Share on Social Media

Focus on messaging before the wildfire season.

• Explore the U.S. Fire Administration’s public outreach materials to develop your own public safety announcements and awareness campaigns.
• Encourage residents to get their homes and property ready, and to take ownership of being prepared and having a plan.

Develop pre-scripted messages and store them in the cloud to be accessed anywhere, anytime.

• Organize and label messages clearly so you can quickly pull specific messages during an emergency. Dropping successful social media messages and scripts from past events into a Google Drive document is an easy way to start.

Amplify local agency’s messages by sharing them on the state’s social media accounts.

• During a wildfire, help localities – especially those without a lot of manpower – by retweeting and reposting their messages. If they need a PIO or additional communications staff, help them find one in the area or provide virtual support from the state.

Coordinate with local media agencies.

• Communicate with local media sources early and often.
• Ensure you include media outlets that will reach rural communities.
• Organize community meetings with local media outlets and the incident commander before, during and after disasters.

Monitor information regarding recovery, mitigation, available grants and debris removal.

• Rumors can spark false expectations of what FEMA and the state can and cannot provide. Monitor social and local media for misinformation, and correct sources when they’re wrong.

Don’t forget about limited English speaking populations.

• Have a plan for communicating with limited English populations (LEPs); consider developing a guide that identifies where LEP’s are located in your community, what critical information will need to reach them and who will help you communicate with them.
• If nothing else, have a list of contact numbers for nearby translators of different languages.

Use “traplines” to contact the public directly.

• Running a trapline refers to distributing information at sites frequented by locals, such as a post office or community hall. Update information at traplines as frequently as possible, and have a PIO or uniformed officer available to answer questions.

Work with localities to get damage reported properly.

• Getting residents to report damage can be challenging, and often times eligible damages to things like timber, agriculture and outhouses don’t get reported. Consider putting state teams on the ground at town halls to help residents with property damage understand the FEMA process.

Help counties host public meetings and recovery fairs.

• Community meetings are an especially effective tool to inform the public and gauge residents’ concerns and points of confusion. Recovery fairs serve as a one-stop-shop for recovery assistance by bringing representatives from all agencies together.
• Help answer questions and boost your agency’s presence by demonstrating recovery actions being taken at the state level.