 Welcome. I'm Jim Scopolitis on behalf of the National Fire Academy for the televised portion of the Wildland Urban Interface course. To illustrate the text in workbooks in your training package, we've chosen some of the best video programs from around the country. From this course fire service professionals will learn a different kind of firefighting, helping communities protect themselves. It's clear from people's actions in these video programs that the interface problem is a tremendously important challenge in areas all around the country. You can learn most from the processes these other communities have used rather than from specific content. The locations are not as important as their methods. Think of equivalent conditions in your local area and how their approach might help. The first two segments introduce the scope of the problem. The first is the introduction to the Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators program. It conveys the human tragedy, the losses, the firefighters sense of helplessness during wildfire. The second segment from the National Fire Protection Association's Wildfire Strikes Home series is a news type report. This documentary will examine several years of fire seasons around the United States. The fire dispatcher has an emergency. The Verdi district wildland fire. Eastlake Indian 4230 is in service. We have a large glow in the area of a number of structures. I'd like to at this time order a structure strike team from trucking animals. It's like Verdi 454 in route. Just confirming the Verdi volunteer priority purpose in route. ETA structure strike team is about 45 minutes coming from Carson, Reno and trucking animals. We have two structures with fire on the roof at this time with several other structures. What you're looking at in the background is my second house on July the 7th 1974. I don't know. Well we had a fire. They come down out of Taylor Canyon. It's been 15 years and still can't get over the thing. And we're now at our original house. It was a very traumatic experience to come back and see absolutely nothing left but twisted steel. Nothing. Everything you rolled built and planned for was gone in a matter of minutes. Every year hundreds of people move to the Sierra front interface. The place where suburb meets wild land where the presence of homes makes wildfire more likely and where wildfire threatens homes. And the threat is growing. The current crisis began to build with the 1985 fire season the worst since 1934 which required a record-setting interagency mobilization of personnel and equipment. In 1985 190,000 wildfires scorched six million acres of federal state and private lands destroying 500 million dollars of natural resources and property. 1,400 homes and other structures were lost to flames. While the extent of 1985's losses was far greater than previous years more homes were lost because of the expanded population in wild land areas. The season began in December 1984 in the drought stricken southeast. During a 14-day period in April nearly 8,000 fires burned over 275,000 acres and 600 homes in this area. Florida's fires consumed so many homes and acres that the governor declared a state of emergency. Meanwhile fires broke out in record numbers in the western states and in early August state and federal agencies sent firefighting resources from all over the United States to combat an unusually severe outbreak of fires in Alaska. The 1985 fire season did not end until general rain fell in late October. By this time firefighters had been suppressing flames for 10 consecutive months. The 1986 fire season although not as widespread as 1985 compressed more destruction into a shorter period and again required a record-setting mobilization of personnel and equipment. Before the season was to end more homes and structures went up in smoke all over the country. Although the number of homes and structures was less than a third of those lost in 1985 more wildland acres were burned. Fires again raged throughout the southeast and in Alaska but the west was hardest hit. A total of more than 7,900 fires burned over three-quarters of a million acres an average of more than a hundred acres per fire. More than two-thirds of the damage took place in the northwest caused by widespread lightning activity. By 1987 the wildland fire crisis was full blown. While the previous two fire seasons consumed more structures and caused more deaths the 1987 season saw perhaps the worst resource loss since 1910. In California and Oregon enough timber was burned to build a city for 30,000 people. Throughout the western and lake states human caused fires were aggravated by drought conditions the driest in 10 years. Significant fires began in April in the lake states and continued into May drawing firefighting resources from the west. Meanwhile a lack of spring rains contributed to fire activity in Nevada and California. Several days of intense burning pushed fires through urban areas destroying several homes. Residential areas hardest hit included Pebble Beach California, Spokane Washington and areas near Carson City, Nevada. All areas which have infrequently experienced the loss of homes to wildland fires. Consequently many residents were taken by surprise. Then the sheriffs came and they said to you know to get your cars and to get out of here that's what I did. They would have been here like they said the first time around that fire would have been contained right here. It would have been right here and that's it. That would have never happened. It's a nightmare you never want to remember I'll tell you. Boy it's hard to