The Big Island Wildfire Coordinating Group (BIWCG) met for its quarterly meeting at the DOFAW office in Hilo. Members represented the following agencies: DOFAW, USFWS, HCC, HFD, NPS, Firewise Hawaii, HWMO, and PFX. Wayne Ching (DOFAW), lead organizer of this year's CNH Spring event kicked off the meeting with an update on the upcoming event's proceedings and logistics.
Clay Trauernicht of PFX then gave a review of the recent Hawaii Wildfire Risk Assessment organized by Ching a few weeks ago. The risk assessment was developed for the 17 western-most states (including Hawaii and Alaska) using a variety of inputs such as fuel models, topography and historical ignition points. Clay emphasized that the most striking message from the assessment was that Hawaii showed the largest amount of burnable acres out of all 17 states. Such striking data and maps will be useful in conveying the severity of Hawaii's wildfire issue to community members, land managers, first responders, and decision-makers.
The PFX team also presented the group with a rough draft of Trauernicht's Hawaii Wildfire Problem Statement in newsletter-type form along with a variety of new templates for upcoming PFX fact sheets. BIWCG members were enthusiastic and appreciative to see the work done by PFX and HWMO, which could not have been done without partner support.
Elizabeth Pickett of PFX and HWMO and Clay Trauernicht of PFX and UH Co-op Extension were then invited to represent their respective agencies at the State Fire Council meeting to present the problem statement to the group.
Banner photo: BIWCG members discuss current projects from around the island.