IAFC and IBHS Announce Funding to Support Wildfire Preparedness Program

Fairfax, Va. – The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) have announced that IBHS will provide additional funding for a grant program that provides Ready, Set, Go! (RSG) members with resources to implement the RSG wildland-fire preparedness program.

RSG is a program designed by the IAFC that teaches individuals who live in high-risk wildland fire areas how to best prepare themselves and their properties. IBHS announced the grant funding in Reno during the IAFC's Wildland-Urban Interface Conference, the largest meeting dedicated to wildland-fire issues in the U.S.

"The Ready, Set, Go! Program aligns perfectly with IBHS' core mission, which is to identify and promote effective actions that strengthen homes, businesses, and communities against natural disasters and other causes of loss," said Julie Rochman, IBHS president and CEO. "We are very pleased and proud to be partnering with IAFC to make sure this program can continue to be implemented in as many communities as possible."

The RSG tenets help residents to be Ready with preparedness understanding and Set with situational awareness when fire threatens and to Go, acting early when a fire starts.

"We're tremendously proud of what the Ready, Set, Go! Program has accomplished a mere three years after its inception," said Chief Bill Metcalf, IAFC president and chairman of the board. "The message of preparing communities for what may happen in a wildland fire has now reached over a thousand fire and emergency service departments in 49 states. The support that IBHS will provide will be extremely helpful in further expanding the program’s reach and resources."

The money provided by IBHS funds a grant program to assist small and volunteer fire departments that are often strapped for time and resources. Specifically, the grant money provides fire departments with the tools, resources and guidance necessary to deliver these simple, actionable safety messages to residents in wildfire-prone regions.

"Budgets are always extremely tight for small volunteer and rural fire departments," Rochman said. "We hope this partnership will lead to more opportunities for the fire services and the property insurance industry to work together to make our communities safer."

The grants are administered by the IAFC according to an established set of criteria. Requests are made through a formal, peer-reviewed process to ensure effective use and need. The RSG Program works in complementary and collaborative fashion with the Firewise Communities Program and other existing wildland-fire public-education efforts to amplify their messages.

RSG was developed by the IAFC with support from IBHS, the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Fire Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Firewise Communities Program.

For more information about the Ready, Set, Go! Program, visit WildlandFireRSG.org. Find wildfire-preparedness resources from IBHS' DisasterSafety.org/Wildfire webpage.