compete with the wind. You know you can't. It's it's hard to out guess mother nature you could have a truck parked right on top and the wind will blow it away from you. I don't think we could have had enough equipment to save everything that was salvageable. Meanwhile this resident who made his home fire safe saw dramatic proof that prevention works. Every year I've worked to clear the grass and grass around my home and widen that perimeter so I have more protection just for such an event as this. Then no amount of men and equipment could have saved my home without my having done the work I did. During the last few days of August lightning from thunderstorms started more than 2000 fires which raged over 730,000 acres in less than two weeks. The so-called Labor Day fires consumed over 580,000 acres in California alone. The most savage siege by fire in the state's recent history. While most of these fires were controlled quickly, other fires merged to become complexes containing up to a hundred smaller fires. Among the most severe was the Stanislaw fire which raged through 146,000 acres and threatened towns before national state and local firefighting teams managed to control it two weeks later. Simultaneously a massive mobilization of almost 7,000 firefighters attacked fires in the Klamath Forest, Shasta Trinity Forest, Sequoia National Park and elsewhere in the West. Meanwhile dry thunderstorms sparked over 300 fires in southwestern Oregon. The worst including Myrtle Creek Canyonville and Longwood. Since most available crews and equipment were already committed to California fires, Oregon mobilized a thousand national guardsmen. Most of the areas were smoked in from September 3rd on, hampering the use of aircraft to drop supplies and fire retardant. Now the major task was to supply the 25,000 personnel involved in the effort. For small mountain communities in California and Oregon, these losses dealt a devastating blow to the economy for up to 30 years to come because of the impacts on the wood products industry and tourism. Well, the impact will be is what it'll have the effect on our timber industry, wood products people because we depend very heavily on the wood products industry along with the recreation. And so we hope that we can work carefully with the agencies, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service to get the salvage out as quick as possible, get the land back in production by planting, receding and erosion control work that would be needed to facilitate and get our forest back into production. And just as the last embers were extinguished in California and Oregon, the 1987 fire season came full circle in November as arson and tender dry conditions contributed to 12,000 fires, which burned over 300,000 acres and 63 structures in Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee and other parts of the Southeast all in just 10 days. One firefighter was killed and the damage was estimated at $40 million in property and natural resources. Suppression costs will exceed $5 million to local, state and federal agencies. And as we went in to tape this program, the battle was still continuing. The 1987 fire season was one of the worst ever due to a volatile combination of extremely hot and dry weather, more residences abutting the wildlands and resources stretched to the breaking point. As the numbers are being added up, more than 2 million acres and 690 homes and structures have burned while more than $200 million were spent fighting the fires. 25,000 firefighters from 50 states were called in to battle the blazes and 12 of them lost their lives. 2,000 others were injured. Hot and dry weather and plentiful fuel dictate the pattern of a typical fire season. After this, we'll see how natural weather patterns and human factors contribute to fire danger. The forest is home to many living things. That's why if you're careless with fire, you go to the forest. You could burn a lot more than trees. And now Chris Clausen looks at the relationship between fire and rain. Thank you, Jim. The three factors which contribute to any wildland fire are people, fuel and weather. Most of us are familiar with tracking seasonal weather changes on a weather map like this one. But fires follow seasons too, typically starting in January each year. Fires follow warm spring weather as it begins in the southeast and gradually travels north and west, striking wherever there are dry forested areas. In the west, fires result from long, dry summers and often fanned by strong winds like the Santa Ana's in the fall. November rains usually mark the end of the fire season in the western states. Around this time, hot, dry weather returns to the southeast, bringing with it increased fire danger and completing the cycle of the fire season. However, weather alone doesn't start fires. People do. In 1987, more people were living in or near wildland areas than ever before. This has a double impact, causing more fires and diverting resources to save structures. As the trend of living in more rural areas shows no sign of stopping, all of us are faced with a real question. Whose problem is this anyway? Welcome to chapter two's video portion. The following program is an original slideshow produced specifically for this course. It recaps the major features involved in assessing your local community's interface problems. Seeing pictures of problems will help clarify for you various conditions in the interface. To assess your local interface, it is necessary to examine all elements of the problem. A wildland urban interface problem will exist anywhere structures are close enough to