NFPA Journal - Summer 2022 - 72

THE VIEW
Wildfire by Michele Steinberg
Listen to Linnea
A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT FROM OREGON EXPLAINS THE NATIONAL COHESIVE
WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY IN AN ENGAGING SIX-MINUTE VIDEO
H
ow does the federal government
impact your life?
That was the question
posed by the organizers
of StudentCam, an annual
C-SPAN video documentary competition
that encourages middle- and high-school
students to think critically about issues
that affect their communities and the
nation. Among the 2022 winners recently
announced was Linnea Gebauer, a talented
high school senior from Klamath
Falls, Oregon, whose six-minute video,
" Fire Season, " manages to do nothing
less than explain the National Cohesive
Wildland Fire Management Strategy
(NCWFMS) in compelling detail. Gebauer
brings this sprawling and somewhat
obscure concept to life, highlighting
the real and serious impacts of policy
ranging from land management to comEarlier
this year, " Fire Season " was
It's clear to students
like Linnea Gebauer
that failure to change
policy now will
impact the future
they inherit.
munity development to fuels reduction.
" Fire Season " opens with a brief shot
of a wooded, snow-covered landscape.
Gebauer steps into the frame, turns to the camera, and gets to
work. " Right now I'm in the Fremont-Winema National Forest,
just north of Beatty, Oregon, " she says. " With all this snow, it's
hard to imagine that, just last summer, all of this was on fire. "
Her reference is to last year's Bootleg Fire, the third-largest
wildfire in Oregon's history. She proceeds to weave interviews
and video clips of national experts, me included, on the changes
in the length of the annual fire season, the increasing home and
community losses, and the spiraling costs of fighting wildfires.
Moving quickly from problem statement to a set of solutions,
Gebauer deftly breaks down the three goals of the National
Cohesive Strategy: resilient landscapes, fire-adapted communities,
and safe and effective wildfire response. She highlights
specific techniques to help reach the goals, including prescribed
fire to manage forest fuels, defensible space and wildfire prevention
to protect homes and communities, and nationwide
risk identification to better guide local and state governments
to allocate firefighting and preparedness resources.
72 | NFPA JOURNAL * SUMMER 2022
posted on the StudentCam website (studentcam.org)
and on YouTube. It didn't
take long before the wildfire community
was abuzz-or perhaps a-Twitter. State
foresters, public information officers,
wildland firefighters, and the leaders of
the NCWFMS itself took to social media
to praise the clear and concise way that
Gebauer told their story and outlined
their goals. As someone working in the
trenches of wildfire policy at NFPA,
I was heartened to know that a high
school student was able to translate the
most important elements of key policy
approaches in a personal and appealing
way-a reminder that the reasons for the
NCWFMS are as compelling today as they
were when it was created in 2010. " Fire
Season " earned a second place among
high-school entries in the western division,
which brought Gebauer not only
prize money but the broadcast of her
work on CSPAN's networks in April. The
video, along with the rest of this year's winners and past winners,
can be viewed at studentcam.org.
As gleeful as some of us wildfire geeks are to see a young
person share our concerns and obsessions with the wider world
in such a skillful way, it's clear that this student takes the challenge
of the wildfire crisis seriously. " Our world is changing,
and we need to change with it, " Gebauer concludes. " Wildland
fire does not recognize jurisdictional boundaries. In an increasingly
divided America, the National Cohesive Strategy stresses
the importance of crossing jurisdictional, political, and cultural
boundaries in order to prioritize the safety of our landscapes
and our communities. "
It's also clear to students like Linnea Gebauer that failure
to change policy now will impact the future they inherit. May
today's leadership listen carefully to the young people who are
pointing the way to a more sustainable tomorrow.
MICHELE STEINBERG is director of the wildfire division at NFPA.
FROM NFPA'S
WILDFIRE DIVISION
MICHAEL HOEWELER
http://www.studentcam.org http://www.studentcam.org http://www.studentcam.org
NFPA Journal - Summer 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Summer 2022
