International Knowledge Exchange: Talking Fire with a Delegation from Brazil

Written by Rachel Bean

Managing wildfires and the landscapes through which they burn is a complex job that spans jurisdictions, geographic boundaries, and timeframes (preparing before, managing during, and recovering after the fire). In the U.S., wildfire management requires that many different federal and state agencies, Tribes, and others agree on a cohesive approach, or strategy, for each fire. This is called “integrated fire management”, and it ensures that these various partners are communicating and working together toward a common goal during a wildfire, or “incident”. Within this structure, all entities work under one unified central command and pool resources during fire suppression activities. However, integrated fire management expands far beyond suppression; partners in fire also need to coordinate on forest restoration activities and community preparation to reduce wildfire risk before a fire happens, and on watershed and water infrastructure protection, reforestation, and community recovery after a fire has burned. Fire and natural resources managers in the United States have been using and improving integrated fire management for over 100 years.

In May 2025, the Guild welcomed a delegation of ten wildfire leaders from various Brazilian states to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to discuss and share lessons learned about integrated fire management. Global Ties Albuquerque coordinated the international visit to connect the delegates with ten different organizations representing expertise in various aspects of fire prevention, suppression, and recovery.  In Brazil, fire activity and behavior have escalated due to a warming climate, conversion of forest to agricultural land, and an increase in ignitions from agricultural burning, among other factors. Fire management is handled at the state level and lacks the robust multi-layered approach frequently found in the U.S.; it is also especially lacking in local capacity from municipal or volunteer fire departments. As a result, these state fire agencies may not have the resources to invest in fire prevention and community education, preparedness, and safety. The team of fire leaders from Brazil traveled to the Southwestern U.S. to explore wildfire management and prevention strategies at both regional and local levels with the goal of returning home better prepared to leverage the resources and capacity that they do have to improve forest health, foster fire-adapted communities, and strengthen the interface between institutions and the people they serve.

Guild staff Eytan Krasilovsky, Deputy Director, and Rachel Bean, Project Manager, spent an afternoon with the delegation in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains talking about Fire Adapted Communities, the National Wildland Fire Cohesive Management Strategy, and an all-hands all-lands approach to prescribed fire. After some presentation time at the Guild office in Santa Fe, the group made the short drive to the Santa Fe foothills where they walked through high-risk communities, discussed the nuances of defensible space, and looked at adjacent forest treatments on public lands. In the process, Guild staff learned a lot about the unique fire challenges facing Brazil’s diverse ecosystems and communities and discussed how lessons learned in North America might translate to our neighbors to the south. Fire Adapted Communities (FAC), a grassroots

preparedness concept

which gained prominence in the 2010s and has emerged as a pillar of a holistic approach to fire readiness, was of particular interest to the delegation. FAC can be right-sized and adapted to a given Brazilian state or community, tailoring the educational materials and outreach strategies while maintaining the basic framework (elements required and actions that can be taken to become adapted to fire). FAC recognizes that fire is a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’ and empowers community members to work with their land and their neighbors to reduce the likelihood of a catastrophic fire – a concept that is relevant regardless of geography. 

The Guild regularly shares FAC lessons and resources across the U.S. and this visit with the delegation was a great opportunity to share these concepts and tools with – and benefit from the experiences and knowledge of – our global colleagues.