ASTM E3312-21

4.3.1?Federal, tribal, state, or municipal facility staff and regulators, including departments of health, water, sewer, and fire;

4.3.2?Financial and insurance institutions;

4.3.3?Federal, tribal, state, or local land managers;

4.3.4?Public works staff, including water systems, groundwater supplies, surface water supplies, stormwater systems, wastewater systems, publicly owned treatment works, and agriculture water management agencies;

4.3.5?Consultants, auditors, state, municipal and private inspectors, and compliance assistance personnel;

4.3.6 Educational facilities such as experimental forests and nature preserves;

4.3.7?Non-regulatory government agencies, such as the military;

4.3.8?Wildlife management entities including government, tribal, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs);

4.3.9?Cities, towns, and counties, especially in developing climate vulnerability strategies and plans;

4.3.10?Commercial and residential real estate property developers, including redevelopers;

4.3.11?Non-profits, community groups, and land owners.

4.4.1?Preparedness is based first on the community developing a broad awareness and understanding of the risks that are present locally. Next comes a community-wide evaluation of which community members or assets are most vulnerable to risks, the mechanisms or pathways of risks, and the existing capabilities to address those risks should a wildfire occur (see Guide E3241). The capabilities being evaluated include more than the ability of the first responders or wildland firefighters to take actions. It includes the capabilities of all community members to take appropriate actions.

4.4.2?All communities have capability gaps when evaluated against the risks present in the community. Strategic planning aims to fill those capability gaps with prioritization for efforts developed by the community members. Again, improved preparedness is the goal, not simply focusing on response capacity. A wildfire preparedness plan is a good first step.

4.4.3?Filling capability gaps requires the use of all the regulatory and social tools available to the community and its partners. All community members have a stake in accident prevention, consequence reduction, and improved collective ability to communicate and respond. Improvements are made through increased awareness, education, training, cooperative programs, and practice. Addressing the identified capability gaps can include a broad range of options such as accident prevention to creation of expectations for the actions of community members to be able to shelter, evacuate, and provide aid to others. Stakeholder engagement is critical to successfully closing capability gaps. This could include forest management, clearing fuel from around structures, and upgrading water filtration systems.

4.4.4?Accomplishing these tasks is a community-level activity. While it might be led by an emergency manager or local emergency planning committee, the key to successful preparedness planning is broad coordination and cooperation involving all community members (see Guide E3241).