Wildfire Awareness Week

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This week four five states are observing Wildfire Awareness Week: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.  We did some research and were able to find 12 states that in recent years have observed a week to emphasize wildfire prevention. Unfortunately the dates for the week are scattered from the second week in April through late June. If there were agreement for all states to observe it at the same time each year, there could be national fire prevention campaigns to raise public awareness. Synergy.

In a step towards this goal, this year the states of California, Nevada, and Oregon jointly proclaimed May 1-8 (or 2-8) as “Multi-State Wildfire Awareness Week”. We suggest that other states make it their policy to declare the first full week in May as “Wildfire Awareness Week”. Or perhaps it could be a month or so earlier to accommodate the spring fire seasons of some areas. The National Association of State Foresters should coordinate this fire prevention opportunity.

  • Alaska: May 3-9, 2010
  • Arizona: (In Flagstaff [only?] it was April 24-May 1, 2010; In 2008 both NM and AZ had a joint WAW March 29-April 4, 2008)
  • California: first week in May, May 2-8, 2010
  • Colorado: (In 2008 it was June 22-28)
  • Florida: second week in April, April 11-17, 2010
  • Idaho: first full week in June
  • Maine: third week in April
  • Michigan: April 18-24, 2010
  • Montana: (In 2008 it was May 12-16)
  • New Mexico: March 28-April 3, 2010
  • Nevada: May 1-8, 2010
  • Oregon: (first full week of May) May 2-8, 2010
  • Pennsylvania: March 14-20, 2010
  • Texas: (in 2006 it was April 1-8)
  • Washington: May 2-8, 2010

If you are aware of any other states that observe Wildfire Awareness Week, let us know in a response or comment. We’ll add the additional dates as they come in.

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About Bill Gabbert

Wildland fire has been a major part of Bill Gabbert’s life for several decades. After growing up in the south, he migrated to southern California where he lived for 20 years, working as a wildland firefighter. Later he took his affinity for firefighting to Indiana and eventually the Black Hills of South Dakota where he was the Fire Management Officer for a group of seven national parks. Today he is the creator and owner of WildfireToday.com and Sagacity Wildfire Services and serves as an expert witness in wildland fire. If you are interested in wildland fire, welcome… grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up. Google+

6 thoughts on “Wildfire Awareness Week”

  1. In Pennsylvania, Wildfire Prevention Week was March 14th-20th, 2010. We have been doing this for many years in March, just before the start of our spring fire season. The first week in May would be too late.

  3. We are hosting our first Lake Tahoe Basin Wildfire Awareness Week at Lake Tahoe from July 3rd to July 11th. This is because participation in the May Wildfire Awareness Week held by both California and Nevada has been lackluster since about 40% of homes are second homes and many residents don’t arrive until the 4th of July Weekend. For an events calendar check out: http://www.livingwithfire.info/tahoe/

    Thanks!
    Susie Kocher, University of California Cooperative Extension, sdkocher@ucdavis.edu

  4. Idaho has recognized the 3rd full week of June as our Wildfire Awareness Week. The governor signed a proclamation designating this week as Idaho’s WAW week. We have celebrated this week since 1999.