United States

Department of 

Agriculture

Forest Service

Northern 

Research Station

Research Note

NRS-138

Abstract

Around the world, youth are recognized as playing an important role in reducing the 

risk of disasters and promoting community resilience. Youth are participating in disaster 

education programs and carrying home what they learn; their families, in turn, are 

disseminating knowledge into the community. In addition to making a diff erence today, 

youth disaster education programs train the adults of tomorrow to be more prepared 

citizens. As social scientists and education researchers working in wildfi re risk mitigation, 

we asked in what ways can wildfi re education programs for youth help develop and 

support fi re-adapted human communities? To begin to answer this question, we studied 

seven wildfi re education programs for youth across the U.S. Programs were based in 

schools, public agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In a series of 

interviews, we sought information that would enable us to describe and analyze (1) the 

program’s characteristics and the local resources to support it, (2) ways in which the 

program increased knowledge and awareness of wildfi re, promoted more realistic risk 

perceptions, and improved wildfi re preparedness for youth and their families, and (3) 

ways in which the program contributed to the local community becoming more adapted 

to fi re. We found that the extent to which the programs were integrated into local wildfi re 

planning and management eff orts varied, as did their eff ectiveness in reaching community 

members and homeowners. In this report we present fi ndings from one case study—the 

West Virginia Firewise in the Classroom program (WV Firewise in the Classroom).

West Virginia 

Firewise in the Classroom: 

Youth Working with Communities 

to Adapt to Wildfi re

Pamela J. Jakes

PAMELA J. JAKES is a research forester with the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research 

Station, 1992 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108.
2

WEST VIRGINIA FIREWISE IN THE CLASSROOM

A big yellow bus arrived at Th e Woods—an exclusive development in rural 

West Viriginia—and a team of consultants got off . Th ese were not three-piece suit 

consultants, but students from nearby Hedgesville High 

School, prepared to advise local residents on how they 

can reduce wildfi re hazards on their properties. Armed 

with their new knowledge about Firewise1

 principles, 

GPS receivers, and a clipboard with maps and the 

West Virginia wildfi re hazard assessment form, 

students evaluated driveway width and length, 

distance between structures and surrounding 

trees, presence of ladder fuels, and other 

conditions and determined the property’s site 

hazard rating.

Th is fi eld trip was part of the West Virginia 

Firewise in the Classroom program. As 

researchers conducting a national study of 

wildfi re education programs for youth, we talked to individuals involved in the West 

Virginia program to better understand program characteristics and the local resources that 

support it, and to learn more about the program’s direct and indirect impacts on youth, 

families, and communities—including how the program is contributing to creating a fi readapted community.2

 In this research note, we share what we learned in Th e Woods that 

can help other communities involve youth in reducing wildfi re risk.

Several factors contribute to Th e Woods’ high wildfi re risk; 

the most evident is the amount of dead wood on the ground. 

As observed by one local resident, “Th e whole area hasn’t 

burned since [1942]. So there’s 70 years of fuel buildup 

on the forest fl oor... it’s a tinder box.” Recent fi re risk 

assessments of homes in the most heavily wooded areas of 

the development determined that 73 percent were at high, 

very high, or extreme wildfi re risk. But even though residents 

drive past this accumulation of fuel every day, they told us 

they seldom think about wildfi re. Even those who are aware 

of the development’s fi re risk seldom take action to mitigate 

that risk. A local resident explained this lack of action, 

“Apathy is the biggest cause. Th ey’ve just got other priorities.” 

West Virginia Firewise in the Classroom was 

initiated at Hedgesville High School and The 

Woods, a neighboring rural development, 

in the panhandle of West Virginia (general 

location indicated by the blue star). 

The last wildfi re in what is now The Woods occurred in 1942, 

resulting in a 70-year buildup of fuels.

Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service

1Th e use of the term Firewise in this note refers to Firewise West Virginia, an extension of the 

national Firewise Communities program focusing on creating safe access and defensible space for 

homes in the wildland urban interface.