vegetation so that a wild fire can spread from the vegetation to the structures. Two general categories of wildland urban interface fire problems are boundary and intermix. Boundary is a defined interface. This type of interface exists where a clearly defined linear boundary of homes meets vegetation. The second is an intermix. It will exist anytime structures and vegetation are scattered or intermixed. Many interface fire problems will consist of combinations of both boundaries and intermixes. The key is still the close proximity of flammable vegetation to structures. It would seem that the solution to the problem would be the creation of space between structures and flammable vegetation. To a large degree, this is true. Space in this context is more appropriately described as defensible space. Defensible space allows the fire department an opportunity to safely defend the structure. And it provides the structure a chance to survive a wildfire in the event all of the engine companies become committed. Without defensible space, a home threatened by an intense wildfire is very difficult to protect, sometimes impossible. It is important that people who live in your community understand the danger of living in an interface area. To understand the makeup of the wildland interface fire problem, it will be broken down into three major categories, risks, hazards and values. Risks are those activities or things which provide sources of wildland fire ignition. Risks include smoking, children playing with or experimenting with fire, trash burning, motorcycles and all terrain type vehicles, conventional type vehicles, power lines, equipment and machinery of various types, and arsonists who set wildland fires intentionally. These are among the ways wildfires start in wildland interface areas. Knowing what causes fires within your interface area will allow you to develop an accurate action plan to reduce fire losses. Hazards are defined as fuels that burn in a wildland fire and those factors which influence how a wildland fire behaves. All vegetation is flammable to some degree. The degree of flammability depends on the size of the fuels and their moisture content. Light or small fuels dry out quickly, are easily ignited and tend to burn rapidly. Heavy or large fuels dry out slower, require more heat to ignite and tend to burn more slowly than lighter fuels. Weather affects fuels in a number of ways. Temperature affects fuels by drying them out. Small fuels exposed to high temperatures dry very quickly. To dry, heavy fuels require much longer exposure to high temperatures and are more closely aligned to long-term weather patterns than small fuels. Winds can have a dramatic effect on wildfire, such as driving this fire into a community. Wildland interface fires occurring in association with fawn winds are sometimes impossible to extinguish. Wildfires that occur throughout the United States are usually associated with seasonal weather patterns. It is important to understand that in some locations the conditions which produce wildfires may not occur annually. Topography is defined as the lay of the land. Topography affects wildfire behavior in a variety of ways. According to topography, fuels are oriented in ways which expose them to more direct sunlight, place them in canyons and draws which funnel fire and place them above other fuels on steep slopes which allow wildfire to move faster. In areas where hills or mountains exist, people are attracted to build on these higher grounds. This places structures in a much more hazardous condition and requires even more defensible space and application of safe design. The last major component of the problem is called values. These are structures or improvements within the wildland interface area. Many homes constructed within the wildland environment lack fire safe materials and design characteristics. It is not uncommon to find wood frame, wood siding and wood shake or shingle roofs. Houses are sometimes built on stilts or cantilevered balconies which face directly into or over vegetation. Structural density can also add to the spread of a fire. Once a structure ignites, radiant heat and flying embers can ignite adjoining houses if structures are within close proximity. Infrastructure refers to facilities which support housing and other development. Interface areas should have at least two different access routes. Each primary access route should be wide enough for two-way traffic. Vegetation should be cleared back far enough so that fire will not impede evacuating or incoming vehicles. All roads should be visibly identified by road name or number. Structures should have addresses visible from the road as this house does on the curb. There should be sufficient water supply and pressure even when demand on the system is high. The types and nature of the utilities such as electrical power and gas are very important during a fire operation. There is a widespread misconception that wildland interface fires occur in only a few places in the country. Also that this can never happen to me. There is a potential for wildland interface fires wherever structures and flammable vegetation exists together. It is only a matter of the right conditions occurring. The impact of a destructive wildland interface fire on a community is devastating. Personal losses both material and psychological are tremendous. People affected by such a fire are usually unprepared. It is not uncommon to find that structures are underinsured and residents are left without knowing how or what to do. Once the initial shock and impact of an interface fire passes and people