Each year we remind you in these pages to clear the defensible space around your home. By all means do that, but this year why not go a step further? Start a Fire Safe Council in your community (or join one nearby). The California Fire Safe Council suggests the following steps:

1. Identify potential members
2. Invite them to a meeting
3. Hold a meeting
4. Appoint a facilitator
5. Define areas of concern/values at risk
6. List objectives and action items
7. Develop a plan and mission statement
8. Review the plan regularly

1. Identify key individuals and organizations that have a vested interest in the community. City officials, real estate, insurance and building industries, utilities, environmental groups, landscape architects, nurseries, and fire departments are all organizations with an interest in hazard reduction and fire safety. If no local representatives are available, regional representatives familiar with the area may prove to be valuable council members.

2. Invite these individuals to sit on the council in person or through a mailing that explains you’re asking for their participation in a program that has the potential to radically improve the safety of their families, friends, and customers. Keep a record of who is invited and who attends the meetings.

3. Hold the first meeting in a neutral location. Ask potential council members to come prepared to address fire safety issues that impact their organizations. Maps detailing the area and a packet of background information about the community should be assembled for each attendee. Much of this information is available through the chamber of commerce or local fire authorities.

4. Appoint a facilitator. This should be the first order of business for the meeting. Attributes of a good facilitator include the ability to work with people and achieve consensus. The facilitator should understand the various viewpoints of members and be able to put them in the context of the larger issue. A good facilitator should not be easily swayed by opinion and should be able to clearly evaluate the issues and concerns raised by members.

5. Define the area of concern. Because fire respects no boundaries, the fire safe council should not only consider existing home sites, but also business centers and areas of planned residential and commercial development. Identify the community's values at risk—all the people, places, natural resources and other assets that make your community special and need protection.

6. List the council's major objectives as well as action items to achieve those objectives. Use a brainstorm approach where each participant answers the question, “What do I want or need from this effort?” This will help identify every fire safety problem or objective the group thinks is important. Every suggestion, no matter how simple, controversial, or contradictory, should be written down in the order received.

Designate council members to oversee the accomplishment of action items. An objective should be quantifiable and put in a time frame.

The goal of the first meeting should be to generate consensus on fire safety issues and objectives as well as areas of concern. This may take more than one meeting. A tour of the proposed areas of concern may help participants understand other members' viewpoints.

7. Develop a plan and a mission statement. The plan should outline the broad objectives of the council. The mission statement is the vision of the council summarized in one or two sentences.

8Review the plan regularly to evaluate the progress made toward achieving the objectives. Make sure that planned actions are being carried out. Make adjustments in priorities and project schedules if necessary.

Cooperation is the Key
A Fire Safe Council is a voluntary organization that knows citizens can work together to improve their community’s ability to survive a fire. The council might consider the following projects:

• Plan annual clean-up days for schools, parks and other community amenities.
• Sponsor a chipper to come through neighborhoods. (A chipper is a machine that turns tree trimmings into mulch.)
• Produce a publication for residents and businesses with fire safe information.
• Sponsor a seminar on designing and maintaining fire safe landscapes.
• Set up demonstration gardens.
• Schedule media events and write news releases about council activities.
• Promote public service messages through newspaper inserts, billboards or radio and television advertising.
• Form a speakers' bureau to give fire safe presentations to local civic clubs.
• Organize education campaigns such as safety fairs or mock fire exercises.

—from Fire Safe California Community Action Guide.