Forestry expert to help support expansion of wildfire-safety activities
April 30, 2013 – The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Firewise® Communities Program named Patti Maguire the Firewise advisor for its Southwest 2 Region to help expand the association’s community wildfire safety activities. Maguire will join the program’s five existing regional advisors and oversee Firewise activities in communities in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.
“With the number and intensity of wildfires on the rise, there is greater need than ever before for people to take action to protect their families and homes from the threat of wildfires,” said Michele Steinberg, manager of NFPA’s Firewise Communities Program. “Patti will work closely with our other advisors to help foster successful Firewise Communities/USA® recognition by assisting sites that are new to the program and supporting the ongoing work of existing sites, in coordination with state forestry leadership. Due to her extensive background in forestry and wildfire prevention, Patti will be able to provide important information and technical support to communities throughout the country.”
Maguire began her career in forestry as a wildfire prevention and forest health consultant. Her experience includes working as a wildland firefighter for the USDA Forest Service and as a park ranger for the Bureau of Land Management. She would later become Summit County, Colorado’s wildfire mitigation officer and work as a consultant and project coordinator for Colorado Blue Logs in Kremmling, Colorado. As a member of the USDA Forest Service Wildfire Prevention and Education Team, Maguire has traveled through the West and Great Plains states on interagency teams to provide intensive public awareness campaign in communities experiencing extreme wildfire conditions.
Firewise is a program of NFPA’s Wildland Fire Operations Division and is co-sponsored by the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and the National Association of State Foresters. The national Firewise Communities/USA® Recognition Program is its voluntary community action model, adopted by nearly 900 communities in 40 states.
More information about Firewise and the recognition program can be found on the Firewise website at www.firewise.org.
About Firewise
The Firewise Communities Program encourages local solutions for safety by involving homeowners in taking individual responsibility for preparing their homes from the risk of wildfire. Firewise is one element of the Fire Adapted Communities initiative – a national effort that engages homeowners, firefighters, civic leaders and land managers to reduce wildfire risk in communities throughout the United States. The Firewise Communities Program and the Fire Adapted Communities initiative are coordinated by the National Fire Protection Association and sponsored by the USDA Forest Service.
About the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
NFPA is a worldwide leader in fire, electrical, building, and life safety. The mission of the international nonprofit organization founded in 1896 is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education. NFPA develops more than 300 codes and standards to minimize the possibility and effects of fire and other hazards. All NFPA codes and standards can be viewed at no cost at www.nfpa.org/freeaccess.
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Media Contact: Lorraine Carli, publicaffairs@nfpa.org, +1 617 984-7275