Interfacing with the Media

By Dan Hatlestad, Firefighter/EMS Captain Inter Canyon Fire Rescue, Morrison, Colo.

Wildfire activity in recent years has included areas untouched by fire for many decades. The extension of residential housing into these fire activity areas and the media coverage of the fires has generated significant public interest and concern.

From the sweeping calls for additional resources in the federal services to the demands placed on both career and volunteer fire services, the mass media have a significant impact on the public's perceptions of wildland firefighting in the urban interface. As these changes continue and grow, we must prepare for these major events for they are sure to happen again.

To this end, we must demonstrate the value of our services to the largest number of citizens, legislators and taxpayers possible, and this typically means proving that value through the media. Public safety organizations must be prepared to demonstrate and market their services before an incident to avoid potential and unjustified recriminations after the fire.

Interface incidents are fraught with public relations risk for the public information officer and the organization. Problems during a wildland fire can sometimes compromise the service's public image and confidence long after the event.

The PIO must be part of the pre-incident planning to prevent this loss of confidence. The rapid integration of the public information officer into the command structure of a wildland fire allows the media to understand the extreme efforts of the firefighters and overhead teams. The PIO is required in the urban interface because of the high concentration of media outlets and the ability of electronic media outlets to report on incidents as they occur. The fire service must answer the media with timely and accurate information.

The benefits to the wildland team of maintaining open lines of communication with the media are extensive. Working with mass media outlets can aid in rapidly disseminating information to the public, and reducing rumors and unsubstantiated reports of damage. The media also can assist your team in evacuation of threatened areas. This media cooperation can help foster:

1. Public confidence and support

   You can increase the public's confidence in the fire service through the media. The public may not even be aware of which fire department, if any, provides them with protection in the urban interface. The public also may have unrealistic expectations of the level of protection provided by local resources.

   New residents in the urban interface may expect the same level of service as was provided in the city, but the tax base funding the fire service in the urban interface may not be adequate to support such service. Furthermore, the beauty and remote nature of the area that attracted the new resident may create considerable hurdles in providing fire service. A narrow and tree-shrouded single-lane road may appear quaint and rustic, but it may not offer adequate access for fire equipment.

2. Financial support

   Working with the media allows you to identify to the public shortfalls in financial support. If the funding isn't adequate to offer the level of protection the public demands, media attention can increase taxpayer awareness of the funding issues. These issues must be raised tactfully with attention to the concerns of individuals related to tax increases.

3. Community education

   One of the most important roles of the PIO is public education. Education is best done before the incident in the form of prevention. Because providing community education is not the primary goal of the media, frame your community education efforts in terms of storytelling, with a clear solution or satisfactory advantage for the listener, reader or viewer. Identify local homeowners who have prepared their homes with proper reduction in aerial fuel and brush. The media can use these homes as models for buffer zones when defining defensible space.

The PIO faces the unique challenge of handling large numbers of media outlets with the ability to arrive rapidly and air live from the scene. Electronic media may report on the extension of fire across a road or other natural firebreak prior to any knowledge by incident command. The PIO must be able to rapidly educate the media about the fire and risks to the firefighters in the urban interface.

Members of the media will approach individual members of the crew for information on the fire. Requiring crew members to defer all media inquiries to the command post deprives the team of an opportunity to establish open lines of communication with the public and the media. The PIO should discuss likely media questions with incident command, crew bosses and individual firefighters during briefings. Planning for this interaction will create an environment of honest communication. The media communication plan for individual firefighters should include the safety measures undertaken for firefighters and residents, plus the goals of wildland firefighting activity.

All PIOs must have clearly defined responsibilities and access to information at the incident command level. Guidelines for the dissemination of information to the media and members of the public must be developed prior to the incident, including:

• Pre-planning coordination and communication with the media. Acquire and maintain a list of phone numbers for all key media contacts. Notify the media outlets at the onset of any significant wildland fire in the urban interface. Provide the PIO's name and a phone number for additional information.
• Early activation of the information officer at a wildland fire incident. Until the PIO is activated, the media's attention will be focused on the incident commanders.
• Access to communications and reference equipment such as radios to monitor the fire, a telephone, fax machine and maps of the geographic area involved for distribution to the media. A copy machine and Internet access also are valuable in a major fire.
• Monitoring of local media during the incident, which allows for correction of any erroneous material or rumors that may affect public safety.
• Documentation of all media contacts and topics discussed.

The PIO team should include local, regional, state, federal, law enforcement and other representatives of agencies involved in the incident. An effective, multidisciplinary plan helps ensure a team approach, coordinating the efforts of all sources of information. This makes the PIO team the sole and best source of accurate information for both the media and the public. The PIO and incident command must be prepared for worst-case scenarios, including loss of life or loss of a significant number of structures. The lack of preparation for the “unthinkable” event may leave the media seeking alternate sources of information. The team must have plans in place for rapid identification and distribution of news of any crisis that may occur during an urban interface wildland incident.

Members of the mass media often are receptive to learning more about the fire service and firefighting in the urban interface.

For example, consider an Introduction to Wildland Firefighting 101 for members of the media. This program can be developed and presented in conjunction with a large group of cooperating agencies. The goal is to differentiate the tactics and equipment used in wildland firefighting from those used in structural firefighting.

Media outlets in major metropolitan areas are accustomed to seeing a large contingent of apparatus arrive within minutes of an alarm at a structural fire. The urban scene fire is easily identified by a street address. Additional resources are only minutes away should the need arise for a second or third alarm. Large volumes of water are immediately available through hydrant systems. Communication with all responding units is relatively simple. Extension of the urban fire is normally well defined.

The urban interface fire has none of these characteristics. The PIO team must educate the members of the media in these differences. Topics to include in a two- or four-hour program can include:

• What conditions escalate the risks for major wildland incidents.
• How prescribed burns reduce risks.
• What the initial response is to reports of wildland fires.
• What techniques are used for wildland firefighting.
• How to keep safe on the scene of a wildland fire.
• What effect weather conditions have on fire behavior.
• What local resources are used for fighting wildland fires.
• What resources regional, state and federal agencies offer.
• What hand crews are, what equipment they use and what risks they face, including risks to the hand crew from snags, rocks, snakes and changes in weather.
• What the differences are between urban apparatus and urban interface apparatus.
• What air resources are available and how air resources are activated; the time they take to arrive at the scene; and the limits to operational capability such as weather, airports and fuel.
• What Type I, II and III crews are.

The goals of the program are to introduce members of the media to you and your team. The course should be an overview of the wildland firefighting effort, not a training session for wildland firefighters. Don't forget to offer the course again in the future — consider once every one to two years. Job turnover of reporters, editors and producers in small- to mid-sized markets is fairly high as these people gain experience and move to larger media markets.

Another excellent method of garnering media support is to provide a media tour of your facilities. The tours allow you to identify the equipment used in wildland firefighting and differentiate it from structural apparatus. Remember that all forms of the media thrive on pictures. Provide the media with an opportunity to acquire stock footage of equipment, people, topography and firefighting techniques from training exercises.

While the media can be helpful in getting the fire department message out, it also demands a continuous flow of updated information. The relationship is a two-way street. Working with the media or requesting favors from the media, such as a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft tour of the fire line, requires an understanding of media needs.

As Mark Twain once said, “It takes me at least three weeks to prepare an impromptu speech.” Practice your answers to questions you can expect from local media outlets. Use a video camera or tape recorder to record your answers and improve on the responses you provide to media questions. Answers that are clear and concise instill confidence in the wildland firefighting effort. Answers that are ambiguous, evasive or lack confidence will send reporters seeking other sources of information.

Meet with officials likely to act as the PIO team members in the event of a wildfire prior to an incident. This meeting can include local career and volunteer fire departments, state and federal resources, Red Cross officials, law enforcement, and air support.

With the proximity of a wildland urban interface fire to the metropolitan area, you can expect media inquiries immediately. The volume of media questions may rapidly overwhelm the incident command. Most major media outlets monitor emergency radio traffic. If the incident occurs during the morning or afternoon drive time, a helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft used for traffic reports may be above the fire before the first apparatus reaches the scene. Reporters will seek to identify the location, structures involved or threatened, resources devoted to the fire, and size of the fire before incident command knows of any of these details.

Meet with the incident command for a complete briefing before making comments to any members of the media. The PIO can't be expected to have all responses to a reporter's questions available upon arrival, but preparing for the expected questions gives you an edge in responding to potentially difficult inquiries. The answers that are available must be presented in a professional manner, without accusation or recrimination in your voice.

Don't furnish private briefings to any member of the media. All information must be available simultaneously to all media outlets. Avoid off-the-cuff remarks or off-the-record comments. Be prepared for aggressive journalism and forceful lines of questioning regarding the incident.

