Learning to Live with Wildfire
Wildland fire is a natural part of California's ecosystems. Before settlement and fire suppression, at least five to twelve percent of California burned every year. Suppressing and excluding wildfire is becoming less effective over time as climate warms and built up fuels have been feeding large and devastating wildfires. Our ecosystems are adapted to frequent low severity fire and to reduce our risk, our communities must become adapted to fire also. This consists of:
- Reducing wildland fuels through forest management and prescribed burning
- Developing defensible space around buildings, including a five foot non-combustible zone
- Hardening buildings to make them less ignitable
- Designing human communities with wildfire in mind
Working together we can learn how to live with wildfire.
Firewise Articles
August 2021
Wildfire Home Retrofitting and Evacuation FaceBook live session on YouTube
June 2020
Make a non-combustible zone the ‘foundation’ of your firewise landscaping
Susie Kocher, Forestry/Natural Resources Advisor
Specialty: Forestry, fire and water quality, facilitation, public participation
Address:
1100 Lyons Ave, Room D-3
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Phone: (530) 542-2571
Email: sdkocher@ucanr.edu
Susie Kocher, Angora Fire Recovery Site
Copyright © 2014 The Regents of the University of California. All Rights Reserved.
Susie's Publications
January 2021
Wildfire Home Retrofit Guide: How to Harden Homes Against Wildfire
October 2020
Disasters Happen: Identifying Disaster Management Needs of Cooperative Extension System Personnel, Abstract
June 2020
A Day in the Life with Susie Kocher - from the Fire Adapted Community Learning Network blog
May 2020
Burn permits need to facilitate — not prevent good fire in California
November 2019
Video clip of prescribed fire at Shaver Lake 11/6/2019
March 2019
Landowner Perspectives on Reforestation after High Severity Wildfire - brief
December 2018
July 2017
Recovering from Wildfire - A Guide for California's Forest Landowners
April 2017
Governance of Land Use Planning to Reduce Fire in California and France
April 2015
Fire Adapted Community Learning Network blog post
March 2015
Kocher 2015 Californians must learn from the past
August 2013
Kline and Kocher 2013 Background and Strategies for Managing Fires in California forests
March 2013
June 2012
Restoring Conservancy Lands Following the Angora Fire - a Preliminary Assessment