2U.S. policymakers have identifi ed a national goal for at-risk communities to be adapted to fi re. 

Fire-adapted communities consist of “informed and prepared citizens collaboratively planning and 

taking action to safely co-exist with wildland fi re” (Wildland Fire Leadership Council 2011, p.33). 
3

Th e seasonal residents who own a majority of the homes in the highest risk areas are 

particularly diffi cult to motivate to action. One year-round resident commented about his 

seasonal neighbors: “Th ey don’t want to come here to work. Th ey work back home. Th is 

is their vacation place.”

Th e WV Firewise in the Classroom program seeks to address these concerns, increasing 

property owners’ awareness of their wildfi re risk, providing a plan of action to reduce that 

risk, and further empowering homeowners by improving access to locally relevant Firewise 

information.

Th e WV Firewise in the Classroom program has two 

components—Firewise in the Classroom and the Firewise 

in Th e Woods Web site. WV Firewise in the Classroom is 

an adaptation of the Minnesota Firewise in the Classroom 

program (Jakes in press), modifi ed to address local wildland 

fi re conditions and to meet West Virginia education 

standards. A detailed curriculum includes 10 lesson plans 

that could take up to 18 class periods and 1 school day (for 

a fi eld trip) to complete, but teachers can also choose the 

lesson plans most closely tied to their classroom curriculum 

or most relevant to local wildland fi re conditions. Th e goals 

of the West Virginia program are to have students:

• understand what wildfi re is—including wildfi re physics, causes, and impacts

• understand the factors that put homes and communities at risk, and how the 

national Firewise Communities program helps homeowners and communities 

reduce their risk 

• use geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and 

site visits to conduct home risk assessments 

• communicate wildland fi re information to homeowners and the community

As in Minnesota, the core of the West Virginia program is the home risk assessment—

fi rst in the classroom using aerial photographs to evaluate the risk of individual homes 

throughout a community (Level I assessments) and then in the fi eld to conduct more 

detailed on-site assessments of at-risk homes (Level II assessments).3

 Since the program 

began in 2007, Hedgesville High School students have completed more than 2,000 

Level I assessments for Th e Woods and four other West Virginia communities. Th e 

West Virginia Division of Forestry (WVDOF) uses the Level I assessments to document 

Students use GIS technology in the classroom to conduct Level I 

assessments of wildfi re risk around homes in The Woods.

Ken Pekarek, MN Firewise in the Classroom

3

A two-step process is often used to assess home wildfi re risk. Homes are fi rst assessed in an 

offi ce (or in this case, a classroom) using aerial photographs to rate homes on a scale from one 

(no risk) to fi ve (extreme risk) based on conditions visible on the photos—referred to as a Level I 

assessment. Homes with some level of risk (generally, moderate to extreme risk) are then visited so 

that an onsite evaluation can be conducted, with homeowners receiving a detailed description of 

conditions putting their property at risk—referred to as a Level II assessment.
4

and map fi re risk across the state. Students have also completed more than 700 Level II 

assessments in Th e Woods. Homeowners can request a copy of their assessment, and 

members of Th e Woods Homeowners Association (WHOA) Firewise Committee are 

available to help them understand what the assessment means.

In the second component of the WV Firewise in the Classroom program, a computer 

teacher and her students are helping local community members develop a WHOA 

Web site that will provide a wealth of location-specifi c information on taking personal 

responsibility for reducing wildfi re risk. In the future, the teacher would like students to 

play a role in collecting, organizing, and modifying Web site content, as well as uploading 

the content to the Web site.

Th e WV Firewise in the Classroom program incorporates several techniques that have 

been shown to be keys to successful environmental education programs:

• experience-based learning that links classroom instruction with an engaging 

activity

• place-based learning that encourages students to use what they had learned in the 

classroom to study the local community

• service learning that helps Th e Woods meet a need to reduce wildfi re risk, and 

provides information to the WVDOF to assess wildfi re risk across the state

“It gets students actively 

involved in a real 

project, service learning 

project, where they are 

actually gathering data 

for a real project that 

the [West Virginia] 

Division of Forestry 

uses in their forest 

planning.”

