In this episode, learn more about the fire science academy at the Academy of Arts, Career and Technology (AACT) in Washoe County. Living With Fire’s Jenni Burr sits down with Spencer Eusden (Living With Fire Special Projects Coordinator), AACT students Lucy and Luca, and former lead instructor Jen Diamond (BLM Mitigation Education Specialist) to hear more about this high school program.

For more full episode details including the transcript, visit

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1819551/episodes/18108363

Spencer gives an overview of the creation of the fire science workforce development program in partnership with Bureau of Land Management and Truckee Meadows Fire Protection.

Lucy and Luca then talk about their experience as students in the fire science program. Lucy shares “I definitely think even if you're in this academy and you don't want to be a firefighter, it'll set you ahead for another career, because you learn so much about communication working as a team, because so much of the fire is working with someone like accomplishing a certain mission or communicating what you need to do.”

Finally, Jen Diamond joins and shares her perspective on the program and answers questions from Lucy and Luca about her career in wildland firefighting. Reflecting on the realities of the job, saying “I think the funnest part is having those away experiences. And the hardest part is also not being home and having those home experiences when you feel like you should be there.”

To learn more about the program’s partners visit:

· Bureau of Land Management: blm.gov/Nevada

· Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District: https://tmfpd.us/

· Academy of Arts, Careers and Technology: https://aact.washoeschools.net/programs/cte

· Living With Fire: www.livingwithfire.org

In this second installment of our series “The Insurance Dilemma”, Living With Fire‘s Megan Kay (Program Manager) and Spencer Eusden (Special Projects Manager) sit down with Frank Frievalt to explore different perspectives on wildfire risk. Frank is the Director of the WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) Institute at Cal Poly who previously worked as a firefighter and fire chief. He explains what risk means to fire practitioners versus the insurance industry, and how wildfire conflagrations are impacting firefighting and insurance.

For full episode details including the transcript, visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/admin/1819551/episodes/17835392-the-insurance-dilemma-part-2-defining-risk

When it comes to reducing wildfire risk, Frank talks about how fire scientists are looking at ways to slow down and disrupt fire spread in the three pathways seen in the WUI: vegetation to vegetation, vegetation to structure, and structure to structure. He then shares the factors that are leading to conflagration losses and how this has changed the realities for the insurance industry’s financial risk. He highlights the disconnect between insurance agencies and homeowners and shares that he and many others are working to figure out how to get the right data into the hands of the insurers to “reconcile actual risk on the ground [and] facts on the ground, with how we price risk transfer.”

Frank ends by sharing the top way homeowners can protect their homes: working together as a community to ensure that they and their neighbors have adequate defensible space and hardened homes.

Here are Frank’s tips for homeowners:

Follow the IBHS prepared home standards for home hardening and defensible space:

• https://wildfireprepared.org/wp-content/uploads/WFPH-Technical-Standard.pdf
• Reach out to your local fire agency if you have any questions.
• When looking at home insurance, work with your insurance agent and shop around if you feel stuck.

For more information about the WUI Institute and their current projects, visit

https://fire.calpoly.edu/

Watch Frank’s talk to the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VyuwzJ5N0

Find Living With Fire’s Defensible Space and Wildfire Home Retrofit Guides at https://www.livingwithfire.org/resources/publications/

In this episode, Living with Fire’s Megan Kay digs into the intersection of wildfires and community water systems with Kara Steeland and Stephanie Morris of Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA). Kara is TMWA’s Senior Hydrologist and Watershed Coordinator, and at the time of the interview, Stephanie was Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs.

For more full episode details including transcript visit https://www.buzzsprout.com/1819551/episodes/17503579

Stephanie and Kara share that 80% of the water for the Truckee Meadows is stored upstream in California lakes and reservoirs surrounded by federal land managed by the US Forest Service. They explain that wildfires that happen in the watershed increase ash and organic material in the short term, which increases the difficulty and cost of water treatment. In the longer term, debris flows from burn scar areas increase sediment and debris in waterways, impacting water quality treatment and reducing storage capacity.

TMWA talks about how they work with partners to help protect watersheds and mitigate water quality impacts. As Stefanie says, “[We] don’t own the land around the reservoirs. … We can’t just go out there and do work. But what TMWA can do is help bring funds and planning expertise to [the Middle Truckee River Watershed Forest Partnership] to help increase scale and pace of those projects.”

They highlight the partnership’s Ladybug Project, above Stampede reservoir near Ladybug Peak, that aims to mitigate fire impacts by reducing fuels and altering future fire behavior and decreasing debris flows coming off of burned areas.

• Learn more about TMWA’s efforts at https://tmwa.com/article/middle-truckee-river-watershed-forest-partnership-awarded-8m-to-lower-wildfire-risk/ and https://tmwa.com/article/addressing-wildfire-risk-in-the-middle-truckee-river-watershed/.
• Learn more about the Middle Truckee River Watershed Forest Partnership at https://www.truckeeforests.org/.
• Connect with Truckee Meadows Water Authority at:
  • Website: https://tmwa.com/
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/truckeemeadowswaterauthority/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truckeemeadowswaterauthority/
  • X/Twitter: https://x.com/tmwa/
• Learn more about Living With Fire https://www.livingwithfire.org and find the Living With Fire evacuation checklist and other publications at https://www.livingwithfire.org/resources/publications/.