Every community is unique with its own quirks, important spaces, special people, and challenges. Without neighborhood wide cohesion and action, wildfires have the capacity to devastate whole communities at a time. Having an advocate within each unique space at high wildfire risk can be invaluable in community wide resilience.

This May, 12 people from 8 communities joined the Whatcom CD and Skagit CD Wildfire Resilience Team in training to become Community Wildfire Ambassadors, a program developed through the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Washington Resource Conservation & Development Council. Ambassadors will work with CD staff to help distribute wildfire resiliency information to their communities, coordinate risk reduction projects, and advocate for fire mitigation work. Neighborhoods at risk from wildfire can benefit from someone who lives there being able to advocate and speak on behalf of unique challenges or concerns.

During this initial training, the new Ambassadors learned about how wildfire risk is categorized, wildfire behavior, the forecast for the upcoming fire season, and resources available to individuals and communities for reducing wildfire risk. In addition to continued support from Whatcom CD, in the form of workshops, technical assistance, and outreach materials, Ambassadors now have the opportunity to network with one another and share their experiences, successes, hurdles, and common issues.

Only time can tell the impact this program may have for our communities, but facing a summer of El Niño and drought, having people living in communities at risk that understand wildfire mitigation is more important than ever. We are grateful to be able to work closely with Guemes Island, Holiday Hideaway, Valley View/Butler Hill, Norway Park, Chuckanut Bay Neighborhood Assn., Colony Mountain, and Mount Baker Rim, in keeping our corner of Washington more resilient to wildfires.

Every neighborhood should feel empowered to improve their safety. If you would like to learn more about the Community Wildfire Ambassador program or schedule a free Wildfire Risk Assessment for your home or community, reach out to our Whatcom CD Wildfire Resiliency Team: rwalters@whatcomcd.org or abryson@whatcomcd.org.