(Hedgesville High School 

staff member)

When conducting Level II assessments, West Virginia Firewise 

in the Classroom students seize the opportunity to provide 

homeowners with information on how to reduce their wildfi re risk.Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service
5

IMPACTS OF WEST VIRGINIA FIREWISE IN THE CLASSROOM

Th e WV Firewise in the Classroom program resulted in students developing:

• increased wildfi re awareness

• new knowledge that will prepare students to be tomorrow’s Firewise homeowners

• interest in emergency management careers

• a broader sense of community outside their school or family, and an 

understanding of how they could help improve that community

Th e WV Firewise in the Classroom program is one of several initiatives in Th e Woods 

that are helping residents and the community improve their wildfi re preparedness. One 

emergency manager described the impact of these initiatives:

“Overall in that community, through this program and through the other grants 

they’ve been working on, they are increasing their wildfi re awareness in there tenfold.”

Residents indicated that the WV Firewise in the Classroom program has increased 

awareness of wildfi re in their community by:

• generating articles in the community newsletter about the program 

• students being visible in the community while conducting Level II assessments 

• students visiting with property owners when they conduct assessments 

• helping make accessible via a Web site locally appropriate Firewise information

For homeowners who have accessed their Level II assessments, the program has given 

them the information they need to reduce risk on their properties.

Residents indicated that seeing the Hedgesville High School 

students in their community conducting Level II assessments 

makes them more aware of their wildfi re risk.

Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service

“At an individual 

community, at one 

school, in one classroom 

[the WV Firewise in the 

Classroom program] 

has made a significant 

improvement.”

(Hedgesville High School 

staff member)
6

Th e WVDOF benefi ted from having Level I assessments to use in documenting and 

mapping fi re risk in fi ve West Virginia communities. One emergency manager described 

the potential impact of the Level I assessments:

“Now that the methodology [for students doing Level I assessments] is 

established, and it’s been used in another state than Minnesota, then it starts to 

gain validity... Th e beauty of it is that they can sit in Hedgesville and do another 

community 250 miles away in another part of the state... If I was able to get 

that in key areas, and be able to stick that into GIS, and generate a map that 

[indicates] these are your hot spots, this is where you need to start focusing your 

program, that would be invaluable.”

Th e classroom program also provided Level II assessments for Th e Woods that WVDOF 

staff can use when visiting with local property owners about wildfi re fi re risk. WVDOF 

staff told us that they are anticipating completion of the WHOA Firewise Web site 

because they believe that it will be extremely useful for communities across the state.

Th e Hedgesville High School students do not have to wait until they own their own 

homes to help create a fi re-adapted community—by providing Level II assessments and 

a Web site with locally relevant information, the students are contributing to Th e Woods 

being more adapted to fi re today. People interviewed for this study acknowledged a 

role for children in creating fi re-adapted communities, and the contributions made by 

the students participating in the Firewise in the Classroom program. In addition, as a 

result of the Firewise in the Classroom program, partnerships were developed and new 

resources identifi ed that the community can draw on in the future for other wildfi re and 

civic projects.

Division of Forestry staff have been involved in the West Virginia 

Firewise in the Classroom project by providing assistance in 

applying for grants, providing fi re management expertise, and 

participating in the Level II assessment fi eld trip.

Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service

“[West Virginia Firewise 

in the Classroom] gives 

the students a sense of 

‘This is my community, 

this is where I live.’ A 

sense of responsibility 

that, ‘Hey, I have to 

take care of this.’”

(Hedgesville High School 

staff member)
7

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS TO WEST VIRGINIA 

FIREWISE IN THE CLASSROOM

A number of community groups and organizations came together to 

support the WV Firewise in the Classroom project. Th e following partners 

were mentioned most frequently, and their ability to work together was 

identifi ed as key to the West Virginia program’s implementation and 

positive outcomes: 

• Eagle Promise (non-profi t organization)—applied for and managed 

grants

• WVDOF—provided assistance applying for grants, a local home 

assessment framework, and fi re management expertise 

• Minnesota Firewise in the Classroom Program coordinator—adapted 

the Minnesota curriculum for West Virginia, and trained and 

partnered with the West Virginia teacher to conduct the program 

• West Virginia University— provided access to aerial photographs 

• WHOA Firewise Committee—members accompanied students 

on fi eld trips and are available to visit with homeowners about 

assessments 

• WHOA—will host the student-designed Firewise Web site 

• Board of Education—helped the high school obtain computer hardware necessary 

to the program 

• Hedgesville High School staff —provided a home for the program, made time in 

classroom schedules to present the curriculum, and were program champions 

• Local champion— provided vision, focus, and enthusiasm, and helped ensure 

that all necessary resources were available

“Children have got to be the answer. 

So, hopefully some of those kids [who 

have been involved in the program] 

will be. I’m hopeful that the message 

is getting across. We learn as we go 

that you’ve got to start with [children] 

and get the [knowledge] out.” 

(Member of Th e Woods 

Firewise Committee)

Members of The Woods Homeowner 

Association Firewise Committee assist students 

during their Level II assessment fi eld trip.

Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service
8

NEXT STEPS FOR WEST VIRGINIA FIREWISE IN THE 

CLASSROOM

School administrators and teachers, WVDOF staff , and local residents admitted that 

they do not know what the future holds for the WV Firewise in the Classroom program. 

Th ey do agree, however, that the program could have had a greater impact if the Level 

II assessments were more fully utilized. As observed by a WHOA Firewise Committee 

member:

“Th e best thing in my experience is to sit down with the homeowner and use the 

risk assessment form that the state has and go through it with the homeowner. 

Walk around his house. Th en, right away he knows what has to be done, what his 

risks are, and how bad it is. Th at’s the best way. [Currently] the high schoolers fi ll 

out the form, it goes into a database, and it never gets to the homeowner, and in 

most cases, the homeowner isn’t even there when it’s done. It helps the [Division 

of Forestry] but it doesn’t do much for the homeowners in the community.”

People interviewed provided ideas on the next steps that could help sustain and expand 

the program and its impacts:

• WVDOF staff continue to integrate Firewise in the Classroom into their eff orts 

to work with communities to reduce wildfi re risk. 

• Hedgesville High School administrators support and teachers continue to use 

the program to teach students about wildfi re and provide the WVDOF Level I 

assessments for other West Virginia communities.

• Hedgesville High School administrators support and teachers continue to update 

the Web page annually as a classroom activity and explore the possibility of 

developing future content for the Web site.

• Hedgesville High School Firewise in the Classroom teachers assign Level II 

assessments of each student’s home as homework to facilitate intergenerational 

learning and document student learning.

• WHOA Firewise Committee members provide feedback to students on progress 

made in reducing wildfi re risk as a result of students’ eff orts.

• WHOA Firewise Committee members organize Firewise block committees and 

identify block champions who can use the Level II assessments to work with 

neighbors to reduce wildfi re risk.

• WHOA Firewise Committee members work with the Hedgesville High School 

students to reassess properties evaluated earlier to determine the extent to which 

wildfi re risk has changed and communicate fi ndings to property owners (potential 

activity for Firewise block committees, identifi ed above).
9

LESSONS FOR OTHER YOUTH WILDFIRE EDUCATION 

PROGRAMS

Analysis of the WV Firewise in the Classroom program suggests several steps that will help 

new programs increase their signifi cance:

• Increase locally relevant outcomes on the ground by partnering with a local 

wildfi re management group (In Th e Woods, the Firewise Committee was 

the critical local partner, but other partners could include the volunteer fi re 

department, community wildfi re protection plan committee, or Fire Safe 

Council).

• Increase intergenerational learning by having take-home assignments and parents 

sign off on wildfi re-related family activities (also useful in documenting program 

impacts). 

• Document and monitor student learning and accomplishments (this will help in 

program evaluations and future proposals or requests for resources).

• Improve student understanding of the impacts of service-learning projects by 

soliciting feedback from those benefi ting from the project (for example, local 

residents or the Firewise Commuttee could document actions taken in the 

community as a result of student projects)

“[The students] 

absolutely eat it up... 

It’s cool. It’s just really 

neat to see them, to 

feel like they’re making 

a difference, which is 

something, you know, 

they never get that 

opportunity.”

(Hedgesville High School 

staff member)

Since the program began in 2007, Hedgesville High 

School students, accompanied by members of The Woods 

Firewise Committee, have visited the development annually, 

completing more than 700 Level II assessments.

Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service
10

PROGRAM INFORMATION AND CONTACTS

• Terry Mallett, WV Firewise in the Classroom champion, trm10@cornell.edu

• Ken Pekarek, Minnesota Firewise in the Classroom coordinator and developer of 

the WV Firewise in the Classroom curriculum, kenpekarek@comcast.net

• M. Rodger Ozburn, WV Division of Forestry, State Firewise Liaison, 

M.Rodger.Ozburn@wv.gov 

• Firewise West Virginia Web site, http://www.wvforestry.com/fi re_prot.

cfm?menucall=fi re

• Firewise Communities Web site, http://www.fi rewise.org/

Members of The Woods Homeowner Association Firewise Committee 

have been instrumental in conducting West Virginia Firewise in 

the Classroom activities and will continue to be active in the future 

reducing wildfi re risk in the community.

Pamela Jakes, U.S. Forest Service
11

WILDFIRE EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH 

RESEARCH PROJECT TEAM:

Dr. Pamela Jakes Dr. Heidi Ballard and Ms. Emily Evans

U.S. Forest Service University of California-Davis

pjakes@fs.fed.us hballard@ucdavis.edu

 erevans@ucdavis.edu

Dr. Martha Monroe and Ms. Annie Oxarant Dr. Victoria Sturtevant

University of Florida Southern Oregon University

mcmonroe@ufl.edu Sturtevant@sou.edu

oxarant@ufl.edu

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to the administrators, teachers, and students at Hedgesville High School, 

Hedgesville, West Virginia, for sharing their insights into the WV Firewise in the 

Classroom program, and allowing me to accompany them on their fi eld trip. A special 

thanks to Minnesota program coordinator and West Virginia program developer Ken 

Pekarek, who was extremely generous with his time. Th is case study would not have 

happened without the encouragement, cooperation, and participation of West Virginia 

program champion Terry Mallet. My sincere thanks to Terry for sharing his knowledge 

and access to the community, and to Terry and his wife Linda Mallet for their hospitality.

Funding for this study was provided by the National Fire Plan through the Northern 

Research Station and the home institutions of the research team.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Th is is one in a series of Forest Service publications presenting descriptions of individual 

case studies included in the National Fire Plan study “Promoting fi re adapted human 

communities through youth wildfi re education programs.” Other research notes in 

the series can be found by searching the title “Youth Working with Communities” at 

Treesearch, http://treesearch.fs.fed.us, or by contacting a member of the research team.
12

METHODS

Th is report is part of a larger investigation of how youth wildfi re education programs 

contribute to the development of fi re-adapted human communities. Th e National 

Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy defi nes a fi re-adapted community as 

consisting of “informed and prepared citizens collaboratively planning and taking action 

to safely co-exist with wildland fi re” (Wildland Fire Leadership Council 2011, p. 33). 

A working group of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) Mitigation Committee of 

the National Wildfi re Coordinating Group4

 has identifi ed four types of adaptations a 

community must make to become adapted to fi re: (1) social adaptations, (2) political 

adaptations, (3) ecological adaptations, and (4) emergency management adaptations. In 

studying wildfi re education programs for youth, we looked for ways in which the program 

contributed to adaptations in these four areas.

