Community Mitigation Assistance Team

Published on

Wed, 01/22/2020 - 12:18

What Does a CMAT Do?

A Community Mitigation Assistance Team is a national interagency resource designed to help communities build sustainable local capacity for community wildfire mitigation during high-risk times before, during and after a wildfire when awareness for risk reduction and the likelihood of action is highest.

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Now Virtual

Community Mitigation Assistance Teams (CMAT) are now available virtually. In addition, mitigation mentors are also available to work hand in hand with local community partnerships to further on-the-ground mitigation and build local capacity.

To request a virtual CMAT please fill in the CMAT Request and submit it to and/or call Greg Philipp, Acting Forest Service CMAT Coordinator (828) 460-0049 or Jon Bruno Partner CMAT Coordinator (719) 433-6775. To request a mitigation mentor contact Jon Bruno.

What Community Mitigation Assistance Teams Do

During incidents: CMATs work closely with Incident Management Teams, the Forest Service or other land management agencies and community residents and leaders to identify mitigation opportunities before a fire impacts the community.

CMATS work with local partners to identify and help them resolve mitigation challenges and build long-term mitigation efforts using best practices.

The team uses SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, one-on-one interviews, mentoring, best community risk reduction practices, mini-workshops, Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs), risk and fire occurrence maps, home assessments, pertinent research, demographics, their experience, and close community collaboration to help communities move mitigation forward.

Every assignment is different and dictated by individual community needs.

CMATs don’t provide wildfire prevention/messaging, produce literature/product development or perform the work of the community/ordering authority.

Local enabling conditions to consider a CMAT

The community is at medium to high risk of wildfire and has an identified mitigation challenge.

There is an existing wildfire mitigation organization/coalition including local, state, and federal land management partners.

Pertinent local, state, and federal partners have the capacity and desire to work closely with the team during the assignment and to implement resulting recommendations including follow-up reporting of accomplishments.

Scope of the project should provide a good return on investment (long and short term) to justify cost to deploy a team.

The ordering authority must provide a working location, internet access, and support for the CMAT during deployment.

Ordering a CMAT

Any community that meets the conditions described above may request a CMAT through the local National Forest, Incident Command Team, or other federal land manager. Requests are vetted by the National CMAT Lead based on enabling conditions, need, and likelihood of success.

Want to be a CMAT member?

Team members are highly proficient wildland urban interface mitigation specialists with extensive experience in community mitigation best practices and skills in analytical thinking, problem solving, wildfire behavior, collaboration, communication, and teamwork. Must be familiar with incident command.

Assignments are usually 7-14 days/12-14 hour days; laptops, cell phones, and personal credit cards are required (expenses are reimbursed).

Team members are ordered through ROSS following interagency incident business management practices and are paid based on ROSS status (agency employee, AD, or cooperator/partnership agreement) and reimbursed for travel and per diem per policy.