Public Health Effects of Increased Prescribe Burns for Wildlife Management

Details

Capability: Community Engagement and Health Education

Subcapability: Community Engagement

Project Timeline: 4/1/2020 - 3/31/2023

SF is working with the California Department of Public Health, CalFire, and the U.S. Forestry Service to engage communities that live in fire-prone areas and face health inequities during control burns due to language barriers and access to timely information. By project completion, the project team will conduct focused community engagement in selected communities that appear at risk for wildfires that have vulnerable populations (e.g., low-income, environmental justice communities, limited English proficiency, children, elderly). These communities are selected with historic controlled burns occurred and are likely to occur during the study period.

The project will center on direct community engagement through meetings with community members, key informants, and stakeholders, including local environmental and public health officers, local air pollution control officers, and other key organizations, such as California’s Regional Fire Councils. Recommendations to reduce wildfire risk and its associated health impacts that are created in collaboration with community members will be presented to CalFire as policy suggestions.