The media summary should be a brief statement of the known facts at that point in the incident. Include such details as:

• The location of the fire in relationship to well-known topographic markers, roads and landmarks. Summarize the topography of the area and any issues it may present in fighting the fire.
• Boundaries based on easy-to-identify landmarks such as roads.
• The fire's size, in acreage. If possible provide a size reference to a well-known geographic area. Reporters can use this analogy to tell the story.
• Fuel loads, density, moisture content and the issues the fuels raise in fighting the fire.
• Fire behavior based upon prevailing topography, weather, fuel and firefighting resources.
• Current fire weather and predicted weather over the next 24 hours.
• Firefighting resources committed to the fire. Identify all resources committed to correctly identify all of the efforts under way to contain the fire and to prevent any animosity among agencies if a resource is overlooked.
• Additional resources en route, including air support, hand crews and regional assistance.
• Evacuations of residential areas. On the issue of evacuations you must be very definitive. Clearly state by road, address or other easy marker to identify exactly which areas are under an evacuation order. Unmistakably state the reasons for the evacuation order and the risks to citizens and firefighters in those areas.

Speak to the media in clear and easy-to-understand phrases. If you have properly prepared your local media with Wildland Firefighting for the Media 101, the reporters and producers will understand the terms. There are always new members of the media and the public who are not familiar with terms such as “Pulaski” and “Type-II Engine.” Use terms such as “hand tools” and “wildland fire engine” to maintain clear communication.

One of the first questions will be, “When will the fire be contained?” Don't speculate on containment. Reporters may seek to identify the source of the fire prior to any investigation by the fire team. Don't hypothesize on any possible source. Don't speculate on possible answers to questions from the media. Speculation can create or fuel rumors. If the best possible answer to a question is “I don't know,” then that should be your response. Do not use remarks such as “No comment.” Relate what you know in narrative style.

Approach the media with accurate information, positive or negative, as soon as it's confirmed. Failure to present negative information, such as rapid extension of the fire, structural loss, injury or death, will reduce your credibility. This loss of credibility will reduce your effectiveness in rapidly distributing information to the media and the public.

Recall a recent newspaper or magazine article with quotes from a politician. The politician uses short two- or three-sentence “sound bites” in interviews. This short quote is easy for the print reporter to note and easy for the electronic reporter to use in a television or radio report. The PIO must practice speaking in these terms. These sound bites are easy to include in written articles on the fire and are easy to edit for electronic media.

The media will want access to the fire line. In conjunction with incident command, identify areas of the line that are safe for the media. Ideally these areas would include active fire, to meet the needs of the media for pictures and video, and active firefighting, to demonstrate the tactics used in containing the fire.

The media will request access to firefighters heading out to or returning from the fire line. Prepare these firefighters for the presence of the media through crew briefings. Respect the privacy of the firefighters during rehabilitation time off the fire line.

The local radio and television reporter may have a new deadline each hour and need updates with adequate time before the deadline. Provide reporters with a specific time for the next update of the fire conditions, behavior and containment. Don't schedule media updates at times when the reporter can be expected to be live with local electronic media outlets. The print reporter may have one deadline each day, but may have to file multiple stories on the incident, including fire activity, human interest and national news service feed. The network television reporter may have a mid-afternoon deadline on the East Coast, but if the incident takes place in the Mountain or Pacific time zone, the deadline may be noon or even earlier.

Media should have access to the fire scene so long as it is safe to do so. The urgent nature of the wildland fire on the periphery of the urban area, demands of the media for access to active fire areas and logistics involved in transfer of the media through the active fire area must not blind the PIO to safety. Local policies on training and personal protective equipment must guide the access of reporters into the active burn area. Ensure the reporter is adequately protected from the fire.

One major advantage of an established relationship with the media is the reaction to crisis. Members of the media can seek out well-informed PIOs and provide the public with timely and accurate information. That information can assist you in alerting the public of risks to homes and lives in the early stages of a wildland fire in the urban interface. The PIO must be part of the pre-incident planning and must be activated early in the incident. Awareness of the rapid nature of media interest in the urban interface fire is the first step toward developing a thoughtfully prepared organizational plan for the wildland fire public information officer.

Dan Hatlestad is a firefighter and EMS captain with Inter Canyon Fire Rescue in Morrison, Colo. He is also a member of the 285 Wildcats wildland team. He is an author of several fire and EMS articles and a public speaker.