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Fire Program

Photo: Emily Jane Davis (Cropped from original)
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Wildfire readiness

Preparing our communities and landscapes for wildfire is an effort that involves many sectors of society, from public land managers, to emergency response agencies, to each and every person living in Oregon, including you! Steps you can take to prepare for wildfire include improving your home’s resistance to ignitions, a process called home hardening. It also involves creating defensible space, which means managing the vegetation and other fuels near your home to stop the fire before it reaches your house. To ensure that the members of your household stay safe during a wildfire event, you can make a family emergency plan, sign up for emergency alerts, and prepare for an evacuation.

Many of these efforts are best undertaken long before a wildfire knocks at your door. Use the resources on this page to increase your wildfire readiness, starting today!

  • A local fire department conducts a home assessment for participants during a workshop.

    Photo: Kayla Bordelon

  • Kayla Bordelon, fire specialist for the Willamette Valley, demonstrates fire behavior and how structures ignite.

    Photo: Carrie Berger

  • The Fire Program team works together to strategize how to foster fire-adapted communities.

    Photo: Carrie Berger

  • Katie Wollstein, rangeland fire specialist, talks with community members about managing rangeland fuels to reduce wildfire risk.

    Photo: OSU Extension

  • The Fire Program team works closely with partners like the Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal on defensible space education and training.

    Photo: Ariel Cowan

  • Chris Adlam, regional fire specialist in SW Oregon, uses fire as a way to reduce fuels on the landscape through his work with the Rogue Valley Prescribed Burn Association.

    Photo: Chris Adlam

  • The Fire Program team meets people where they are at to provide outreach and education in both English and Spanish.

    Photo: OSU Extension

  • The Fire Program team recognizes the need to serve communities that face disproportionate wildfire risk, have had less access to mitigation and recovery resources, and possess diverse assets and capacities for adaptation.

    Photo: Kayla Bordelon

  • The Fire Program team talks to a group of landowners about fire risk reduction.

    Photo: Carrie Berger

  • Fire when and where appropriate is part of the solution.

    Photo: Ariel Cowan
Photo: Carrie Berger

Want to learn more?

The Fire Program team and partners developed a webinar series following Oregon's 2020 Labor Day Fires called Fire Aware Fire Prepared. Watch the following webinars to better prepare your family, home, and community to live better with wildfire.

Watch the recorded webinars!

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