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Anchorage Wildfire Partnership
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For many years, staff from the USDA Forest Service State & Private Forestry, UAF Cooperative Extension Service, Alaska DNR Division of Forestry, and the Anchorage Fire Department have been educating homeowners and local leaders about the risk of wildfire to the Municipality of Anchorage.
These efforts were recognized by FEMA in 1998 with federal funding to continue education and support mitigation work through removal of dead, spruce beetle-killed trees adjacent to homes. Through continued funding and a sincere partnership effort, wildfire mitigation in the MOA has become a reality. A concerted and renewed effort began in September 2000 where the MOA staff joined directly with the aforementioned agencies and the Anchorage Soil & Water Conservation District to reduce the potential for wildfire to become an urban disaster.
KEY COMPONENTS
Public Education
- Firewise Alaska packets available for homeowners
- Dedicated TV news stories
- Radio and TV Public Service Announcements
- Local Cable Channel 10 education programming
- Outreach media (java jackets, cinema slides, bus signs)
- Canvassing by Student Conservation Association Fire Education Corps Interns (2002 - 2003)
- Local presentations
- Displays at local events
Fire Fuel Mapping/Fire Behavior Modeling
- Forest fire fuels mapping in partnership with UAF
- FARSITE fire behavior modeling
- Updated vegetation mapping
- Water resources maps for fire trucks
- Road network mapping improved
Hazardous Fuels Mitigation
- Firewise Communities
- Defensible space for homeowners
- Residential chipping/woodlot program (10,000 users in 2001)
- Vegetation treatments in municipal and state parks
- Fuel breaks to protect homes from wildfire
- Neighborhood tree plantings
Wildfire Operations Planning
- Interagency wildfire exercises
- Enhanced training for firefighters
- Upgrades to equipment and protective gear
- Wildfire behavior training for police officers
- Evacuation planning
- Wildfire Operations coordination with State forestry
- Water source drafting site upgrades
- Land Use Code review and modification
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