America's Prepareathon! - Building Relationships with Community Partners

(Credit: FEMA/Ready.gov)

As wildland fire leaders, we look beyond ourselves and to the greater good. Involvement in community wildfire preparedness is one way we can nurture our mission-driven culture. One way to build relationships within your community is to hold an America's PrepareAthon! Day of Action.

America’s PrepareAthon! is a grassroots campaign for action to increase community preparedness and resilience for disasters. The campaign offers free resources for households and organizations to discuss and practice plans and safety measures to improve resilience for specific disasters.

Planning and preparing can make a big difference in being safe and keeping your doors open after a disaster. The ability to maintain or quickly reestablish business operations or organization processes requires a focus on preparedness, advance planning, and relationships with external partners and community leaders.

FEMA created the Prepare Your Organization for a Wildfire Playbook to support preparedness efforts and to help you conduct your event.

This is a great opportunity for wildland fire leaders to share their decision-making skills through the use of sand tables and and tactical decision games. The playbook includes even has a ready-made scenario you can use. Additional games can be found in the Toolbox on Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program website.