09/03/08

An official with an Australian rural fire service will be in Boise next month for the two day Idaho Wildland Fire Conference. He'll talk about Stay and Defend, a policy in use for 40 years in Australia where homeowners are trained and sometimes encouraged to stay and protect property from wildfire. Brett Ingles say he's also invited a fire chief from Darby, Montana to participate in the conference October 8th and 9th. INGLES "I believe this is the first summer that they've implemented Stay and Defend for their community and I think if you can do it in Montana you can do it in Idaho. Obviously the fire regimes are different between Australia and Idaho so its not going to be an exact fit." Now in its third year the conference has been designed to provide a forum for collaboration between firefighters, county emergency services and local, state and federal governments. INGLES "We have a statewide collaborative called the Idaho State Fire Plan Working Group. Within our charter each county is supposed to have their own county working group and probably about two thirds of the counties do." Ingles says their conference will focus on three themes, structural protection, restoration after fire and education and communication. Early bird registration is available on the Internet at www.idahofireplan.org. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott