This document discusses how GIS (geographic information systems) can be used to teach wildfire safety. It describes Firewise, a national program that promotes wildfire safety. GIS maps and tools allow participants in Firewise workshops to learn about wildfire behavior, hazards, and mitigation strategies through interactive maps of their own communities. These workshops teach non-technical people about wildfire risks and how to reduce risks, helping communities engage in better planning. The standardized GIS model ensures consistent Firewise training nationwide.

1. Using GIS to Teach Wildfire Safety
Denise Laitinen
Firewise Communities Hawaii Coordinator
Hawaii Island HIGICC Geospatial Expo
May 20, 2014

2. What/who is
Firewise?
 Created in 1985 by NFPA & USDA after a horrific fire
season
 Part of the National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire
Program
 Overseen by the WUI Working Team of the National
Wildfire Coordinating Group
 Sponsored by:
 USDA Forest Service
 Department of the Interior, National Park Service
 National Fire Protection Association
 US Fire Administration/FEMA
 National Association of State Foresters

3. National: (too many to list)
 American Planning Association
 American Red Cross
 American Society of Landscape
Architects
 Community Associations Institute
 Congressional Fire Services
Institute
 Environmental Systems Research
Institute (ESRI)
 Institute for Business & Home
Safety
 Insurance Services Office
 International Association of Fire
Chiefs
 International Association of
Wildland Fire
Local: 80+ groups including:
 Hawaii Fire Dept.
 Maui County Fire Dept.
 Kauai Fire Dept.
 City & County of Honolulu Fire
Dept.
 DOFAW
 Maui Association of Landscape
Professionals
 U.S. Fish & Wildfire Service
 Hui O Laka, Kokee Museum
 Pohakuloa Training Area, U.S.
Army
 Grove Farm
 Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands
 Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
 Kona-Kohala Chamber of
Commerce
Cooperators and Allies

4. Ocean View
The Firewise Goal
Homes are designed, built, and
maintained to withstand a wildfire
WITHOUT
the intervention of the fire department.

5. A Vision for the Future
A Vision for the Future:
Wildland fires occur in the future without
the loss of homes and structures.

6. For homeowners being Firewise means:
1. Having defensible space and
2. Using fire-resistant building materials.
This house has a triple
fuel break (gravel,
grass, rocks).
3,000-acre fire in
Launiupoko, Maui

7. Firewise Activities 2002-Present
‘What does Firewise do in Hawaii?”
 Community Outreach/Presentations
 Media Relations
 Meetings
 Trainings/Workshops
 Community Work Days
 Alert Communities to Grant Opportunities

8. Create educational
tools
Examine wildfire
behavior
What burns? What doesn’t? Why?

9. Community Outreach

10. Firewise hazard
assessments of
West Hawaii
subdivisions
with Hawaii Fire
Dept.
Field work:

11. Wildfire Hazard Assessment
 Standardized method to determine a community’s risk
 Part of NFPA 1144 (Appendix A)
 Gives you a look at the good, the bad, and the
really scary.
Why is road width
important?
Why is vertical
clearance important?

12. Gasoline
Charcoal
Hazard assessments are important because they discover
issues that can be rectified BEFORE a fire strikes.

13. How do you teach wildfire
safety using GIS?

14. Firewise Communities and ESRI
 Education has always been a key
element of spreading the Firewise
message about wildfire behavior and
prevention.
 Early on Firewise partnered with ESRI
on a national level to create standard
training model that could be used
nationwide.
 The result was the creation of a GIS-
based model that reflects many of the
situations faced by communities across
the country.
 Using a standardized model for full-day
workshops ensures consistency in
training nationwide whether training
firefighters, planners, or civilians.

15. Firewise Workshops
 Firewise workshops educate folks
about wildfire, its behavior, and how
to reduce the risk of wildfire to their
home and community.
 A key part of this training is learning
how to conduct a wildfire hazard
assessment (part of NFPA 1142, a
national standard.)
 By using the GIS-based maps and
tools, participants learn about
wildfire mitigation.
 These workshops are usually the
first time participants have ever
heard of GIS, never mind using it.

16. Using GIS to teach fire safety &
community planning
 GIS as a learning tool:
multiple data layers enable non-
technical people to easily grasp the
importance of wildfire safety on an
individual and community level.
* Learn how to reduce wildfire risks as
well as identify them.
The importance of
community planning:
People understand the
importance of planning
with fire safety in mind
and learn strategies to
reduce their risk.

17. Ocean View
Why is Firewise important?
Being Firewise saves lives and homes.
The Waikoloa Firewise committee held a regularly scheduled community work
day and cleared the fuel break just 3 WEEKS before this 2005 fire. The cleared
fuel break is credited with preventing the 25,000 acre wildfire from spreading
into the community.
(Extra credit: Any idea why this picture represents
completely backward planning?)

18. Mahalo!
For more info:
Denise Laitinen
(808) 281-3497
firewisehawaii@yahoo.com
Facebook: Firewise
Communities Hawaii
Twitter: @FirewiseHawaii
Google+: Firewise
Communities Hawaii