Beyond the Burn: Fire Survivors Investing in Community Capacity for Long-Term Wildfire Preparedness

Community capacity to live well with wildfire is a persistent challenge. Despite increasingly frequent and severe wildfires, many communities fail to prioritize readiness until disaster strikes, hindering both recovery and future preparedness. In addition, small, rural communities often lack the capacity to manage wildfire-related work, further compounded by their distance from urban centers and training opportunities.

Lake County, California, exemplifies this struggle. A rural, historically impoverished area with limited resources, two-thirds of its land has burned over the past nine years. As County Supervisor Jessica Pyska, a survivor of the 2015 Valley Fire, explained to a statewide wildfire symposium, “[After being hit by the first of the current wave of megafires], Lake County initially lacked the staff, grant writers, and resources to effectively address wildfire risk.”

How can such communities overcome these seemingly insurmountable challenges? How long can it take—if it’s even possible—to achieve sustainable preparedness and recovery with minimal initial capacity?

Lake County’s experience offers valuable lessons. Recognizing the interconnectedness of financial, technical, and social capacities, and the crucial role of leadership, the county leveraged its rural, land-based social capital: determined leadership and inter-organizational relationships. Further deepening social capital while building financial and technical capacity, through what can be called “netweaving” (a deeper form of networking), has generated impressive results.

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