What can a small, remote community in northeastern Washington teach a city like Wenatchee about preparing for wildfire? A lot, it turns out.
But first those communities need to connect.
That’s why Washington State Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (WAFAC) representatives from Chelan and Spokane County fire districts toured the impressive steps that the Flowery Trail Community Association had taken to live more safely with wildfire.
The three communities are members of WAFAC, a peer learning network that supports local action to help communities better adapt to wildfire.
Last year’s visit to Flowery Trail, a community of about 50 homes an hour north of Spokane, highlighted how residents have prepared for fire by replacing flammable material within five feet of their homes with rock.
They had also bought 34 acres of forest surrounding their homes from the state Department of Natural Resources and thinned the stands to reduce the risk of severe wildfire. Situated at least 30 minutes from the nearest fire district, the community is now developing an evacuation plan.
Witnessing the homeowners association’s progress, Chelan County Fire District 1 was motivated to apply for a grant to complete similar wildfire risk-reduction around 120 homes in Wenatchee.
“By helping communities learn from each other, WAFAC inspires them to replicate fire adaptation efforts across the state,” said WAFAC program director Hilary Lundgren, who organized the tour. She continually searches out such opportunities to connect network members and other partners.
“Rather than starting at square one,” Lundgren said, “communities can adapt each other’s work across different political, social and geographic contexts.”
The Power of Networks
Building a nimble network that fosters such connections is a key goal of WAFAC, which was established after the record-shattering Washington wildfires of 2014.
The Nature Conservancy has been working with fire for decades, but those extreme wildfires highlighted a hard truth: A century of trying to eliminate fire from landscapes that evolved with frequent fire has only resulted in more severe wildfires, mounting firefighting costs and degraded habitat. A warmer, drier climate continues to compound the risks.
The National Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, founded in 2013, had already demonstrated that the model was effective at accelerating community-level fire adaptation.
It was time for Washington to develop its own fire-adapted communities network — the first state-level network in the nation.
With funding and support from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, TNC and the Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition, a small grassroots nonprofit, established the WAFAC Learning Network. The Washington Resource Conservation Development Council, a nonprofit with a mission of environmental sustainability, collaboration and facilitation, was selected to coordinate the network.
Today, WAFAC’s 13 members span the San Juan Islands to Eastern Washington. They include fire districts, county conservation districts, nonprofits, community coalitions and a large electric utility. Members meet annually and are eligible for small grants that help them test innovative strategies and share their knowledge with each other.
WAFAC members also benefit from ongoing, intentional connections with each other, said Reese Lolley, TNC’s Washington director of forest restoration and fire, and a WAFAC core team committee member.
"Exchanges of information and learning happen at an accelerated pace when people have deeper relationships and connections with each other," Lolley said.
‘Local People Making Local Action Happen’
For each community, and each person in a community, adapting to fire looks a little different.
“Fire adaptation is not a top-down approach,” Lundgren said. “It’s about finding your own path to better live with wildfire.”
Becoming fire-adapted also is not an end state or a recognition program, Lundgren emphasizes.
“A community is never done with fire adaptation,” she said. “Even if a community experiences a wildfire, the impacts next time might be different. It’s important to continually adapt, so you’ll be better prepared and able to bounce back quicker next time.”
For WAFAC communities, finding their own paths to fire adaptation has meant creatively tapping into people and resources in their own backyards:
In the small rural town of Nine Mile Falls, Spokane County Fire District 5 worked with the local Les Schwab tire store to collect and haul away tires from around homes, reducing the risk from hazardous materials around residences.
Chelan County Fire District 1 hired the state’s first community wildfire liaison to accelerate work after the 2015 Sleepy Hollow fire burned 29 homes in Wenatchee and ignited the warehouse district. Today it provides educational programs and mitigation services, and gives citizens the knowledge and skills to take action on their own. The fire district also brought in 300 goats to reduce flammable vegetation near homes and help create a fire break along the edge of the city.
Wenatchee and Yakima are working to engage Latinx communities around fire adaptation in a changing climate. TNC has hired the nonprofit Sachamama to support building connections and trust between WAFAC members and the community.
The roughly 75 diverse stakeholders in the Kittitas Fire-Adapted Communities Coalition (KFACC) raised funds to produce four videos for residents and a portal to encourage them to have their property assessed for wildfire risk. The group also is coordinating comprehensive fuel reduction treatments that span public and private lands.
The Fire Adapted Communities Framework (click to enlarge):
KFACC coordinator Rose Shriner said the community-centric approach to fire adaptation means that people are invested in its success.
“We are not waiting for an outside agency to come save us,” Shriner said. “It’s local people making local action happen.”
Building Momentum
These local actions are playing an essential role as Washington tackles its mounting wildfire risks.
Drawing on TNC science, the state’s 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan lays out a holistic strategy to restore forest ecosystems and mitigate wildfire impacts across public and private lands in Eastern Washington. The state’s complementary Wildland Fire Protection Strategic Plan focuses on wildland fire prevention, response and community resilience. Fire-adapted communities are a key component of both plans.
As a result of WAFAC, communities don’t have to do this work alone. By connecting with their peers across the state and the nation, they can access training and resources that meet their specific fire-adaptation needs.
"There's a lot of momentum in the state,” said TNC’s Lolley. “And WAFAC is really engaging communities to connect in ways that are accelerating Washington wildfire prevention, preparedness and recovery.”
Learn More About How TNC Works With Fire
Banner Image © Courtney Baxter / TNC