We explored the environmental education and community wildfi re management literature 

and developed a model to explain how education programs and fi re-adapted human 

communities interact (Fig. 1). Th e case study reported here is helping us further defi ne 

and characterize the model. Our fi rst step was to describe the program, focusing on 

program content and the extent to which the program employed experiential, place-based, 

Figure 1.—Research framework for understanding the link between wildfi re education programs for youth and fi re-adapted 

human communities, where youth wildfi re education programs, using environmental education methods, infl uence 

students and families and contribute to communities becoming adapted to fi re, with local community resources supporting 

the wildfi re education program.

4Th e WUI Mitigation Committee provides coordinated leadership, input, and recommendations 

to public wildfi re management agencies for the achievement of fi re-adapted communities in the 

wildland urban interface. http://www.nwcg.gov/branches/ppm/wuimc/index.htm 
13

and service learning activities (blue box in Fig. 1). Next, we collected data on whether 

and how the program increased knowledge and awareness of the physical, ecological, and 

social aspects of wildfi re, promoted more realistic risk perceptions, and improved wildfi re 

preparedness for youth and their families (down arrow in Fig. 1). We then looked for 

ways the program may be contributing to the local community being more adapted to 

fi re (green oval in Fig. 1). Finally, we identifi ed community resources that supported the 

program (up arrow in Fig 1).

Th e case study approach is a common research method applied when scientists want to 

study “who, what, how, and why” for a contemporary event within a real-life context 

(Yin 2003). We selected programs for case studies that would represent (1) programs 

that are contributing (even in a small way) to the development of a fi re-adapted human 

community or have the potential to do so in the near future, (2) a range of program 

types (based in schools, clubs or organizations, and NGOs), and (3) diff erent regions 

of the country. We used purposive sampling to select interviewees (Lindlof and Taylor 

2002). Th is selection process is appropriate when scientists need to identify people who 

have specialized knowledge about the program being studied. Data were gathered using 

semi-structured, face-to-face interviews following an analytic induction approach (Glaser 

and Strauss 1999). Analytic induction is ideally suited for this study because it allows us 

to identify patterns and themes surrounding concepts that have received little empirical 

study. For the WV Firewise in the Classroom case, we interviewed 19 individuals, 

including local residents, members of Th e WHOA Firewise Committee, people associated 

with the school (administrators, teachers, and students), and WVDOF staff . Additional 

data were collected from secondary sources such as the WV Firewise in the Classroom 

curriculum, Th e WHOA Wildfi re Protection Plan, presentations or handouts on the 

program, and newsletter or newspaper articles.

LITERATURE CITED

Glaser, B.G.; Strauss, A.L. 1999. Th e discovery of grounded theory: strategies for 

qualitative research. New York: Aldine de Gryuter. 271 p.

Jakes, P.J. In press. Minnesota Firewise in the Classroom: youth working with 

communities to adapt to wildfi re. Res. Note NRS- . Newtown Square, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. p.

Lindlof, T.R.; Taylor, B.C. 2002. Qualitative communication research methods. 2nd

ed. Th ousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 357 p.

Wildland Fire Leadership Council. 2011. A national cohesive wildland fi re 

management strategy. http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/strategy/national.shtml. 

(Accessed August 12, 2011).

Yin, R. 2003. Case study research: design and methods. Th ousand Oaks, CA: Sage 

Publications. 181 p.

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Manuscript received for publication 3 October 2011

Jakes, Pamela J. 2012. West Virginia Firewise in the Classroom: youth 

working with communities to adapt to wildfi re. Res. Note NRS-138. 

Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Northern Research Station. 13 p.

KEY WORDS: fi re-adapted community, youth environmental education, youth 

disaster education, service learning, place-based learning, experiential learning
www.nrs.fs.fed.us