Ashland's Wildfire Risk Assessment Program (WRAP)
Ashland's Volunteer Wildfire Risk Assessment Program (WRAP)
Now an operational unit of the Ashland CERT program to help residents be better prepared for wildfire.
to encourage wildfire risk reduction actions on private property. Our WRAP
Volunteers are an invaluable asset in our community engagement efforts for
creating a more Fire Adapted Ashland.
Successive years of unprecedented wildfires in the West, including the 2020 Almeda Fire in Ashland, Talent, and Phoenix, elevated our awareness of wildfire risk.
The good news is we can do something about it. In the past decade we have learned how to reduce wildfire risk in suburban and urban areas based on extensive research on how homes ignite and burn during extreme wildfires. Ashland’s Wildfire Risk Assessment Program, in partnership with Ashland Fire & Rescue and Fire Adapted Ashland, helps residents identify how to reduce wildfire risk at home.
The first cohort of WRAP volunteers graduated in September 2021, vastly increasing the City’s capacity to advise residents one-on-one. The program proved so popular that we needed more volunteers and held another training in 2023.
Volunteers pass a City of Ashland background check and are trained through a combination of in-person classes, study materials, field trips, and mentored field assignments with AF&R's staff and previously certified volunteer trainers.
Ashland's Volunteer Wildfire Risk Assessors are dedicated to helping you!
WRAP volunteers strive to offer the following to Ashland residents:
- Provide subject matter expertise in the home ignition zone and home hardening principles, hazard fuels reduction, fire-resistant landscaping, basic wildfire behavior principles, and some relevant codes and ordinances.
- Follow established protocols and will seek out assistance from AF&R staff for complex or unusual situations.
- Practice situational awareness and follows established safe work practices.
- Solicit relative information and listens to property owners’/ legal occupants’ concerns before advising them on risks.
- Develops effective relationships with property owners or legal occupants and may serve as their point of contact after the assessment report is delivered.
- Advises and strives to motivate property owners and legal residents using appropriate communication techniques and interpersonal skills.
- Provides information in a manner that balances a resident's individual judgment with realistic opportunities to address barriers to action.
- Advocates for risk reduction in a manner that addresses specific vulnerabilities.
- Documents findings using customized software that is compiled in a report to the resident.
- May perform follow-up inspections confirming completion of work and condition status.
- Constructively contributes to Ashland CERT, a team-run volunteer program within Ashland Fire & Rescue.
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