Communicating with Wildland Interface Communities

During Wildfire

Issues

Communications during fire events 

are complex. Nevertheless, training 

fire information officers to plan fire 

communications before events, and to 

communicate during fires in a way that 

accurately and promptly informs residents in fire-affected areas, can increase 

effectiveness, reduce anxiety, ensure 

residents have accurate information on 

which to act, help them make better 

decisions, and possibly save lives.

What We Did

What information do people need, 

and when? U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS) scientists Jonathan Taylor and 

Shana Gillette were part of an interagency team, including Ron Hodgson 

of the Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) and Judith Downing of the 

USDA Forest Service, that investigated 

this question. The team examined the 

information-seeking behavior of residents during a wildfire event to guide 

more effective agency communication 

practices with the public. The researchers employed “quick-response research” (interviewing residents before, 

during, and following a fire event) to

study fire communications. Studies 

Picnic Rock Fire (upper left in image) near 

Fort Collins, Colorado. USGS Landsat photo.

were conducted in the fall of 2003 

during a small fire (Bridge Fire) and 

before, during, and after an extreme fire 

event (Old and Grand Prix Fires) in the 

San Bernardino Mountains of southern 

California. Pre-fire communication 

preparations were also evaluated. 

What We Learned

• People told us that they urgently 

sought real-time information when 

wildfire threatened their communities. They wanted information to help 

them take actions to protect their 

families and property and to make 

sense out of what was happening. 

• Media and official information 

sources seldom provided the kind of 

information residents wanted where 

and when it was useful. Residents 

said television news from the scene 

was often inaccurate and seemed to 

focus on the more spectacular aspects. 

Official information often came too 

late and was not specific enough 

about the threat to their neighbohoods.

(Requirements for information 

verification and release appear to 

have delayed dissemination of 

official information.)

• Community residents did not wait 

for official or mass media information. They actively searched for 

information anywhere they could 

find it and from anyone who had it. 

They listened to scanners, talked to 

firefighters they knew, went to see 

for themselves. Effective, informal 

information networks quickly developed. Residents produced their own 

news and communicated it to their 

neighbors in person or via cell phone, 

e-mail, Web sites, and other communication channels.

Recommendations

• Give real-time information. To be 

effective, information on wildlandurban interface (WUI) fires needs 

to be timely, accurate, and useful in 

helping communities cope effectively 

with the fire threat.

Old Fire above the city of San Bernardino, California, 2003. Photo courtesy of Chris Doolittle.

U.S. Department of the Interior Fact Sheet 2005–3033

U.S. Geological Survey Printed on recycled paper March 2005
• Inform the networks. WUI communities are served by relatively complex 

information networks that go well 

beyond traditional media (broadcast 

television, commercial radio, and 

newspaper). Residents are becoming 

producers of news through the use of 

digital technology such as cell phones 

and the Internet.

• Plan for re-entry and reoccupation. 

A communication plan and methods 

for re-entry to the area and reoccupation of homes and businesses are as 

important as plans for evacuation.

• Plan for information flow during 

transitions. The information flow 

to the public needs to be carefully 

maintained when there are transitions between fire teams and between 

stages of a fire event. Additionally, 

information flow should be re-evaluated between fire events to reflect 

changing conditions and community 

needs.

• Incorporate community agencies 

and organizations into information 

dissemination. Community agencies, 

organizations, and trained residents 

can help augment official information 

functions by providing local expertise 

and serving as informational links to 

local informal networks.

Science Impact

BLM and Forest Service partners are

sharing findings from the study with

fire managers, information officers,

and agency public affairs officers, who

in turn are incorporating the findings

into fire information-officer training

and other forums. Implementation of

these findings at multiple levels within

agencies can directly enhance agency

communication with WUI communities

before, during, and after a wildfire event.

A fire-affected wildland-urban interface community: Los Alamos, New Mexico. The burned areas 

(brown) are from the Cerro Grande Fire of 2000.

Fire danger sign, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Property damage from the Cerro Grande Fire, Los

Alamos, New Mexico.

For More Information

Jonathan Taylor Shana Gillette

USGS Fort Collins Science Center

2150 Centre Avenue, Building C

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8118

Tel. 970-226-9438

Fax 970-226-9230

E-mail: jonathan_taylor@usgs.gov

USGS Fort Collins Science Center

2150 Centre Avenue, Building C

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8118

Tel. 970-226-9308

Fax 970-226-9230

E-mail: shana_gillette@usgs.gov

For the full report, see Taylor, J.T., S.C. Gillette, R.W. Hodgson, and J.L. Downing. 2005. Communicating with wildland interface communities during wildfire. USGS Open File Report 2005-1061.

Available online at www.fort.usgs.gov/products/publications/21411/21411.asp