09/17/08 Information about fire preparedness

When they meet next month the Idaho State Fire Plan Working Group will spend a lot of time talking about progress on a new education program. Steve Kimball is the coordinator for the interagency group which is trying to do a better job educating Idahoans about wildfire, the risks and precautions. Right now he says videos, pamphlets, brochures, workshops and the like can vary from county to county, community to community, KIMBALL "We're proposing to organize those all together on a state website and have one stop shopping so that if anybody from students in a school to homeowners to realtors if they want information on protecting their homes or history of fires in Idaho or any Idaho specific information they'll be able to come to this new Idaho fire wise website and get that information." Kimball says they hope to have the website up and running by next June prior to the start of the summer fire season. Also at the October 7th meeting in Boise will be discussions on how the state fire plan working group can assist counties in improving their own fire plans. KIMBALL "This is a working group. It's not only a policy group it's more of a getting things down out there throughout Idaho group." Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott