Using Your Community’s Vulnerabilities to Raise Wildfire Awareness
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“Vulnerability” is not just for talking about our feelings! In terms of community risk reduction (CRR), vulnerability is the likelihood that an individual or group will suffer harm or loss from a hazardous situation, environment, or event. CRR specifically defines 5 types of vulnerability as they relate to hazards: human, social, economic, environmental, and political. All CRR models use those vulnerability types to determine high-risk areas in a community, and who is at most risk from the hazards that exist. We can apply those vulnerability types to our own communities and personalize the risk that wildfire presents for different populations in our response areas. By doing so, we will raise community awareness of the dangers and long-term damages of wildfire, in turn helping our community members to embrace mitigation efforts and protection plans.
Debbie Carpenter
Chief
Spirit Lake Fire Protection District
Debbie Carpenter is the Fire Chief with Spirit Lake Fire Protection District in North Idaho. She earned a Master of Science in Public Safety Administration from Lewis University and is a graduate of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service's Fire Service Chief Executive Officer program. She primarily teaches on ethics in public safety. Chief Carpenter was one of the inaugural members of iDELP, the Diversity Executive Leadership Program with the International Association of Fire Chiefs. She serves on the IAFC Professional Development Committee and helped to write the IAFC's Guide for Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Department.