Chapter 4: Press Kit for Wildland Fire
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Chapter 4: Press Kit for Wildland Fire

   

Chapter 4: Press Kit for Wildland Fire1

Frances Nevill and Martha C. Monroe2

This document is a chapter in the Wildland Fire Education Handbook. To learn more about this handbook, please refer to Chapter 1: Introduction to the Wildland Fire Education Handbook (FOR 72) .

This chapter of the Wildland Fire Education Handbook contains a set of sample and adaptable media documents to help publicize and gain media coverage for programs, educational demonstrations, prescribed burns, demonstration area events, and the concept of wildland fire in general. It also includes Tips & Tools for adapting and using this press kit and copies of the media's documents used in Volusia County's demonstration burn. For more information about this burn, see Volusia County Case Study in Chapter 5 (FOR76) .

Media Tips and Tools: Adapting and Using the Press Kit

In order to help you make the best use of media opportunities, we've included press releases, media alerts, Dear Neighbor Letter, and news articles in this press kit. Look in the "Media" folder on the CD-ROM in your toolkit for Word and WordPerfect versions of these documents or download the attached pdf's.

Publicity is newsworthy information released to gain attention or support. Facets of newsworthiness include location, timeliness, consequence, human interest, celebrity involvement, etc. Keep this in mind when issuing a press release or news article. Reporters will ask themselves 'Is this newsworthy?' prior to covering your event or story.

There are many tools that publicists use to communicate an event or topic to reporters:

This press kit contains the following samples:

These are the basic media tools that will help you deliver a message to the community. However, don't limit yourself to the tools included in this kit. As you plan your events--whether they be prescribed fires for the media or forums for the public--be creative!

Please keep the following tips in mind when using this kit.

Below are guidelines for each of the media forms included here.

Media Alert Tips for Conducting a Demonstration Burn

"Dear Neighbor" Letter Tips

News Article Tips

Press Release Tips

Volusia County Examples

These documents were pilot tested in Volusia County to inform citizens of the reasons land managers used prescribed fire as a management tool (view PDF ), and to inform the media of upcoming burn in a subdivision (view PDF ).


Footnotes

1. This document is FOR 75, a chapter in the Wildland Fire Education Handbook, Circular 1245, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Published in January 2000; revised in July 2001. Reviewed August 2006. Part of this publication may be reproduced for educational use, please provide credit to the School of Forest Resources and Conservation. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2. Frances Nevill, Public Relations Manager, The Nature Conservancy, 222 S.Westmonte Drive, Ste. 300, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714; Martha C. Monroe, Assistant Professor, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.


The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean.



Copyright Information

This document is copyrighted by the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) for the people of the State of Florida. UF/IFAS retains all rights under all conventions, but permits free reproduction by all agents and offices of the Cooperative Extension Service and the people of the State of Florida. Permission is granted to others to use these materials in part or in full for educational purposes, provided that full credit is given to the UF/IFAS, citing the publication, its source, and date of publication.