The meeting brought together more than 85 firefighters and representatives from institutions in Brazil and Peru to share experiences and strengthen forest fire prevention strategies.

 

More than 85 community firefighters from different regions of Acre gathered on August 25 and 26 at the Antimary State Forest to share experiences, build knowledge, and discuss strategies for forest fire prevention and response. The meeting marked the first Community Firefighters Exchange and Integrated Fire Management (MIF) event.

 

Organized by the Acre State Secretariat of the Environment (SEMA) and the Acre Military Fire Department (CBMAC), in partnership with the Earth Innovation Institute (EII), as part of the Innovative Counties Program, the meeting brought together community firefighters from Acre, as well as representatives from institutions and fire brigades from other Brazilian states and Peru.

 

For those working directly in the field, opportunities for exchange like this represent a chance to expand their knowledge and bring new insights back to their communities. “First, I’d like to thank God for allowing me to be here to gain more knowledge. What we’ve already learned here will certainly contribute more and more to our communities and conservation areas,” says José Francisco, a CEFERG firefighter.

 

According to him, despite the difficulties faced on a daily basis, it is important to value the progress made and continue investing in the training of firefighters. “I believe that SEMA and the entire government play an important role in continuing to organize training programs of this scale and magnitude, so that firefighters gain more knowledge and recognition every day—not only from the government but from the entire community.”

 

IFM: Prevention, Knowledge, and Community Participation

 

One of the main topics of the exchange was Integrated Fire Management (IFM), a strategy that seeks to promote planned and integrated management of fire use, taking into account the different realities of each territory and involving communities, public institutions, fire brigades, and other local stakeholders.

 

For Warley Rodrigues, EII’s Integrated Fire Management Coordinator, one of the challenges is to translate this strategy into practices that make sense for communities. “One of our goals here is to discuss Integrated Fire Management, which is a national strategy endorsed by the National Policy on Integrated Fire Management. We’re taking this strategy to states like Acre, where we have a partnership with the municipality of Feijó and the state government to develop this tool,” he explains.

 

According to Warley, the work specifically focuses on community-based Integrated Fire Management, which involves building trust and lasting relationships with communities. “The idea is to gain the community’s trust so that the brigade can work in an integrated and active manner within the municipalities, in accordance with the state’s strategy,” he emphasizes.

 

Community participation is considered essential because the brigade members are embedded in these territories and have firsthand knowledge of their characteristics, challenges, and needs. 

 

For Elsa Mendoza, EII Program Coordinator in Acre, community brigades represent an important innovation in fire management. “Community brigades are an innovation that Acre has been implementing. This initiative is very important because it involves family farmers and small-scale producers who are directly connected to land use and forest stewardship,” she says.

 

She explains that the exchange was also designed to hear from the brigade members themselves and understand their needs and the lessons they have already learned in the field. 

 

“The EII recognized the importance of small-scale producers as active brigade members and supported this exchange to identify their needs, the lessons learned, and to foster collaboration with other institutions and brigade members from different locations, such as Peru and Tocantins,” explains Elsa.

 

For her, sharing these experiences is a way to strengthen both the fire brigades and the development of state strategies for Integrated Fire Management. “These lessons need to be shared and learned. The EII supports SEMA in this process because it also strengthens the development of its Integrated Fire Management (MIF) plan, and community firefighters are a very important element of that plan,” she states.

 

Strengthening Those on the Ground

 

More than just discussing firefighting, the meeting reinforced a central message: Integrated Fire Management begins with prevention.

 

In this sense, strengthening community fire brigades also means expanding the capacity of local communities to prepare for periods of heightened fire risk and to develop responses tailored to their own realities. “We are demonstrating that this partnership is helping us make progress on the IFM agenda,” Leonardo emphasized. “I would like to thank EII for being with us, strengthening the forest firefighting agenda in a sustainable and effective way in the state of Acre.”

 

The exchange experience also underscores the importance of carrying out similar initiatives in other regions, expanding opportunities for firefighters and institutions to share knowledge, practices, and solutions.

 

By connecting different territories, the exchange helps strengthen a network of people who work directly to protect forests, rural activities, and communities.

 

Experiences That Transcend Borders

 

The exchange also included the participation of the Earth Innovation Institute (EII) Peru team, which shared experiences and lessons learned regarding forest fire prevention and response.

 

The presence of representatives from other regions underscored the importance of cooperation, especially in the face of a challenge that is not limited to administrative boundaries. “Forest fires do not respect borders. We need to exchange experiences because we are in the same biome,” emphasized Leonardo Carvalho, Secretary of State for the Environment of Acre.

 

According to him, holding the meeting in the region allowed the discussion to be grounded in the realities faced by communities and conservation areas. “We are here for a very important activity: coming to the region and discussing with firefighters how to implement Integrated Forest Management (MIF) in accordance with the realities of our conservation areas and, based on that, planning how we will act,” he stated.

 

The secretary also highlighted the participation of representatives from ICMBio, the federal government, the Office of the President of the Republic, Aliança da Terra, and other partner institutions in developing the Integrated Fire Management agenda for the state.

 

Partnership for Integrated Fire Management

 

In Acre, the program supports the strengthening of the Integrated Fire Management agenda and local capacities, valuing community knowledge and the work of fire brigade members as a fundamental part of fire management. In Feijó, the Innovative Counties program, led by the EII, has been applying its methodology by establishing a fire brigade and strengthening local governance in its first phase.

 

The exchange underscores that forest fire prevention depends not only on equipment and response structures but also on knowledge, planning, coordination, and trust among those who live and work in these areas.

 

The First Exchange of Community Firefighters and Integrated Fire Management is part of the Innovative Counties Program, an initiative led by the Earth Innovation Institute (EII) in partnership with Aliança da Terra, with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.