Wildland Fires

Good morning All:  My name is Joe and I'm looking to see if anyone has an emergency response template for Wildland Fires.  I'm in the Hospitality industry and looking for information that pertains to the steps a business would take during a wildland fire.  I'm in the Southern California area.  Thank you, Joe 

Hi Joe,

You might try www.nwcg.gov.

I'm fairly new in working on our organization's emergency response plan, however have used information from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group as guides.

Good luck,

JLM

JLM,

Thanks for the reply and great info.

Regards,

Joe

Great question. There is not a lot out there that I'm aware of that's specific to the hospitality industry. However, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has tips and tools for businesses including its Open for Business information. See http://www.disastersafety.org/commercial_maintenance/ and http://www.disastersafety.org/open-for-business/ for some information that should help. The article about preparing for Hurricane Sandy actually has a lot of great advice that could be used in most disaster/emergency situations, including communications with customers and emploees.

You can also check out www.fireadapted.org and look under "Protect What Matters" for some links to business/infrastructure protection from wildfire. 

The structure protection advice is essentially the same whatever your building is; but I'm sure some of your major concerns involve communications with employees and guests, and what the safest strategies are to protect both and keep your vital business functions operating. Hotels are very important businesses with regard to disaster recovery as they are needed to house utility workers, first responders and others who are helping get the community back on its feet.

Hope some of this info is helpful! Cheers - Michele Steinberg, NFPA Firewise Communities Program (www.firewise.org). 

Hello Michele,

Thank you for the info and yes it helps.  Very much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Joe

Hi Joe,

FEMA partnered with the U.S. Fire Administration to create useful information to protect yourself from wildfires.

You can find the "Wildfire...Are You Prepared?" document here: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/fa-287-508.pdf

Thanks,
Lauren

Hello Lauren,

Thank you for the link info.  Great info!

Kind regards,

Joe