Prevention and Education

Each agency, whether a state or province as full members, or another federal or city agency as associate members, has one seat on the Prevention and Education Working Team. The PEWT reports to the Operations Committee and is responsible to formulate prevention and education work plans and ensure that the work plans are carried out.

They work very closely with the Executive Director to oversee and manage their grant allocations and carry out their business. They are assigned a liaison from the Operations Committee in order to form good communications and guidance from the Operations Committee.

The PEWT meets or has a conference call once every quarter in order to coordinate, manage, monitor and conduct their business. The team attends and plays a role in the Annual Winter meeting conducted in January/February. They are responsible for soliciting nominations for an annual Fire Prevention Award and for an Annual Outstanding Service Award, both of which are presented at the Annual Winter Awareness Meeting.

The Working Team also coordinates a spring Forest Fire Prevention Week during the third full week of April and solicits proclamations from the governors and premiers to bring public awareness to the matter. The PEWT also hosts, conducts, and or participates in regional and national fire prevention activities such as the New England Association of Fire Chiefs Fire Exposition, Balloon Festivals to include a Smokey Bear balloon, Wildfire Canada, and Smokey Bear-related events.

Additionally, the Prevention and Education Working Team hosts and conducts wildland fire prevention training courses for the agencies. The team has been deployed on a number of occasions for training and to help out on fire incidents, fire planning, and for insect infestations.

Congratulations 2024 Wildfire Prevention Award recipient Roger Collet from the Department of Natural Resources and Energy in the Province of New Brunswick. Roger has been an active member of the Compact Prevention Working Team since 2015. Shortly after he was promoted to Wildfire Prevention Specialist for New Brunswick Wildfire Management, Roger attended the 2015 Firewise conference with other Compact PWT members in South Carolina.

In New Brunswick, Roger applied his Firewise knowledge with the Canadian FireSmart Program. He promotes the concepts of wildfire prevention, fuel reduction and defensible space at over thirty events throughout the province annually. In addition, he encouraged eleven communities to participate in FireSmart Canada’s "Community Preparation Day Awards" where they received $500 grants to do wildfire prevention and education, centered around spring clean-up days.