Training

Annually, BLM Colorado provides thousands of dollars in assistance funding and hundreds of hours of instructor time to the Colorado Wildland Fire & Incident Management Academies.  These academies are held each year in January and June.  The focus of the Colorado Wildfire Academy program is to provide wildland fire and all-risk incident management training to fire department personnel as well as other cooperators at the local, state and national levels.  Students from across the United States and other countries such as Australia, Russia and Germany, attend a wide variety of training courses.  Training varies from the basic introduction to wildland fire, to advanced fire behavior and incident command courses.  Over 2,000 students attend one or both of the academies each year.

In addition to the academies, many of the BLM’s local fire management programs actively train and support a variety of volunteer and paid fire department personnel each fire season.  With the addition of the Ready Reserve program in fiscal year 2007, the BLM expects to assist numerous fire departments with additional funds for wildland fire training purposes.

Fire Home

Five Education and Mitigation Specialists within BLM Colorado assist in partnerships, education, mitigation, and outreach. The BLM’s Mitigation and Education Specialists responsibilities are to:

• Organize and facilitate public meetings in cooperation with other organizations.
• Work with schools to incorporate fire education into science and other classes.
• Prepare educational materials and web sites for public use.
• Coordinate fire education efforts with other organizations and agencies.
• Prepare and conduct public meetings on proposed fuels reduction projects in and around communities.
• Manage fire prevention programs.
• Provide fire information on prescribed burns.

BLM Colorado trains American Red Cross (ARC) and rural fire department volunteers to work with communities and rural landowners in wildfire disaster preparedness and hazard mitigation methods. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS), and BLM provide financial, logistical, and technical support to the ARC.

BLM Colorado provides financial and technical assistance to the CSFS coordinator who develops training materials, training programs and collaborative projects between the ARC and other agencies.  The coordinator also oversees a pilot project in which the ARC provides the “arms and legs” to local fire departments, sheriffs, and the CSFS to deliver wildfire preparedness and hazard mitigation education to communities-at-risk.  The pilot project resulted in a National Memorandum of Understanding among the ARC, the Department of Interior, the USFS, the National Association of State Foresters, and the National Fire Protection Association to collaborate in community-based preparedness and mitigation education.