Encouraging Wildfire Mitigation Action Via National Weather Service Fire Weather Products

Benjamin Hatchett 

Wildfire mitigation actions intend to reduce the probability and consequences (risk) of wildfire to critical assets by protecting the life and property of the public and emergency responders during and after a wildfire event. Given mitigation activities span a continuum of timescales from minutes to years and multiple orders-of-magnitude in terms of costs, an opportunity exists to encourage mitigation actions based on the lead-time before a potential wildland fire event. Examination of National Weather Service fire weather products (i.e., fire weather watches and red flag warnings) indicates these focus messaging primarily on fire prevention and response efforts with little-to-no emphasis on mitigation actions. As a highly trusted public partner, we argue the NWS has an extraordinary opportunity to engage with the public to train and remind them about mitigation actions they can take before critical fire weather or before ignition. Here, we propose a simple, cost-effective text- and graphics-based approach to incorporating mitigation messaging into NWS fire products, with examples provided to facilitate necessary testing and iterative development before demonstration.