Project Findings- Improve Fire Prevention and Suppression

Silver City, Ruidoso and Red River Fire Departments have required 130-190, Basic Wildland Training for several years. Santa Fe Fire Department is in the process of training their firefighters. Basic Wildland Training means that firefighters, mainly trained only to fight structural fire, are crosstrained to deal with fires in the wildland urban interface. All case study communities have effectively integrated their fire response to include municipal, county, state and federal resources and personnel. Emergency planning and the integration of wildfire response into emergency response have been notable in Ruidoso and Silver City.

Each community faces a variety of challenges in educating the local population about the wildfire threat. Ruidoso and Red River have a high number of seasonal residents who do not understand the threat posed by an overly dense forest. These seasonal residents want to see thick, lush forests and have a difficult time cutting even the smallest tree. The challenge for Ruidoso and Red River is to change prevailing perceptions of what constitutes a risk and create effective outreach strategies for part-time residents.

Santa Fe has never experienced a catastrophic wildland interface fire. The prevailing lack of concern about the potential for catastrophic wildfire in the Santa Fe Watershed accounts for the prevailing current apathy on this issue and for difficulty in holding the USFS accountable for addressing the current threat.

Silver City increasingly is a retirement destination where people seek to "get away from it all". This translates into independent minded residents that resist regulation of any sort and make effective communication difficult.

Each case study community has worked with the USFS and participated in at least one FIREWISE workshop with varying results. One-on-one homeowner assessments have been a success in Ruidoso, Silver City and Red River. Ruidoso, with a full-time Urban Forester, has been highly successful in promoting awareness about the wildfire threat.

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