The Forest History Association of Wisconsin will offer a free webinar at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Author Bill Matthias of Wascott will present the program based on the story told in his 2010 book “Monster Fire at Minong,” published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
The account of this fire has been told and re-told as a “success story” in many forms. State and local disaster program managers will tend to promote the concept of the disaster cycel for community planners. This performance management concept employed in disaster settings is comprised of “Mitigate, Prepare, Respond, Recover.” In application, disaster planners in wildfire settings need to be capable of scientific hazard assessment to outline prevention and hazard reduction strategies and then to mobilize, equip and train an effective response force fitted to the level of need — from which they will learn from both success and failure during the response and recovery efforts, to strengthen future mitigation and preparedness.