have found temporary housing, they ask sometimes why wasn't the fire department able to save my house? Why didn't they inform me that such a thing could happen? It is important that the local fire protection agency inform the community about the dangers of living in an interface area if defensible space and other fire safety considerations have not been employed. In summary, the wildland urban interface problem provides a challenge for fire protection agencies throughout the United States. This problem exists anywhere structures are built in or near flammable vegetation. The wildland urban interface problem is complex and challenging. If we are to succeed in protecting structures from the onslaught of wildfires, it will require that fire departments accurately assess their local problem and initiate action before fires start. For Chapter 3's first video, we're going to show a segment from There Are Alternatives, produced by the Committee for Fire Safe Roofing. This program targets a specific audience, officials, and a particular topic, fire safe roofing. Watch how the program is designed to gain the attention of officials to make decisions on enforcing fire safety roofing standards. Fire safe roofing is just one of the structural options to consider in your community. Each option may need to be covered as thoroughly as this tape discusses roofing. Highly combustible wood roofs are the reason that fires spread from house to house, leaving devastation in their wake. Burning brands from wood roofs are carried aloft by winds and land on other combustible wood roofs, setting them afire. If the winds are strong, firefighters cannot keep up, and the result is a major conflagration. After a major fire, the scene is grim. Chimneys stand alone amidst burnt out houses. Former occupants left homeless. Their possessions, some irreplaceable, turn to ashes by the raging flames. What sets the scene for disastrous fires? It is a combination of combustible wood roofs, high winds, low humidity, and high density housing. The real culprit is the combustible cedar roofing that fuels the spread of flames, and emits the burning embers that ignite other combustible roofs. Combustible cedar shake and shingle roofs are a major problem. Fortunately, this problem has a simple solution. Legislation that would require fire resistant roofing. Here you can see how some homes survive a fire while others don't. The houses that are standing had fire resistant roofs. The others did not. What is fire resistant roofing? Underwriters Laboratory and International Conference of Building Officials classify fire resistant roofing into three categories. Class A, which is resistant to severe fire exposure. Class B, which is resistant to moderate fire exposure. And Class C, which is resistant to light fire hazards only. Underwriters Laboratories and the Uniform Building Code Standards subject roofing materials to several tests to determine their fire resistant class. The most important test is the burning brand test, because flying brands are the major cause of fire spread that results in roof fire disasters. In the test, burning wooden brands are placed on a test deck of the roofing material being tested, with a 12 mile per hour wind blowing over the deck. The test continues until no smoke or flame is visible. The deck must not burn through. This is the brand used in the Class A test. It is constructed of 36 pieces of 12 inch long select pine, nailed together in a prescribed pattern. This is a very demanding test. The small nails used actually melt during the test, meaning the temperatures exceeding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit are generated. This is the Class B brand. It is one quarter the size of the Class A brand, yet still generates steel melting temperatures. Here is the Class C brand. It is one-fiftieth the size of the Class B brand. The test represents the hazard associated with the very smallest of flying brands. Untreated wood shakes and shingles are the only major roofing products sold today which will not pass this minimal test. Roofing materials must also undergo other fire and weathering tests. All roofing materials pass these tests except one. Combustible wood shakes and shingles. Who supports fire resistant roofing legislation? The people who lay their lives on the line every time a fire alarm sounds. Throughout this state, they together with the media have consistently and constantly urged the passage of legislation which restricts the use of flammable roofing. Where are fire resistant roofs needed? Certainly in hillsides and brush areas. And in the flatlands too, because sources of ignition are present everywhere. The main sources of ignition include brush fires, sparks or brands from other fires, downed electrical wires, fireworks, chimney sparks, arson and household fires. Combustible wood roofs can ignite and burn in any location. They emit burning brands that can set other combustible materials on fire just as well in the flatlands as they do on the hillsides. Fires don't discriminate. They will burn any place they can find fuel. What should fire resistant legislation cover? New homes that are being built. And the re-roofing of existing homes. Just requiring the use of fire resistant roofing on new homes won't provide the protection that is needed. When existing homes are re-roofed, fire resistant roofing should be required. Here's why. A great number of homes built in the past 30 years had combustible wood shake roofs. Today these communities are of ideal size for a major conflagration. Some of which unfortunately have already happened. When the combustible