Hawaiʻi Environmental Education Symposium 2017

Elizabeth Pickett shares lessons learned from the youth stewardship program she runs called Ocean Warriors.

Much of what HWMO does falls under the category of “environmental education.” Talking about wildfire prevention requires making the connection that our built environment is intertwined with the natural world. From June 8 through 10, the Hawaiʻi Environmental Education Alliance hosted a symposium for it’s sixth year to gather environmental educators from across the state. HWMO attended the symposium, which was held at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park Kilauea Military Camp, on June 9. The theme this year was climate change, a topic that has numerous intersections with wildfires in Hawaiʻi. 

The day began with a sobering, yet very informative talk from Dr. Chip Fletcher, a scientist from UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. His talk gave insight on a multitude of factual examples of how climate change has already taken Hawaiʻi by storm, no pun intended. Of those many examples, increased drought and shifts in vegetative cover were highlighted, conditions that will continue to increase wildfire risk statewide. Throughout the rest of the day, various educators shared examples of how they had used climate change as a framework to teach valuable lessons about the environment. Elizabeth Pickett, HWMO’s Executive Director, is not only a wildfire educator, but she is also youth environmental stewardship educator through the Malama Kai Foundation Ocean Warrior’s program. Elizabeth gave a presentation about the program and shared lessons learned on how to best encourage youth to become environmental leaders in their community.

HWMO’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Pablo Beimler, also gave a presentation on behalf of Hawaii Wildfire. His presentation highlighted various youth products that HWMO has produced for educators including our very own K-8th grade curriculum, kNOw Fire. Several educators from across the state were on hand for the presentation, some of whom enthusiastically expressed that they were willing to integrate the curriculum into their own work. 

Hawaiʻi Kai Wildfire Safety Workshop

From left to right: Senator Laura Thielen, Captain David Jenkins (Honolulu FD), Cameron Sato (Senator Chang's Office), Kalama Pastor (Kamehameha Schools), Councilmember Trevor Ozawa, Senator Stanley Chang, Pablo Beimler (HWMO), Elizabeth Pickett (HWMO)

Hawaiʻi Kai residents have been on edge since the beginning of the year — over a dozen fires have been started near communities, one of which became a high-profile burn in Kamilonui Valley. Although most have been deemed suspicious by authorities, accidents can also happen (around 75% of brushfires in Hawaiʻi are accidental ignitions). With fire on the minds of so many residents, Senator Stanley Chang, Representative Gene Ward, Councilmember Trevor Ozawa, and Senator Laura Thielen worked across party lines to hold a Wildfire Safety Workshop on June 5 at Kamiloiki Elementary School.

HWMO had the honor of presenting an hour-long workshop highlighting wildfire readiness recommendations based on the Ready Set Go! and Wildfire Lookout! programs. We also worked to recruit people interested in being a part of Firewise Communities certification efforts. Our hope is that the fifty or so people who came out to the event will take action around their homes right away to create defensible space — but our even greater hope is that the community will start to come together for the larger goal of becoming a Firewise Community (or a couple of them).

Ready Set Go! Workshop at Waiʻanae Library

HWMO is in discussions with the Waiʻanae Library about creating a Firewise garden much like the one in Waikoloa Village.

As part of May’s Wildfire Preparedness Month, HWMO held a workshop for Waiʻanae residents at the Waiʻanae Public Library on May 24. HWMO’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Pablo Beimler, gave an in-depth tour of the Ready, Set, Go! program as several community members jotted down notes on how they might improve their wildfire safety around their own homes. An exciting opportunity is on the horizon for community members to get involved with — HWMO and the library are teaming up to establish a Firewise native and adapted garden around the perimeter of the library, similar to the Firewise garden in Waikoloa Village that HWMO helped create and maintain. If you would like to get involved in planting and helping with other garden tasks, sign up for our e-newsletter.

Special thanks to Sheryl Lynch who was instrumental in helping organize the event.

Banner photo: View of Waiʻanae Mountains from Kaneaki Street.

PRiMO Wildland Fire Risk Mitigation Strategies Workshop

Breakout groups discussed strategies they would use to mitigate wildfire issues during a simulation exercise.

HWMO and PFX collaborated to offer a half-day workshop at the PRIMO conference on March 20 at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, Oahu.  The workshop was entitled Wildland Fire Risk Mitigation Strategies for Pacific Islands and included an overview of strategies, tools, and resources for assessing risk and determining priority areas for wildfire protection activities.

