More Community Education Needed from Forest Preserves Regarding Controlled Burns

Forest Preserve District of Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting 
December 16, 2025 

The Forest Preserve Environmental and Sustainability committee presented a report on the Chicago Wilderness Alliance Community Wildfire Preparedness Plan (CWPP) [25-0331].  Led by the Cook County Forest Preserves,  the report was presented by John McCabe and covered August 13, 2013 to June 2024. The plan was developed to guide mitigation and facilitate fire adapted communities in Lake, Cook, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will counties.  
The purpose of the plan is to:

1. Reduce loss due to wildfires
2. Promote effective wildfire response
3. Bring awareness to land management in the wildland-urban interface
4. Promote effective fuels management
5. Educate the public on wildfire prevention and mitigation

This plan reflects the collaborative effort and input of numerous community members, emergency responders, local organizations, and stakeholders from each of the six represented counties.  It is a comprehensive strategy with the use of GIS for spatial data to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfire risks in the region.
Key findings are:

• Since the prior report only 2% of the area in 6 counties, or 100,000 acres, is classified as high risk.
• The 6 county area has lost over 400,000 acres of open space due to development. 
• The biggest risk factor is smoke. Within one mile of a wildfire, eight million people can be impacted. 

Action items are:

• Improve accuracy and consistency of reporting
• Create defensible spaces in high risk areas
• Implementation of fuel reduction measures
• Promotion of interdisciplinary training for fire departments

Questions and comments from commissioners revolved mainly about how the Forest Preserves communicates to a community regarding controlled burns.  Tactics include education at local libraries, knocking on doors, door hangers, working with local fire departments, and with the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association. The Cook County Forest Preserve is educating local departments on the importance of reporting each forest preserve burn that they may respond to. This is important for tracking and accuracy. The report was received and filed.

Observers:       Laura Davis and Marge Pearson