Arizona State Fire Training Committee Establishes Arizona Wildlife Academy To Better Prepare For Wildland Fire Threats

Release Date: April 17, 2003 Release Number: HQ-03-093

Washington, D.C. -- As this week's Smart Practice, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) highlights the Arizona State Fire Training Committee's efforts in launching the Arizona Wildfire Academy (AWA) to address the need for trained and certified wildland firefighters. With thousands of wildfires reported in Arizona last year, the need for professionally trained firefighters to respond to wildland fires is paramount. The AWA is conducted in a fire camp environment in Prescott, Ariz., and run by a professional wildland firefighter Incident Management Team. The procedures are the same as they would be for an actual wildland fire event.

"FEMA's effort to prepare the nation includes highlighting the smart practices of state and local emergency managers and first responders to strengthen their preparedness and response capabilities," said Michael D. Brown, undersecretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "By collecting and sharing the best ideas from the state and local level, FEMA can help communities improve their emergency preparedness and response-related activities for effective programs."

State and local smart practices could involve: effective mutual aid practices, response operations, training, assessment tools, planning models, exercises, standards and competencies, incident management and much more. Selected smart practices will be e-mailed to state and local customers in a weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices bulletin. Visit www.fema.gov/onp to read about Arizona and their efforts to implement the AWA program to increase the number of professionally trained firefighters in Arizona and the western-state region, as well as view other smart practices.

To submit a smart practice idea to share with other emergency managers and responders or to subscribe to the weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices, e-mail a request to SmartPractices@fema.gov.