Wildland-Urban Interface Conference and RSG Award Ceremony 2016

Every year, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) holds the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Conference at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. 

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The conference was a great space for sharing lessons learned with people from all over the world.

Pablo Beimler, HWMO's Community Outreach Coordinator, ventured out to Reno for the week of March 6th, to attend the conference. Hundreds of people from various U.S. states and countries, representing every level of private and public sectors joined together for the exciting and valuable event. 

For the first two days of the conference, Mr. Beimler attended the Hazard Ignition Zone Training hosted by NFPA and taught by long-time HIZ expert Pat Durland. The training gave an in-depth look at how fire interacts with landscapes and structures at the individual home level. A number of great discussions emerged during the training that gave fresh new ways to look at fire issues around the home. Trainees worked in groups towards the end of the training to conduct mock home assessments, sharing lessons learned from back home.

During the rest of the conference, which occurred on March 8th through March 10th, Mr. Beimler networked with a number of people to discuss lessons learned and to promote HWMO's work. Most notably, Mr. Beimler worked with Crystal Beckman, a Fire Information and Education specialist from Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation, to build on a working group they had helped start at the 2015 event. They were able to pull in a number of other outreach specialists from around the states to create a group that would continue to share resources throughout the year and into the future. 

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Pablo Beimler shares HWMO's Ready Set Go! Leadership Award with Hawaii FD's (from left to right) Chief Gantry Andrade, Chief Darren Rosario, Captain Bill Bergin, and BC Jerry Lum.

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Pablo Beimler (left) representing HWMO poses with other winners of the RSG! Awards: Aubrey FD, Flower Mound FD, and Austin FD.

The highlight of the conference for HWMO was the Fire Adapted Communities Reception and Ready, Set, Go! Award Ceremony on the eve of March 9th. HWMO was a proud recipient of this year's RSG! Leadership Award for Career Departments. Mr. Beimler graciously accepted the award from the IAFC President and shared the honors with Hawaii Fire Department representatives who were in attendance: Chief Darren Rosario, Assistant Chief Gantry Andrade, Captain Bill Bergin, and BC Jerry Lum. We could not be happier to be a recipient of the award and what better way to share it than with our long-time partners who have been so supportive of our RSG! outreach effort

HFD New Recruit Ready Set Go! Workshop 2015

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Pablo Beimler wraps up presentation with HFD's new class of firefighters.

Every year, a new class of bright, young men and women are recruited by Hawaii Fire Department to join their firefighting ranks. For the second straight year, HWMO was invited to talk to the recruits during their training at Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA) in Waimea. HWMO's Pablo Beimler gave a presentation on the wildfire issues that Hawaii currently faces and the importance of getting out to the community to talk about ways people could prevent and protect their families and homes from wildfire. Pablo zeroed-in on the details of the Ready, Set, Go! program, which has been a great teaching tool for HWMO over the past few years. We hope that the new recruits left with a good understanding for what the Ready, Set, Go! program is all about and are now knowledgeable enough about it to share the program's messages with Hawaii's residents. 

Waikoloa Fire Extinguisher Public Workshop

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Waikoloa CERT's Mark Gordon puts a cup over a flame to demonstrate the fire triangle.

On October 8th, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire started, taking the lives of more than 250 people, leaving 100,000 homeless, and destroying more than 17,400 structures and more than 2,000 acres. To commemorate the tragic fire, the Fire Marshals Association of North America started Fire Prevention Week. Fire is still very much a part of our lives with more than a million fires reported in 2014 in the U.S. alone! 

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Battalion Chief Farias lends a hand in explaining different fire extinguisher types and safety precautions.

As part of this year's Fire Prevention Week activities, HWMO and CERT teamed up to hold a fire extinguisher workshop for the public at the Waikoloa Stables on October 17th. Waikoloa CERT's Mark Gordon led a group of about a dozen residents through the basics of fire extinguisher use and safety. HWMO's Pablo Beimler chimed in about what residents could do to take action in the community, including joining Waikoloa's Firewise Committee and reviewing the Ready, Set, Go! Wildland Fire Action Guide. HFD firefighters from the local Waikoloa station assisted in the training. Battalion Chief Farias gave great tips on fire extinguisher use and helped answer questions specific to HFD response. The other firefighters on hand also gave assistance when it came time for workshop attendees to practice their firefighting skills. Each attendee had a chance to use a fire extinguisher with guidance from HFD and a partner that grabbed a hold of them to ensure they could fight the fire safely.

