Arizona Emergency Information Network

The Arizona Emergency Information Network (AzEIN) has moved their web site from the free Google-hosted blog to a new web site. In case you have not heard of the organization, it is:

…the state’s online resource for real-time emergency updates, hazard preparedness information and related resources.

On their main page they prominently display current news updates called “Emergency Bulletins”, about wildfires, with most of the fires being on national forests or national parks, such as the Coconino NF, the Kaibab NF, and Grand Canyon NP. They list 22 “partner agencies”, but oddly there are no federal land management agencies included.

But the main reason I wanted to call your attention to the AzEIN is that they have their own YouTube Channel. There are six videos posted, all featuring the Coconino National Forest, on the following topics:

  • Lookouts
  • Dispatch
  • Thinning
  • Fire Prevention: Campfires
  • Prescribed Fire: Machine Piles
  • Prescribed Fire: Hand Piles

The videos range from 43 seconds to 3.5 minutes and are fairly well done. The target audience appears to be your average citizen who knows little about wildland fire. But they convey a lot of information will help to educate the public about what the land management agencies are doing. We congratulate the Coconino NF on providing this valuable public service and hope other organizations do more of the same.

These videos remind me of the one that we told you about on May 29, 2008 which featured a firefighter in Florida. It appeared to be filmed by professionals, but explained very effectively why they were conducting a prescribed fire.

Videos like these are not hard to produce. All you need is someone who can talk, a $400 digital video camera, a tripod, a video editing program, and someone who can do the editing–which is the most important part. Then YouTube will be glad to host it for you at no charge, allowing the whole world to see it. 

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