Purpose: One of Nevada's most pressing natural resource issues is the threat of wildfire to human life and property. Much of Nevada is considered a high fire hazard environment, possessing all the ingredients necessary to support intense and uncontrollable wildfires. Within this high hazard environment are individual homes, subdivisions, and entire communities. Unfortunately, many Nevada homeowners are not prepared to survive a wildfire. The Living With Fire program was developed to inform Nevadans about how they can live safer in high fire hazard environments. Living With Fire is not a wildfire prevention program. Despite the best efforts of firefighting agencies, much of Nevada's wildlands will continue to burn. The purpose of Living With Fire is to teach people how to safely coexist with wildfire when it does occur.

Background: The Living With Fire program began in 1997, when Ed Smith and Paul Tueller of University of Nevada, Reno and Fire Chief Loren Enstaad of the Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators applied for and received a Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station / Nevada Cooperative Extension Joint Program grant. Together with Nevada's firefighting organizations, they developed a set of consistent wildfire threat reduction recommendations for Nevadans. These are the foundation of the Living With Fire educational materials and programs. Since then, the program has continued to grow. Today, Living With Fire is a collaborative effort involving the following organizations...

• Bureau of Land Management
• Nevada Association of Counties
• Nevada Fire Safe Council
• Nevada Division of Forestry
• Nevada Insurance Council
• Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators
• USDA Forest Service
• University of Nevada Cooperative Extension

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Living With Fire Products: Some of the educational products produced by the program include...

	Wildfire Threat Reduction Recommendations for Nevadans: Since 1997, Nevada's firefighting organizations and University of Nevada Cooperative Extension have been working on developing consistent recommendations concerning defensible space, fire resistant building materials, and other related topics for homeowners. These recommendations can be found on our publications page, both for Nevadans in general and a specific set for Lake Tahoe homeowners. Living With Fire — A Guide for the Homeowner: This 16-page guide may be the most widely distributed wildfire threat reduction publication in the nation, with over 2 million copies in print and over 40 versions in the United States and Canada. The 3rd edition was published in July of 2005 and customized versions for the Lake Tahoe Basin, Mt. Charleston Area, and the Great Basin were published in 2006.
Train-the-trainer workshop for Living With Fire curriculum materials at the old Opera House in Eureka.	Living With Fire Workshop Materials: Five sets of workshop materials, complete with a PowerPoint presentation CD, videotape , script, and handouts, have been developed for Nevada's most hazardous areas and vegetation types . These include Mount Charleston, Lake Tahoe Basin, pinyon-juniper woodland, big sagebrush/bitterbrush, and big sagebrush/ grass. More than 200 sets of these materials are being used by Nevada's firefighting agencies. Spanish-language versions are also available.
Nevada television celebrity Brent Boynton, taping the introduction to the Living With Fire series	Living With Fire DVDs and VHS Tapes: Narrated by northern Nevada television celebrity Brent Boynton, DVD and VHS versions of the Living With Fire workshop materials are now available. In addition to being shown at community meetings, they have been televised extensively on local cable access channels. They are available for free checkout at select Scolari's Food and Drug stores, Cooperative Extension offices statewide, and many public libraries. Blockbuster Video distributed the DVDs and tapes in their western Nevada stores in the fall of 2005. Spanish language versions of these presentations, narrated by Reno businessman Marcel Schaerer, are available upon request.

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If You Have to Evacuate: This one-page handout provides instructions on how to leave your house, what to wear, and what to take in the event you have to evacuate due to wildfire. These evacuation tips are also presented in telephone books throughout Nevada for easy reference during an emergency. Landscape Industry Training: The landscape industry has a critical role to play in helping Nevadans live more safely in high fire hazard areas. In 2005, over 60 industry professionals attended the Living With Fire training and certification program held in Reno and broadcast to Carson City, Winnemmuca, Elko, Eureka, and Caliente. New workshops were held in the fall of 2007. To learn how to obtain Living With Fire products, contact Sonya Sistare at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, 775-856-8403 or sistares@unce.unr.edu.

Local landscape professionals enjoyed the Living With Fire Workshop for the green industry in Reno.

 

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Sponsoring Organizations: The following organizations are sponsors of the Living With Fire program...

	Bureau of Land Management (BLM): BLM is a federal land management agency and is Nevada's largest wildland firefighting organization. For information about BLM's efforts to reduce the wildfire threat to Nevada communities , contact Ruta Glinski at (775) 861-6400, or visit their website at www.nv.blm.gov.
	Nevada Association of Counties (NACO): NACO was founded in 1924 and is a nonpartisan, nonprofit corporation which is owned, organized and operated by Nevada's county governments. The membership is composed of Nevada's county government officials and represents all seventeen counties. For more information, call (775) 883-7863, or visit their website at www.nvnaco.org/NACo.
	Nevada Division of Forestry (NDF): NDF is a state agency that provides crucial firefighting resources throughout Nevada. NDF is also an important manager of Nevada's natural resources located on private and state lands. For information about NDF's efforts to reduce the wildfire threat to Nevada communities, contact: Western Nevada — John Copeland at (775) 849-2500 Central and Northeast Nevada — Greg Beasley at (775) 237-5608 Southern Nevada — Chris Faehling at (702) 962-5543 You may also visit the NDF website at www.forestry.nv.gov.
	Nevada Fire Safe Council (NFSC): The Nevada Fire Safe Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help Nevada's high fire hazard communities get organized and acquire funds for community-level wildfire threat reduction projects. For more information about the NFSC , visit their website at www.nvfsc.org.
	Nevada Insurance Council (NIC): The insurance industry has a deep commitment to helping Nevadans live safely in high fire hazard areas. NIC is comprised of representatives of Nevada's various insurance companies and has been an important partner in the Living With Fire program. For information about the Nevada Insurance Council, visit their website at www.nevadainsurancecouncil.com.
	Sierra Front Wildfire Cooperators (SFWC): The SFWC is a collaborative effort of western Nevada's and eastern California's local, state, and federal firefighting agencies. They are one of the original partners in the Living With Fire effort. Contact Ronna Hubbard at (775) 885-6137.
	USDA Forest Service: Together with BLM, the USDA Forest Service manages the vast majority of Nevada's wildlands. They have also been important partners in the Living With Fire program. For information about their efforts to protect Nevadans from the threat of wildfire, visit their website at www.fs.fed.us.
	University of Nevada Cooperative Extension (UNCE): UNCE is a federal, state and county partnership that develops educational programs in response to Nevada's important issues. They are responsible for managing the Living With Fire program . For information about other Cooperative Extension programs, visit their website at www.unce.unr.edu. For more information about Living With Fire, contact your Cooperative Extension area representative or Sonya Sistare, 775-856-8403 or sistares@unce.unr.edu. Northern Nevada Ed Smith, Natural Resource Specialist (775) 782-9960 or smithe@unce.unr.edu     Carson City and Storey County JoAnne Skelly, Extension Educator (775) 887-2252 or skellyj@unce.unr.edu         Southern Nevada Kim Otero, Living With Fire - Southern Area Assistant (775) 496-4114 or oterok@unce.unr.edu