roofs of existing homes are re-roofed with fire resistant roofing neighborhoods will become much safer for their residents. And scenes like this won't be repeated. There are many alternatives to combustible wood roofs which will make homes and neighborhoods safer while providing builders and homeowners with a wide choice of prices, materials and colors. The major alternatives are asphalt shingles with an organic or fiberglass base, clay tile, concrete tile, fire resistant pressure treated wood, aluminum, coated steel tiles, and perlite based shakes. This graph shows comparative costs for roofing and existing home. The red bars are wood shakes. Contrary to popular belief they are not the least expensive. This graph shows new construction life cycle cost. Again, wood is shown in red. These are comparative costs for re-roofing and existing home. Wood in red. Let's take some time and examine this last chart carefully. These are the life cycle costs for re-roofing. Life cycle costs are the cost of the roofing divided by the expected life in years. Note untreated wood, the red bars, and treated wood, the bottom two blue bars, are by far the most expensive per year. For this next video, we return to the Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators Program. This segment highlights the importance of homeowners actions in stopping the spread of wildland fires. It's clear that measures to establish defensible space around structures give firefighters a chance to succeed. In addition, homeowners can retain the beauty of life in the wildland interface and greatly reduce the risk of fire spreading. Firefighters are dedicated individuals and highly trained, but they can't do it alone. There are many things homeowners can do to help in pre-control of a fire around their residents. And we need those people to do those things to help in the fire suppression efforts. Homeowners and developers are the only ones who can make some of the most important fuels management efforts. You can always do what they call Monday morning quarterbacking, and I can look back upon the fire and think, now, if I'd have done this, I could have saved this. If I'd have just picked this up, I would have saved this. If your home is already on fire, unfortunately, firefighters may have to pass it by to save another house that has not yet ignited. Be prepared to help yourself. This homeowner has done little to protect his home from wildfire. Note the dry brush leading to the dwelling and the stacks of firewood under the porch. A wildfire could easily climb these ladder fuels to reach the structure. Also note the woodshake roof, which could easily be ignited by burning wind-blown debris. You yourself can prevent a lot of fires by just thinking fire. What will burn, what will not burn? Clearance around the homes. Well, we certainly are concerned, of course, of the fire threat in this area. However, we have done that which we can do to minimize that threat. For instance, we have a metal roof which won't burn. We have cleared brush from around the home. We keep a ready supply of water that's available year-round and we have our own standby generating system that will allow us to pump that water in the event of a fire. Note the safety precautions taken by this homeowner. This house is surrounded by a green lawn, no ladder fuels here. This homeowner has left mountain mahogany around the house for a more natural look. Recognizing the risk taken, he's also installed a water pond with a pump and generator. He knows that electricity may not be available during a large fire. But it is possible to have a natural forested look without taking such risks. This homeowner has left large trees while providing a lawn comprised of a fire-resistant species of grass. No dead branches near the structure gutters clean, shingles made of Class A non-combustible material. Homeowners and developers should also be concerned with water supply and road design. In the next video segment, we'll look at the National Fire Protection Association's Wildfire Strikes Home, Part 3. It's the source of clear illustrations of some infrastructure components. Review other parts of the infrastructure not covered by the tape. Water and electricity in your community are significant as well. Plan for what is needed to initiate or to retrofit. Otherwise your fire suppression capability may be very limited. During World War II, there was a very famous slogan that was put out and used by almost all the chaplains and it was that there are no atheists in foxholes. Well, I can attest to the fact that there are no atheists in forest fires because everybody starts to pray because there really there's such a feeling of hopelessness and hopelessness and despair and you took me out the mushy of the elements and so on. But I do believe there was a frightening and harrowing experience and it looked up a couple hundred yards back and you see what you saw on the film. Flamedy heat, you could smell it, you could feel it. We didn't even have a chance to get anything out. Of all the solutions the conference participants suggested the most comprehensive was the need to build fire safe structures and communities and provide those communities with adequate fire protection. So let's build an example of a fire safe community based on the suggestions of the conference participants. In the planning stages the developer should contact the appropriate fire protection agency for their input. Fire service professionals can help developers design parks and other public use areas so fires starting in them cannot escape to a developed area or to surrounding