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Practice makes perfect...

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...especially when you don't go it alone.

Mahalo to Waikoloa CERT for helping coordinate the event and to HFD for their assistance and community support.

Key takeaways from the training:

• Make sure to service your extinguishers annually at a certified vendor. Business owners are usually required to service them monthly.
• Keep fire extinguishers at your exits. Leaving it under the kitchen sink, for example, could pose a safety hazard, especially if most home fires occur in the kitchen.
• The size of the extinguisher you want to have on hand depends largely on what size you can actually physically handle. 
• Having a partner hold onto you (by the belt, for example) as you extinguish a fire is a good safety precaution to ensure you don't accidentally trip into the fire or as you're backing away. Make sure the person with the extinguisher has their eyes on the extinguished area at all times, including when backing away. The partner should help look around for any tripping hazards as you back away.
• PASS when you extinguish a fire. Pull the pin, aim, squeeze, and sweep.
• Taking an athletic stance as you put out the fire will ensure you are ready to make a sudden move should things get out of hand. 
• Call 911 before extinguishing the fire. Even after you think you've put it out, firefighters can help check if the fire didn't' make its way into unseen areas like behind your walls. 

Wiliwili Festival 2015

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Our booth was featured in West Hawaii Today's photo gallery of the Wiliwili Festival 2015. "Pablo Beimler of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, right, offers a pohinahina start to Mia Wright and her daughter Kara at the Wiliwili Festival sponsored by the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative Saturday at Waikoloa Stables. Laura Shimabuku/West Hawaii Today"

Every year, a spectacular bloom occurs that brightens Waikoloa Village. The Wiliwili tree showcases its beautiful orange blossoms every September, a bloom that is becoming more and more vibrant thanks to the efforts of the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative (WDFI). For years, the wiliwili populations have been hit hard by a number of factors including development, drought, and wildfires bringing them to the fringe of extinction. Our friends from WDFI are doing amazing work restoring the dryland forest where wiliwili trees once thrive. 

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Family stops by to learn components of the fire triangle.

To celebrate an early arrival to the blossoms this year, WDFI threw their annual Wiliwili Festival at the Waikoloa Stables on September 12th. A number of field tours gave visitors the opportunity to see the invaluable restoration project that HWMO has helped protect by providing fuelbreak funding and expertise. HWMO maintained tradition by having a wildfire outreach booth complete with giveaways for keiki, including new Kaleo the Pueo coloring sheets, a Keiki Wildland Firefighter Photo Shoot, and native plant lessons. The young visitors of the festival participated in a scavenger hunt that included a lesson about the fire triangle. HWMO's Pablo Beimler handed 3 pieces of a deceptively tricky puzzle to keiki who stopped by. They solved the puzzles at their own rates, but each one walked away knowing that the fire triangle consisted of 3 parts: oxygen, ignition (heat), and fuel!

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All smiles at the HWMO Keiki Wildland Firefighter Shoot!

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Fire triangle puzzle solving in action.

At around 12:30 p.m., Pablo gave a Ready, Set, Go! workshop to about a dozen interested community members about the benefits of planting native and adapted plants around the home. Benefits included: 

• Decreased maintenance needs
• Lower water bill
• Beautification of property
• Perpetuation of important cultural resources
• and Protection of the home from wildfire

Mahalo nui to our friends from WDFI for putting on such an informative, interactive event that featured the great work going on all around the island! 

Ready, Set, Go! Workshop - Kanehoa Subdivision

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Twenty-two community members discuss wildfire concerns in the area after our RSG! Workshop.

A few years ago, a brush fire swept through Kanehoa subdivision, nearly igniting a few homes along the edge of the wildland-urban interface boundary (WUI for short). In fact, a number of wildfires have threatened the community and with dry conditions on the horizon, community members are taking action. Over the past couple of months, HWMO has been working with the newly-formed Kanehoa Firewise Committee to plan for a series of preparedness and fuels-reduction events, with the goal of achieving Firewise Community Certification in mind. 

Currently, the State of Hawaii has only one Firewise Community - Kohala By The Sea, but over the next two years, HWMO will be working with 10 communities to help them achieve "Firewise Community" status. Being recognized as a "Firewise Community" comes with a number of perks, such as the potential for lower insurance rates and greater access to funding and assistance. Most importantly, the nationally-recognized communities gain a sense of citizen pride in work that in the end protects their community from the growing threat of wildfire. To go a step further, HWMO will be working with these communities to make them "Fire Adapted Communities," a concept that incorporates every level of the community (people, businesses, infrastructure, cultural resources, natural areas, lawmakers, etc.) to prepare for the effects of wildfire. 

