Living with Wildfire: Homeowners' Firewise Guide for Arizona

Abstract

This publication is an update and adaptation of the widely distributed Living with Fire publication created by the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators in 1998. It is an interagency collaboration of the Arizona Firewise subcommittee of the Arizona Interagency Coordinating Group. It involved the combined efforts of the Arizona State Land Department, USDI Bureau of Indian Affairs, USDI Bureau of Land Management, USDI National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and Arizona Fire Chiefs Association. The need to revise the over seven-year old publication emerged from the subcommittees vision of building in concepts such as Firewise Zone Landscaping and Survivable Space, as well as to update the documents appearance and organization. Its purpose to provide a quality outreach tool to increase public aware concerning Firewise concepts and to encourage and facilitate the implementation of Firewise practices by communities, neighborhoods and property owners. Living with Wildfire is a twelve-page color tabloid that addresses the following topic areas important to homeowners: current situation; fire behavior and the human environment, and in various Arizona vegetation types; detailed recommendations for creating survivable space, including a checklist and landscape management zones; frequently asked questions; and emergency and evacuation guidelines. The tabloid is to be printed in bulk by federal partners and made widely available throughout the state over the next several years.