The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is pushing for a change in the way wildland-urban interface (WUI) is addressed, calling for improved community policy and for the development of a national, single platform mutual aid system.
The risk of wildfire is increasing in both significance and prevalence in the United States. Reasons for these large fires including growing urban populations, the decreasing health of forests, a hotter and drier climate and an increase in the number of homes built in the WUI.
Statistics show a general increase in the size of wildland fires, the number of homes destroyed by them, and a rise in both the suppression costs and financial losses associated with fires in the WUI. This is a reality that
Orange County Fire Authority, Fire Chief Brian Fennessy commented on the increasing size of wildland fires that: “Firefighters encountering walls of flames backed by 80 mph winds in densely populated areas of Southern California are facing the new wildfire reality.”
Chief Fennessy represents the IAFC on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, National Interagency Aviation Committee. After visiting the Eaton Fire, he commented that: “This is destruction on a level I have not witnessed in my fire service career.”
IAFC President Chief Josh Waldo of the Bozeman Fire Department, spoke on the impact of the fires: “As fire chiefs command some of the largest and most demanding wildfire incidents in our lifetime, and firefighters face extreme danger while fighting these fires, the IAFC continues to attack wildfire challenges head-on.
“The IAFC’s primary focus is to reduce wildfire risk, promote fire-adapted community policies, and to develop a national, single platform mutual aid system that identifies where fire resources are and where they need to go to improve response time using real-time decision-making tools.”
The IAFC continue to advocate for a renewed WUI strategy focused on key areas. These include developing fire-resilient landscapes, strong community mitigation and prevention programs, and providing wildland firefighters with the highest levels of technology, funding, and resources.
The IAFC believes the devastation unfolding now in Southern California underscores the extreme challenges of today’s wildfire environment. They are pushing for Continued Congressional action, saying iit is needed to support the findings and federal policy recommendations in the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission’s final report to Congress.
The report’s conclusions align with the IAFC’s ongoing efforts to reduce the risk of wildfire in communities and to better address the growing wildfire crisis.
The IAFC advocate for the current wildland-urban interface to be changed, raising concerns about the increased size of wildfires and a subsequent need for improved policy.
