Appalachian RC&D Fire Adapted Communities (FAC) Coalition

The Coalition began in 2017 as an effort to combine resources and share knowledge between the RC&D councils and communities along the southern Appalachian mountain chain.

RC&D (Resource Conservation and Development) Councils are non-profit organizations that administer projects and programs in mostly rural areas to improve the environment in and around communities and the standard of living for the citizens living in these areas.

The Coalition helps communities reduce their risk of wildfire in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). The WUI is where human development is adjacent to or mixes with forested land. Communities in this area are at higher risk of being negatively impacted by wildfire.

When more people live in the forest, there is a higher chance for home ignition from a wildfire event.

The Coalition uses Fire Adapted Communities Network (FAC Net) methods where people educate their neighbors, family, and friends about Fire Adapted principles and practices.

The FAC Net concept considers various components that make up community wildfire adaptation, including: Public Health, Wildfire Response, Landscape Treatments, Prevention, Resident Mitigation, Partnerships & Community Engagement, Recovery, Infrastructure and Business, and Regulations, Policy, & Plans.

Fire is a part of the natural landscape, especially in the South. We have prescribed fires (planned and intentionally ignited fire) or wildfires (unplanned and uncontrolled) on our landscapes. By learning to live with fire, we improve public and firefighters safety and reduce impacts of fire when it occurs.

The Coalition supports communities to increase awareness of wildfire risk while enhancing public safety and community resilience from threats of wildfire.

We encourage communities to:

• Identify risk factors with a wildfire risk assessment.
• Choose fire-resistant landscaping.
• Thin brush and trees around homes.
• Have an evacuation plan.
• Organize a community workday.
• Become a Firewise USA community.

Decades of research have shown that both the house's construction materials and the landscape adjacent to it play a critical role in the structure surviving a wildfire.

One way to reduce a home's risk is to create and maintain defensible space. Defensible space is the buffer created between a structure (in most cases a home) and the grass, trees, shrubs, or forested land surrounding it. This space is needed to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and it helps protect the structure from catching fire - either from embers, direct flame contact, or radient heat.