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Listen—we know that prescribed fire liability insurance is a big, scary topic. But we encourage you to check out this episode, because while liability insurance is one of the bigger challenges in getting more &#8220;good fire&#8221; on the ground, it&#8217;s also one of the least understood and more infrequently talked about challenges, likely because it is such a complex topic. With that in mind, learning more about those challenges and how people are working to solve them is critical to having a full understanding of prescribed fire and its usage (or lack thereof).



Thankfully, our guest this week—Daniel Godwin of the Ember Alliance—agreed to guide us on this journey into all the behind-the-scenes liability and insurance business that needs to happen before any driptorches are lit. Daniel—who is the director of programs and partnerships at the Ember Alliance in Colorado—brings an obvious passion and long-honed wit to how he talks and thinks about wildfire, and our conversation covered the gamut from how these policies affect our current fire reality, why they&#8217;re impacting prescribed fire initiatives and what people are doing to make it better.



If you&#8217;re more the reading type, Daniel just published a piece over on the Ember Alliance&#8217;s blog about this same topic:



<ul>
<li><a href="https://emberalliance.org/2022/06/28/prescribed-fire-liability-insurance-unavailable-unaffordable-and-vital/">Prescribed Fire Liability Insurance: Unavailable, Unaffordable, And Vital</a></li>
</ul>

Underdiscussed, Poorly Understood: Prescribed Fire Liability Insurance with Daniel Godwin

How can Indigenous communities regain power over their long-honed land stewardship and cultural burning practices? How can these practices be done without the influence of Westernized practices and policies, including prescribed burning?



Today&#8217;s guest Amy Cardinal Christianson, a Métis woman and Fire Social Scientist for the Canadian Forest Service, addressed these questions (and so, so many others) for us in today&#8217;s episode. On top of advocating for greater authority for First Nation communities over their ancestral lands, Amy also has an extensive background in researching the connection between First Nation communities and wildfire. Her most recent research centers heavily on wildfire evacuations in First Nation communities in Canada; various overlapping factors (like remote locations and a lack of emergency response infrastructure) often result in disproportionate wildfire impacts to these communities.



We owe a huge thank you to Amy for coming on the show to share her perspective; it was a privilege to learn about the work she&#8217;s involved in, as well as how First Nation communities continue to reestablish control over their homelands—while touching on some of the roadblocks she&#8217;s experienced along the way.



To hear more from Amy, you can check out her absolutely stellar podcast, <a href="https://yourforestpodcast.com/good-fire-podcast">Good Fire</a>.



Finally, this episode is sponsored by Mystery Ranch Backpacks, which recently came out with women&#8217;s-specific sizing on their fire packs (!!!) which we are inordinately excited about. Whether you need something that can keep up on day after day of digging line or a bomber duffel bag for weekend trips, you can rest assured that Mystery Ranch packs come ready to be used hard and put away wet, no matter what. You can dig around on their <a href="https://www.mysteryranch.com/womens-hotshot-tl-wildland-fire-pack">website</a>.

Indigenous-Led Fire Stewardship with Amy Christianson

Triss Seemiller is a trans woman who started gender-affirming hormone therapy when she was on a shot crew in California. She transitioned soon after she left the crew. She has occasionally felt uneasy about sharing her identity with coworkers since transitioning, and in this episodes walks us through her breadth of experiences on different crews to talk about situations where she felt most empowered and comfortable being herself, as well as the situations that made her question her desire to stick with fire as a career. Through it all, she provides some incredible perspective on what it&#8217;s like to navigate modern fire culture as a trans woman, and offers some suggestions for folks who want to build a more inclusive culture on their own crews and districts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">#ForestProud</h2>



This episode is sponsored by #ForestProud—a community of land stewards focused on keeping forests as forests while fighting for forest climate solutions in the era of climate change. They serve to &#8220;connect the dots&#8221; between organizations, initiatives, those interested in joining the forest sector and those already involved. To check out some of their great content, follow them on Instagram and Twitter at @forestproud. To become a member, learn more about them or donate, check out their <a href="https://forestproud.org/">website</a>.

How Can Fire Culture Become More Inclusive? With Triss Seemiller

Bobbie Scopa has had quite a long and storied fire career—she recently retired after 45 years working in both wildland and municipal fire, during which she worked her way into the Chief position and into numerous leadership positions over her career with the Forest Service. Notably, she was present on the Dude Fire in 1990, where six firefighters were tragically killed, and even served at Ground Zero after 9/11. But Bobbie&#8217;s story doesn&#8217;t start and end with firefighting. She&#8217;s also a trans woman, and has experienced the fire world as both a man and woman, having transitioned to female between fire seasons in the late 1980s. This gives Bobbie an exceedingly rare perspective on gender dynamics on the fireline—perspectives that she now shares widely through her podcast, Bobbie on Fire, as well as her new book, <a href="https://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/both-sides-of-the-fire-line-products-9781641608060.php">Both Sides of the Fireline</a>, which is available for pre-order and will be released this fall. Through it all, Bobbie maintains an incredible ability to tell stories that serve not only as valuable lessons learned, but often as funny and relatable anecdotes for anyone who has worked in fire—and especially for those who are underrepresented in the fire space.

A Life of Fire As A Trans Woman, with Bobbie Scopa

In the second half of our conversation with Jane Park, we spoke about some of the diversity initiatives that Jane has spearheaded within Banff National Park and Parks Canada as a whole. We also spoke about Jane&#8217;s experiences of working in fire as a Korean-Canadian woman and type 1 incident commander, and why she thinks it&#8217;s imperative to bring more people of color and women into the wildfire and prescribed fire spaces.

Diversity in Fire with Jane Park (Part Two)

Life with Fire Podcast

Life with Fire Podcast

Episodes

Ep. 35—Underdiscussed, Poorly Understood: Prescribed Fire Liability Insurance with Daniel Godwin

Ep. 34—Indigenous-Led Fire Stewardship with Amy Christianson

Ep. 33—How Can Fire Culture Become More Inclusive? With Triss Seemiller

Ep. 32—A Life of Fire As A Trans Woman, with Bobbie Scopa

Ep. 31—Diversity in Fire with Jane Park (Part Two)

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