NFPA Journal - Summer 2023 - 40

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20
23
C&E
PREVIEW
to the uninterested sometimes makes me feel like
I've been shouting into the void for an awfully long
time. On a recent commission workgroup videoconference,
we were refining recommendations about
what Congress should do to help communities be
safer. Some of these recommendations called for providing
funding directly to people to upgrade their
private property. As I watched a few people squirm
on camera at that suggestion, I realized we were at
an inflection point-nothing raises the level of discomfort
in a room like suggesting that something
might be achieved by giving people taxpayer dollars
to do it. I took the opportunity to remind everyone
that many taxpayer dollars have already been spent,
and will continue to be spent, attempting to suppress
wildfires that destroy communities, and that even
more federal funding is flowing into attempts to help
people recover from disaster after wildfires. Wouldn't
it be better, I asked, and maybe even cheaper, to give
people the funds up front to do the mitigation work
necessary to prevent wildfire disasters?
Whether these particular recommendations make
it to Congress in September remains to be seen. As of
April, there were still a half-dozen topical workgroups
in the process of developing recommendations, with
weighty discussions pending on wildfire workforce
and appropriations. Public comment remains open
on several topics, with hundreds of comments already
in review on wildfire workforce issues. The commission
meets in person for the last time in June but
will continue its work through the recommendation
deadline in September via virtual meetings, writing,
rewriting, and consulting additional subject matter
experts. In the meantime, NFPA is sponsoring a Fire
Protection Research Foundation survey to gauge
The surge of
destructive
wildfires over the
last decade has
stretched local
fire departments
thin. One tenet of
Outthink Wildfire is
ensuring that local
firefighters have
the training and
equipment they
need to meet the
wildfire threat.
public opinion on wildfire risk reduction guidelines
and regulations in California and Oregon. Results
should help us develop messages that resonate with
residents and local officials, and perhaps guide state
agencies on ways to avoid pitfalls and garner support
as they craft new laws intended to protect private
property and public lands. NFPA is also engaged in
a parallel effort to raise awareness of national fire
safety challenges that include firefighter safety in
wildfire disasters scenarios. Along with the US Fire
Administration, the International Association of Fire
Chiefs, and others, NFPA is developing calls to action
at the highest levels of government to address the
most pressing challenges faced by the public and the
fire service.
In the meantime, I spend most of my workdays
immersed in the difficult discussions around this
country's wildfire problem, whether they're related
to commission work, Outthink Wildfire efforts, or
both. We are all working to keep the mission in
mind, recognizing these are the policy equivalents
of a 1960s moonshot. To paraphrase what President
Kennedy said about the extraordinary mission to get
an American to the moon, we choose to tackle the
wildfire disaster problem not because it is easy, but
because it is hard. I am encouraged to keep at this
hard work because I see and hear how committed
my colleagues are. We have unprecedented opportunities
right now to make a difference together.
What a wonderful start to our 30-year goal of
ending wildfire disasters.
MICHELE STEINBERG is the Wildfire Division Director at
NFPA and would like to solve the wildfire disaster problem
before she reaches retirement age-well before 2050.
40 | NFPA JOURNAL * SUMMER 2023
NFPA Journal - Summer 2023

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