Montana State Disaster and Emergency Services ... US Forest Service: Fire and Aviation Management ... Over the years, we
Frequently Asked Questions Fire Chasers: Improving Community Response to Wildfire What is this project about? Our focus is to better understand how community capacity and inter-organizational relationships influence county preparedness for and response to large scale wildfires. Community capacity, as we define it for our research, is the ability of an area to launch an appropriate response to incidents of wildfire. We will survey leaders of agencies and organizations involved in wildfire preparedness and response across 109 counties, 31 national forests, and 137 national forest districts in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Our primary research questions are:
How prepared are counties for large scale wildfire disasters? What factors are associated with greater preparedness for wildfire? What factors are associated with better inter-organizational performance during wildfire incident response?
Why is my participation important? The strength of our study depends on obtaining a complete picture of response efforts in each community surveyed; we want to hear from persons with various backgrounds and levels of expertise. For this reason, it is vital that you and your agency be represented in our study. As we begin to identify factors that lead to better disaster preparedness and inter-organizational response during wildfire events, we can help improve the field of wildfire management. As part of our study, your agency and all other active wildfire response agencies in your area will receive a copy of our practitioner-oriented conclusions that may prove valuable during preparation for future fire seasons. Reports will offer feedback tailored to your location and link to specific study findings for improving preparedness in your community. How do I know this project is legitimate? We are funded by the National Science Foundation and the Joint Fire Science Program and endorsed by Tom Harbour, USFS Director of Fire and Aviation Management, from the Washington Office of the United States Forest Service as well as Regional Foresters Kent Connaughton, Hary Forsgren, and Faye Krueger. Additional endorsements from fire and law enforcement agencies include the following:
Idaho Sheriffs’ Association Idaho Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services Association North Idaho Fire Chiefs Association National Volunteer Fire Council Montana Association of Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinators Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association Montana State Disaster and Emergency Services Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Washington Fire Chiefs Association US Forest Service: Fire and Aviation Management
If you wish to view these letters of support, please visit our website here.
How did you hear about me? Fire Chasers has been researching wildfire since 2008. Over the years, we have conducted field research in 6 states working with Type 1 and 2 Incident Management Teams, local cooperators, local US Forest Service representatives, and local communities. Through past research, we have been to understand the types of organizations whose work potentially overlaps with wildfire preparation and response. Your information was likely acquired through research or a referral from local or forest-based cooperators. How do I participate? We will call you soon to answer any lingering questions you might have and invite you to participate in the study. If you agree to participating, we will email a URL link directing you to a customized websurvey which will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Feel free to work on it as your schedule allows, your progress will be saved as you work through the survey. If you require the survey in an alternate format, printable versions, which you can scan, fax, or mail back to us, are available upon request. If you require a printable version or if you encounter any trouble with your web-survey link, just email us at
[email protected] or call our office at 919.576.0843 and we will resend the necessary information. What will the information I provide be used for? As stated previously, we want to better understand how adaptive capacities may relate to more disaster resilient communities. The data we assemble will be used myriad ways: to advance the field of wildfire management and policy, to make specific practitioner recommendations for participants of the study, and to publish reports and scholarly articles relevant to fields as diverse as, but not limited to, crisis communication, inter-organizational sense-making, conflict management, and integration of local and federal response systems. If you care to view reports or articles published from our previous research, links can be found here. How do I know the information I give you will not come back to haunt me? We value your participation and will be diligent about keeping your information confidential. We understand how important it is to minimize any potential ill-affects caused by involvement in our study. Our survey will ask you to provide feedback on the involvement level of individuals, agencies, and units in incident response. This level of detail is necessary in understanding coordination and communication during this incident; however, you may choose to skip any question you do not wish to answer. None of the information you provide will be used to evaluate individuals, agencies, or units. Data security is an important part of maintaining confidentiality. Your responses will be stored on secure servers accessible only by the research team. Any individuals’ names will be deleted in order to protect the anonymity of both participants and persons discussed within the survey. The information you provide about your organization will be presented only in aggregate form or with the use of pseudonyms. Who is on the research team? Dr. Branda Nowell, an associate professor at the School of Public and International Affairs and North Carolina State University; Dr. Toddi Steelman, the Executive Director and Professor of the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan; and Dr. Sarah McCaffrey, a research forester on the US Forest Service, are our primary researchers. The rest of the team, including our post-
doctoral scholar Dr. AJ Faas, comes from a variety of disciplines including Public Administration, Anthropology, International Studies, and Forestry and Environmental Resources. Most team members are masters or doctoral students at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Detailed team member bios can be found on our website. How can I contact someone at Fire Chasers? If you have questions or concerns, we can be reached a variety of ways: Email:
[email protected] Phone: 919.576.0843 Fax: 919.797.9926 Mailing Address: Fire Chasers Project 20 Enterprise St., Suite 6 Raleigh, NC 27607
