Professional wildfire mitigation competency: a potential policy gap
Rebecca K. Miller A B * , Franz Richter C , Maria Theodori C and Michael J. Gollner
C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, University of Southern California, Social Sciences Building (SOS) 153, 3502 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034, USA.
B Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford University, Y2E2 Building, Suite 174, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
C Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, 6141 Etcheverry Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-1740, USA.
* Correspondence to: rkmiller@usc.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 31(7) 651-657 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF22012
Submitted: 19 February 2022 Accepted: 18 June 2022 Published: 13 July 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Studies show that effective strategies to mitigate the risk of structural damage in wildfires include defensible spaces and home hardening. Structures in the western United States are especially at risk. Several jurisdictions have adopted codes that require implementation of these strategies. However, construction and landscaping professionals are generally not required to obtain credentials indicating their competency in mitigating the risk of structural damage in a wildfire. We discuss the implications of this policy gap and propose a solution to bolster competency of professionals in wildfire protection as communities further expand in fire-prone areas.
Keywords: certification program, contractor, education, landscaper, professional engineer, structure protection, training program, wildfire mitigation, wildfire policy, wildland–urban interface.
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