wildlands. Fire service professionals can help in all areas of fire protection for a planned community. It may also be wise to dedicate a fire station for larger developments while still in the planning stages. There should be plans for appropriate access for fire apparatus to lakes, streams, swimming pools and other sources of water. All access roads should have more than one way in and more than one way out. There should be an adequate turning radius on all access roads as well. The length of cul-de-sacs should be limited. Bridges should be constructed to support heavy apparatus. Plans for hydrant spacing and water supply should be based on appropriate standards. High density developments will require closer spacing and greater flow. In areas that do not have a water system, standards such as NFPA number 1231 should be used to provide firefighting resources. Firebreaks and green belts are important. These fire breaks will help keep a forest fire from burning into development. Also, highly flammable vegetation areas within the community deserve close attention when planning for fire protection. Individual structures must be fire safe too. Location of the house on the lot depends in part on the slope and vegetation. Openings in the foundation, attic or other vents should be protected by non-combustible screening. Exterior walls should also be protected with fire-resistant materials as should eaves and balconies. Roofs are the most vulnerable part of a structure during wildland fires. All roof coverings should be non-combustible. It's important to remove flammable vegetation surrounding a structure if that vegetation could be a means of transmitting fire rapidly from native growth to any structure. Overhanging trees should be cut back and any dead or dying wood from adjacent or overhanging trees should be removed. Once the building is completed, dispose of all the debris from the land clearing efforts. These and other measures will greatly help to reduce the destruction of interface fires and even prevent their occurrence. But even under the best conditions, fires will break out. Consider fires started by lightning. No amount of preparation will keep those fires from occurring. Therefore, it's very important for fire services to provide the best possible fire protection to all communities. Another program from the Committee for Fire Safe Roofing will supply us with the last video illustration in the course. This program depicts a step-by-step public education campaign. Watch the tape for a practical understanding of the process. Your local community may need to emphasize a different problem or use other media. However, the organization of steps to take will be similar regardless of the medium or exact content. A private sector organization was willing to support a campaign by the fire service to promote community safety. To further assure success, a professional communication research company was asked to help develop a public education campaign. After extensive study by the research company in cooperation with the Northern California fire prevention officers, a fully expanded ad campaign one that would achieve the same results as other successful public education campaigns. These past campaigns achieved success by addressing citizen awareness through proven communication techniques. Utilizing these techniques, a logo and slogan were developed. The design, color and usage are always consistent to assure instant recognition. Corporations recognized this advertising technique. A multiple media approach was established to reach a large percentage of the population. These media include television and radio public service announcements or PSAs, newspaper and magazine press releases, posters and bumper stickers, presentations to civic groups and TV and radio talk shows. This overlapping media technique, combined with consistent campaign design, will strengthen the viewer's memory. For example, a radio PSA can activate mental visions from the television PSA. Bumper stickers can rerun mental recordings from radio spots. This technique, in a four month overlapping schedule, will increase the efficiency of the radio and TV coverage. The first month is devoted to distributing bumper stickers and posters for public display. Television PSAs will run the second month, with the third month reserved for radio PSA broadcasting. A rerun of the television PSAs will occur in the fourth month. This schedule can be repeated every season or as often as needed to establish a long term memory. Press releases, prepared in advance, will be sent to all newspapers and broadcasters. Releases will also be recirculated after major fire occurrences. All fire departments will adopt a tracking system to assure that all information has been presented as planned. But most importantly, to assure that the citizens have an open avenue to action. An avenue whereby they can receive specific information regarding the various types of safe roofing materials and local building safety ordinances. Finally, a test campaign was suggested for a limited number of communities. Here, every phase of the campaign is tested, modified and prepared before starting the large scale campaign. The campaign proposal was met with enthusiasm and quick approval by the Northern California Fire Chiefs. While the campaign materials were being produced and the campaign resources allocated, the fire prevention officers had to scramble. It takes an aggressive, ongoing plan to reach a large audience with a new idea and convince the audience to change their behavior. Fighting fires takes as much planning and creativity as it does courage.