We often emphasize that becoming fire adapted means going beyond individual actions and expanding our fire preparedness activities to our community - our neighbors, our town, our city, our county, or our geographic region. Community risk mitigation refers to a collaborative, continuous approach where residents, local leaders, land managers, and organizations work together to live more safely with wildfire. Preparing together enables everyone to share resources and knowledge, cover one another’s blind spots and expand expertise, build a support network that can be relied on if and when a fire occurs, and consider parts of fire adaptation that they haven’t considered before.
So far in 2026, FACNM has supported 14 community-led wildfire education and risk reduction projects through more than $24,000 in seed funding. These microgrants help bring local community risk mitigation initiatives to fruition, enabling network members and leaders to increase their outreach, impact, and build those important local connections. Bureau of Land Management and National Fire Protection Agency contributed financially to these awards. This newsletter highlights a number of FACNM microgrant projects and the effect they have had across the state so far this year.
This Wildfire Wednesday includes:
Additional Resources and Upcoming Events
Funding opportunity for community firewood banks
Webinars on Climate and Fire and Navigating FEMA for Spanish speakers
Upcoming conference on beneficial fire
Happy Veterans Day and thank you to those who have served.
- Rachel
2026 FACNM Microgrant Highlights
May 2026, Wildfire Preparedness Day Events
Santa Fe - Education Event and Resource Fair
The Santa Fe Fire Department, the Forest Stewards Guild, Villages of Santa Fe, New Mexico Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, The Nature Conservancy, Santa Fe National Forest, and other local and state partners came together to host an educational Ready, Set, Go! workshop on Wildfire Preparedness Day. Attendees were provided practical information and resources to prepare for wildfire and learn how reduce risks to their homes and communities, including:
a presentation on the Wildfire Prepared Home program and retaining home insurance high-risk areas
a demonstration/presentation on items to put in Go-Kits, with Go-Kit giveaways
a SimTable demonstration on local wildfire modeling
a panel discussion on the “Who, What, When, Where, and Why” of Prescribed Fires in Santa Fe: Updates and Rules for Controlled Burning.
This second annual workshop strengthened local collaboration and provided community members with actionable information on home protection, emergency readiness, and wildfire risk reduction.
Rancho Viejo - Education Event and Communal Lands Cleanup
This high-risk community located outside Santa Fe hosted a Wildfire Community Preparedness Day event combining wildfire education with hands-on fuels reduction. The event began with a presentation by Santa Fe County Fire Department, which educated residents about wildfire behavior, fuel flammability, and how different fuel types and arrangements influence fire spread and intensity. In the afternoon, more than 120 community volunteers, recruited by the Rancho Viejo South Fire Mitigation Committee, participated in a community cleanup and hazardous fuels removal effort. Volunteers removed dead vegetation and tumbleweeds from around the neighborhood and nearby properties, reducing the amount of combustible material that could contribute to wildfire spread. The collected material filled more than two 30-yard dumpsters. By pairing fire department-led education with a large-scale volunteer workday, the project helped residents better understand local wildfire hazards while taking direct action to reduce fuel loads around their community.
Colfax County - Community Education Event
The Colfax County NM Firewise Communities (CCFC), incorporating six communities and counting, hosted a Community Preparedness Day to help increase community awareness of wildfire preparedness. It provided residents with practical information and resources to better protect their homes and neighborhoods, including Ready, Set, Go! guidance, Colfax County emergency response resources, and home hardening and fire mitigation recommendations. Smokey Bear materials helped reinforce wildfire prevention messaging for children and families. Local fire department personnel were available to answer residents’ questions about wildfire response, first responder responsibilities, emergency equipment, and Angel Fire’s Defensible Space Ordinance. By bringing community members and emergency response partners together, the event helped residents better understand their wildfire risk, identify practical steps to prepare their properties, and learn where to find local emergency information and assistance.
Participating partners included CCFC, Angel Fire Fire Department, Moreno Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Forest Stewards Guild, and NM State Forestry Division who brought along Smokey Bear.
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Community Risk Reduction - Implementation Projects
Community of Idelwild - Fuels Reduction
Led by the community’s Firewise Community Chairman, Idlewild hosted a wildfire risk reduction project in early fall. The project provided four 30-yard roll-off dumpsters for residents to dispose of vegetation removed from their properties. Over approximately two months, around 40 households participated in the effort, focusing on removing small-diameter ladder fuels, pine needles, and other accumulated vegetation near cabin residences. Residents cleared downed woody material and continuous fuels that could allow fire to spread toward structures. Providing centralized disposal options made it easier for residents to complete cleanup projects and remove hazardous vegetation from their properties.
