Fairbanks, fire practitioner and founder of Prescriptions for Safety

Aaron Krikava, Rogue Valley Prescribed Burn Association

Hosts: Joseph Vaile and Alexi Lovechio

Producer: Jessica Klinke

Episode Transcript (Coming Soon)

Episode Guests:

Presenters & Collaborators
Charles Brooks
Charles Brooks

Charles Brooks is the Executive Director of Rebuild Paradise. Charles is a graduate of CSU Chico with a degree in Business Administration. Charles and his wife Jennifer have been Paradise Residents since 2004 and Butte County since 1998. Charles has always had a heart for service. He is an Eagle Scout and been involved in several volunteer civic organizations including; Boy Scouts of America Students in Free Enterprise, Butte County Search & Rescue, Paradise Citizens’ Alliance and coached his boys’ soccer teams for many years. Founding Rebuild Paradise was an easy choice and necessary step to assist the Butte County community recover in a meaningful way over the many years to come.

Janet Lancaster
Janet Lancaster

Janet Lancaster is a community organizer and wildfire preparedness advocate. Months after retiring to Merlin in 2018, the US Forest Service published a report naming Merlin the community most at-risk of wildfire in Oregon. This began her quest to learn - and share with her community - what homeowners can do to prevent, prepare for and survive wildfire. She co-founded Firesmart Merlin in January 2019, which offers free community meetings on wildfire readiness and related topics.

Richard Fairbanks
Richard Fairbanks

Rich Fairbanks is a local fire professional and speaks about the importance of securing a perimeter and how creating and maintaining defensible space around homes is a year-long process. Even in the summer when we won’t be doing controlled burns or running a chainsaw, there is much we can do to protect homes, communities, and lives from fire. Rich lives in southwest Oregon and has over 40 years of experience in firefighting and forest management, including in our local Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

Chris Chambers
Chris Chambers

An Ashland native, Chris has worked at Ashland Fire and Rescue since 2002. A graduate of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, Chris worked for the US Forest Service and BLM for 5 seasons in silviculture, fire, botany, and wildlife and fisheries biology. For Ashland Fire & Rescue, Chris coordinated National Fire Plan grants for 6 years with hundreds of private landowners, co-authored the 2004 Ashland Community Wildfire Protection Plan and 2005 Jackson County Integrated Fire Plan and participated in the genesis and ongoing implementation of the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project.

PodcastGuest UserTEK, FUSEE, Episode 3, Wildland Urban Interface, Firewise, Defensible Space, Home Hardening, Rebuild, After the Fire