Learning Experience
Wildfire Adventure
A neighborhood wildfire | Do
A wildfire enactment in 3 hours. Neighbors play their way through a wildfire evacuation and a return to a damaged neighborhood.
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Spark action
Our live-action adventure asks a group of neighbors to roleplay their way through a wildfire evacuation and a return to a damaged neighborhood. Taking place in the actual neighborhood, players take real actions to improve preparedness, get to know their neighbors, and discover hazards and opportunities in and around their homes and neighborhood.
Specifications:
- 4+ neighboring families
- 3 one-hour modules (offered sequentially or together)
- Ages 15+
- 1+ facilitators
Our live-action adventure asks a group of neighbors to roleplay their way through a wildfire evacuation and a return to a damaged neighborhood. Taking place in the actual neighborhood, players take real actions to improve preparedness, get to know their neighbors, and discover hazards and opportunities in and around their homes and neighborhood.
Specifications:
- 4+ neighboring families
- 3 one-hour modules (offered sequentially or together)
- Ages 15+
- 1+ facilitators
“I forgot medications!?! And realized how things that seemed immediate were not important and vice versa.”
— Participant, Wildfire Live-Action Adventure, Oakland CA
A wildfire immersion
1
Ready and … go!
In the Evacuation module, players act out what they would do in a actual wildfire, doing things for real if possible. After reflecting on their household’s circumstances, and imagining an initial action plan, the fun begins. Players disperse to their homes, and get ready to “evacuate.” As the story unfolds, they receive live updates and must respond to changing conditions.
Play ends with all players having “evacuated.”
1
Ready and … go!
In the Evacuation module, players act out what they would do in a actual wildfire, doing things for real if possible. After reflecting on their household’s circumstances, and imagining an initial action plan, the fun begins. Players disperse to their homes, and get ready to “evacuate.” As the story unfolds, they receive live updates and must respond to changing conditions.
Play ends with all players having “evacuated.”
2
Coming and staying home
In the Return module, participants face the challenges of resuming life in a fire-damaged neighborhood. After a brief review of their prior actions and the post-fire state of the area, participants must work together to ensure that everyone has the water, food, and other supplies they need as they clear potential dangers from their homes and neighborhood.
Play ends when everyone is safe and can focus on reestablishing normal activities.
2
Coming and staying home
In the Return module, participants face the challenges of resuming life in a fire-damaged neighborhood. After a brief review of their prior actions and the post-fire state of the area, participants must work together to ensure that everyone has the water, food, and other supplies they need as they clear potential dangers from their homes and neighborhood.
Play ends when everyone is safe and can focus on reestablishing normal activities.
3
Ready and … plan!
The Planning module provides time for individual and collective planning. A review of events in the first two modules give participants the opportunity to identify key shortcomings in household and neighborhood preparedness, and capture creative solutions used to address situational challenges. Working individually and collaboratively, they then develop action plans for improving preparedness, and personalized checklists for response.
The Planning module may be offered in conjunction with either or both of the Evacuation and Return modules.
3
Ready and … plan!
The Planning module provides time for individual and collective planning. A review of events in the first two modules give participants the opportunity to identify key shortcomings in household and neighborhood preparedness, and capture creative solutions used to address situational challenges. Working individually and collaboratively, they then develop action plans for improving preparedness, and personalized checklists for response.
The Planning module may be offered in conjunction with either or both of the Evacuation and Return modules.
“It calmed me down to practice. Being in a real emergency feels less scary.”
— Participant, Wildfire Live-Action Adventure, Oakland CA
Learning objectives
Wildfire preparedness
- Assess real-life household needs and state of preparedness.
- Understand essential wildfire preparedness, including ember danger and the importance of Zone 0 protection, official emergency notifications, and early evacuation.
- Anticipate the possible challenges of returning to a damaged neighborhood, prioritizing safety, water, and food.
- Identify one immediate action, along with the motivation to complete it.
- Experience the uncertainty and unpredictability of wildfire behavior.
Social resilience
- Discover community interdependencies.
- Recognize the power of working together.
- Practice collaboration skills.
- Strengthen social connections.
General preparedness
- Complete one or more personal or household preparedness actions.
- Rehearse one ore more relevant response skills.
- Discover personal household and neighborhood priorities, shortcomings and resources.
- Create a personal action plan.
Inspire
Bridging the gap between classroom learning and real-life experiences, the Live-Action Adventure experience makes learning more relevant and meaningful. Participants’ active participation in creating the adventure story inspires ownership and responsibility for personal and community action, and leads to stronger retention and engagement.
Educate
The Live-Action Adventure is designed to convey the whys and hows of wildfire preparedness. Participants practice solving problems in a chaotic situation offering partial information. They often find that obvious solutions are not always the best, prompting curiosity about best practices. They experience the power of working together, and exercise communication and collaboration skills in a safe context.
Educate
The Live-Action Adventure is designed to convey the whys and hows of wildfire preparedness. Participants practice solving problems in a chaotic situation offering partial information. They often find that obvious solutions are not always the best, prompting curiosity about best practices. They experience the power of working together, and exercise communication and collaboration skills in a safe context.
Empower
The Live-Action Adventure is truly empowering. By seeing what they have and can accomplish, individually and together, participants experience a newfound sense of agency. The opportunity to think outside the box, and develop original ideas fosters creativity and ownership. As they discover their own capabilities, participants emerge feeling confident and capable of facing a real wildfire threat, together.
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“We have already taken extensive steps to prepare. But your point about returning to a destroyed neighborhood after a week evacuation causes me to reassess.”
— Participant, Wildfire Live-Action Adventure, Westridge CA