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Taking a look at the wildfire hazards in the area and what could be done to minimize them.

As an important first step for the Kanehoa subdivision, Pablo Beimler and Troy Scott met with twenty-two community members (and two HFD personnel) to give a Ready, Set, Go! Workshop covering topics such as defensible space, fire-proofing of homes, evacuation planning, and community fuels reduction projects. After the presentation, HWMO led a field tour around one of the resident's homes to point out potential fire hazards and what residents could do to minimize them. An HFD Fire Captain provided expertise on firefighter suppression capabilities in the area.

Next month, HWMO and HFD's Fire Prevention officials will walk around the neighborhood to conduct a hazard assessment update for the community.

If you're community is interested in funding for fuels reduction projects and assistance for achieving Firewise Community Certification, please contact us!

Kauai Annual Brush Fire Mitigation Meeting & Anahola Hawaiian Homes Site Visits

Annual Brush Fire Mitigation Meeting

Since December of 2014, Kauai has had its most brush fires in the shortest span of time" in recent history, according to Captain Daryl Date, head of the Kauai Fire Department (KFD) Fire Prevention Bureau. 

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Captain Daryl Date and Chief Robert Westerman show "heat map" of wildfire ignitions in Kauai since December 2014.

The numbers don't lie: 104 wildfires this year up to June 9th, the date of the Annual Brush Fire Mitigation Meeting hosted by KFD, marks a milestone that has raised concerns for residents and agencies from all over Kauai. At least 60 or so are considered "suspicious", an alarming rate that has led Kauai Police to sound the alarms for reporting any suspicious behavior.

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Derek Wroe of NOAA National Weather Service explains El Niño's potential to delay the next wet season.

To help Kauai prepare for growing wildfire threats, KFD invited Kauai's largest landowners to a meeting at the Headquarters in Lihue. Captain Date began the meeting with these stark numbers and an up-to-date "heat map" showing the areas that have had the most ignitions thus far since December 2014. 

NOAA National Weather Service representative Derek Wroe followed with an insightful look at the fire weather trends. "Lihue had the driest west season in the past 30 years", just one of the many indicators pointing towards a more active fire season. In fact, leeward Kauai is now considered "abnormally dry" (40-50% below normal rainfall during the 2014-15 wet season.) "El Niño has an 80% chance of persisting into the wet season," Wroe explained, "which will delay the onset of the wet season" and thus an early start to next year's fire "season." 

With these warnings in mind, HWMO's Pablo Beimler took the meeting participants through a Wildfire Preparedness for Large Landowners/Managers presentation. Mr. Beimler illustrated the basics of fire behavior and applied them to how those factors could be minimized through strategic management practices, including fuelbreak creation and forest thinning. 

After the presentation, HWMO reps Mr. Beimler and Vice President Sam Patten distributed Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) input forms to all of the landowners/managers, with the hopes to receive their valuable input by mid-July for the Kauai update. Following the meeting, meeting participants also placed stickers of their areas of concern on a large Kauai map that will go into the plan.

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Adding input to our CWPP map for Kauai.

The last segment of the meeting involved a productive discussion amongst the landowners/managers and KFD officials. Each landowner/manager shared their wildfire concerns and mentioned any resources they had that could be made available to KFD for wildfire suppression purposes.

Anahola Fuels Reduction

One of the striking themes from the Mitigation Meeting was the overwhelming consensus that Anahola be one of the targets for fuels reduction projects. Fittingly enough, Mr. Beimler and Mr. Patten traveled to Anahola after the meeting to identify and photograph wildfire hazards along the east side of the island and meet with Anahola Hawaiian Homes Community Association representatives, including Councilman Kipukai Kualii. HWMO had a fruitful discussion over saimin to start the planning process for making Pii Lani Mai Ke Kai a Firewise Community/Fire Adapted Community.

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Garbage dumping - a priority wildfire concern for Anahola Hawaiian Homes residents.

Anahola has had its fair share of scares over the last few months. One of the major hazards identified was an area where abandoned cars and trash/junk were being dumped in tall dry grasses. HWMO will be working with the community to help reduce wildfire hazards. In fact, Anahola will be one of 10-16 communities over the next two years throughout the State!