Photo credit: Nashville Dumpster Rentals
David Canyon Firewise - Evacuation Route Improvement
This Firewise USA community, located south of Tijeras, encompasses 700 acres and 80 homes. It borders David Canyon, a heavily used section of the Cibola National Forest. DCF is part of a 3-mile “one-way in/out” community, so creating safe ingress and egress conditions is a primary concern. To address this, DCF worked to clear access to a secondary neighborhood emergency access route by cutting and chipping vegetation along the route. The project aimed to establish an additional usable route for residents in the far end of the neighborhood and improve access for emergency personnel.
Before work began, the Bernalillo County Fire and Rescue Wildland Coordinator toured the route with four DCF members and provided recommendations for improvements. The project implemented those recommendations, improving the route to make it usable for all types of vehicles. During the project, the DCF Firewise Chair engaged eleven DCF volunteers, providing participants with hands-on experience relevant to preparing and maintaining access to their own properties during emergencies. After the work was completed, DCF and the BCFR Wildland Coordinator hosted a community tour focused on the improved route, evacuation procedures, and emergency access. Nineteen people attended the event and walked the route together following the presentations. BCFR has also added the route to its maps, helping incorporate this improved access option into local emergency response planning.
Taos Pines Ranch - Community Chipper Day
This 1,200-acre subdivision contains 98 lots in northern New Mexico, bordering Carson National Forest, Taos Pueblo, and private land. TPR first earned NFPA Firewise designation in 2005 and became a Fire Adapted Community in 2023. In fall 2026, the community hired a contract crew to reduce combustible fuels along 13 of these 98 lots through slash chipping and removal.
Prior to the contractor’s arrival, landowners on these lots (all with dwellings) put out slash and useable wood/firewood to be chipped along nine miles of roads in TPR. Approximately 505.5 cubic yards of slash were chipped. Volunteer labor from landowners totaled over 451 hours and the Firewise Committee made a significant financial contribution to get the work done. In addition, approximately 12 cords of wood were hauled out and donated to the Taos Pueblo as part of the chipper day.
Additional Resources and Upcoming Events
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY - Firewood Bank Funding
The Alliance for Green Heat will be accepting applications for the Firewood Bank Assistance Program starting November 1, 2026. This program provides financial and educational resources to public and tribal firewood bank programs for low- to moderate-income individuals who are struggling to pay for home heating fuel and to deal with emergency situations, such as power outages, by providing access to wood heat.
Grants will be up $50,000 to enable programs to acquire more wood and larger processing equipment. The level of funding is scaled based on the number of cords processed
Learn more about grant guidelines, application eligibility and requirements, and eligible expenses.
WEBINAR - Beyond Drought: How Wet and Dry Periods Shape Southwest Wildfires
Tuesday, November 17 | 12PM MT
Join the Southwest Fire Science Consortium for an upcoming webinar with presenters from the CLIMAS team. This webinar will share findings examining long-term trends in wildfire activity and how climate, including drought, extreme heat, and wet periods, influences fire across forests, grasslands, and shrublands in the Southwest.
Learn more: https://www.swfireconsortium.org/2026/10/27/beyond-drought-how-wet-and-dry-periods-shape-southwest-wildfires/
CONFERENCE - Beneficial Fire Summit
December 7-11, 2026 | San Diego, CA
The Beneficial Fire Summit will be held December 7-11, 2026 in San Diego, California. This event is a collaboration among the Association for Fire Ecology (AFE), UC ANR Fire Network, California Fire Science Consortium, Northern California Prescribed Fire Council, Tall Timbers Research Station, and University of Nevada Extension/Living With Fire. Sessions will celebrate the momentum behind beneficial fire and continue to advance the collective work.
Who should attend?
All are invited to join the AFE in San Diego. The Summit will focus on California and the West, with a special emphasis on southern California and Baja California, given the unique setting near the border.
Regular registration rates are available until November 6. Learn more at beneficialfiresummit.org
WEBINAR - “Doing Business with FEMA” for Spanish Speakers / Cómo Hacer Negocios con FEMA
Jueves, 19 de Nov, 2026 | 1:00 – 2:30 PM Eastern
FEMA le invita a participar en un webinar sobre los conceptos clave para Hacer Negocios con FEMA. Este evento enseña procesos importantes en la contratación federal en general y dentro del contexto de un desastre natural.
En un desastre declarado, FEMA apoya la respuesta local y coordina con otras agencias federales para ayudar a la gente y los sitios afectados. En asistir el webinar, participantes aprenderán el papel del sector privado en aumentar las capacidades de la respuesta gubernamental, y cómo un negocio puede posicionarse para dejar un impacto.
Si le interesa la contratación para apoyar en casos dedesastre, este webinar es para Usted. Link para el evento: https://fema.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_OtYaRt1GQkaNn_uhcxEbDA