Since Boise's fatal Oregon Trail fire in 2008, the Boise Fire Department has taken many steps to mitigate similar fires:
Staffing Efforts
- Dedicated Wildfire Mitigation Specialist on staff with the Fire Department.
- Dedicated Restoration Specialist on staff with the Parks and Recreation Department.
- Dedicated, interdepartmental City of Boise Wildfire Mitigation Team (WMT).
Policies
- Specific geographical areas designated as wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas.
- New building and fire prevention codes specific to the WUI.
- Over $1 million in grant funding for various fuel treatments, restoration work and outreach.
- Created a Citizen Fuel Reduction Policy for homeowners that abut city-managed open space.
Collaboration
- Created a Southwest Idaho Wildfire Mitigation Forum (stakeholder workshop).
- Started an Ada Fire Adapted Communities (ADAFAC) Working Group.
- Helped create a Fire Department Exchange (FDX) to learn/share with other national departments.
- Finalized an Ada County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP).
- Seven (7) total Firewise Communities in Ada County.
- Multi-agency wildfire mitigation MOU with BLM, IDF&G, Ada County and the City of Eagle.
- Core member of the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network (FAC Net).
- Collaboratively created an updated Ada County Wildfire Riskmap and incorporated the finding into a GIS based Ada Situational Awareness Tool (ASAT).
Outreach Efforts
- Created www.adafireadapted.org, a site dedicated to wildfire awareness and fire adaptation.
- Created a Twitter feed @wildfireready to provide information to homeowners and stakeholders.
- Hosted Era of Megafires event in 2017 at the Egyptian Theatre.
- Numerous HOA and Neighborhood Association presentations.
- City of Boise Neighborhood Reinvestment Grant funding for Firewise projects.
Resources
Learn more and explore: