People and nature are increasingly threatened by fire, despite fire’s natural, beneficial role. At the same time, firefighting costs are escalating and diverting money away from proactive land management. The solution is to make natural areas and communities more fire-ready so that we can allow fire to play its natural role at a meaningful scale. The Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) initiative and the FAC Learning Network are helping homeowners, communities and land managers in fire-prone areas prepare for inevitable fires — to “live with fire” safely.

The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network encourages the development and sharing of best practices and innovations in order to accelerate the adoption of fire adapted community concepts nationwide. The Network currently supports eight hub organizations and pilot communities that have committed to implementing, assessing and sharing the work that they are doing to increase their communities’ resilience to wildfire. Funding is provided by the USDA Forest Service’s Fire Adapted Communities Program, and the Network is managed by the Watershed Research and Training Center and The Nature Conservancy.

A fire adapted community acknowledges and takes responsibility for its wildfire risk, and implements appropriate actions at all levels. Actions address resident safety, homes, neighborhoods, businesses and infrastructure, forests, parks, open spaces and other community assets. Every community has a unique set of circumstances and capacities, so the kinds of actions they take will vary. Further, there is no end-point in becoming a fire adapted community. Sustaining, growing and adapting strategies, partnerships, and capacity through time are key. Visit Fire Adapted Communities for more information.

The wildland fire “problem” is larger and more complex than any one individual, community or institution can hope to overcome. Adaptation to wildfire is critical to a positive future, and collaboration and partnerships are keys to successful adaptation.