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Webinar: Community-based Wildfire Risk Reduction

The Presentation

Join FAC NM as communities of New Mexico celebrate National Wildfire Preparedness Day by discussing advances in home wildfire risk assessments! In this 60-minute webinar, Chris Barth and James Meldrum from the Wildfire Research (WiRē) Team will speak about their recent publication on parcel-level risk. Their presentation will focus on the paired rapid assessment/household survey approach that the WiRē team has employed with partners and communities across the West. They will also discuss the effect home hazard assessments have on reducing the risk of property destruction and the importance of community-level risk reduction to address risk-spillovers across neighboring properties. Log on to learn more about reducing home hazard risk at the community level! Register now to attend the webinar via Zoom or tune in on the FACNM Facebook Live page.

The Speakers

Headshot of Chris Barth in yellow fire retardant nomex and red hardhat smiling for the camera in the woods

Chris Barth, Fire Mitigation Specialist, BLM-Montana/Dakotas Fire & Aviation Management
Chris works with the public, internal and external partners, elected officials, and the media to communicate fire management strategies and disaster response, planning, and fire adaptation concepts. Chris has received several national awards for his work to reduce community wildfire risk. He is a founding member and subject matter expert for the Wildfire Research (WiRē) Team - with research interests in homeowners’ attitudes towards wildfire mitigation and public perception of wildfire risk. He has co-authored papers on homeowners’ attitudes towards wildfire mitigation and public perception of wildfire risk. He has also presented at national and international conferences related to his work in this field.

Chris has worked in fire management for more than 30 years. He is a Public Information Officer (PIO) on a Type 1 incident management. As a PIO, Chris’ communication style is shaped by his operational, professional, and research experiences. 

More on Chris’ research can be found here.

Headshot of James Meldrum in a blue puffy jacket smiling in front of red stonecliffs

James Meldrum, Research Economist, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
James Meldrum is an applied research economist with the USGS’s Social and Economic Analysis branch in Fort Collins, CO. James is a founding member of the Wildfire Research (WiRē) Team, a long-standing collaboration between wildfire risk mitigation practitioners and social science researchers. Through more than 10 years of this partnership, he has published numerous journal articles on mitigating the risks of wildland fire. In addition to his work with the WiRē Team, James investigates the effects of natural resource decisions on people in numerous contexts, including fuels and fire management, ecosystem restoration, electricity generation, and the management of invasive species.

More on James’ research can be found here.



Wildfire Research Center logo

The Wildfire Research (WiRē) Team brings diverse expertise in economics, sociology, and wildfire risk mitigation to a multiyear research project on homeowner wildfire risk mitigation and community wildfire adaptedness.

Earlier Event: March 9
Northern NM - Basic Wildland Firefighter Training Opportunity: S130
Later Event: May 18
Webinar: Pre-planning for fire operations and response - PODs
The GSFFC is a coalition of public and private organizations. The GSFFC is not a subdivision of the State of New Mexico, as defined in the state’s Open Meetings Act, §§ 10-15-1 to 10-15-4 NMSA 1978. Although federal agencies participate in the GSFFC, the Coalition is not a federal advisory board and was not created by a federal agency, as defined by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5.U.S.C. app. 2, §§ 1 to 16 (2012). The GSFFC operates informally to support its partners, and is not incorporated as a non-profit, 501(C)(3), partnership, or other legal status.