ICC Coordinates Nationwide Wildfire Prevention Seminars Prevention costs pennies compared to the costs of damages and recovery from wildfire, as this video and the recent loss of 19 elite wildfire fighters in the deadly Yarnell disaster clearly demonstrate. And in a year which was predicted by the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture to be an "above normal" wildfire year due to soaring summer temperatures and low precipitation, serious efforts are under way to coordinate wildfire prevention strategies in high fire potential regions. The way to reduce the disastrous effects of wildfires is community-wide planning long before the fire starts. That's why the International Code Council is coordinating a series of seminars in wildfire-prone areas of the United States in partnership with the National Association of Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council and regional RC&D Councils. The first seminar was held recently in Talogo, Okla., and other seminars are set to be held in Nebraska, Idaho, Arizona, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Alabama, New Hampshire, Texas, Washington, Oregon, Montana, New Jersey, Georgia and California. Funding for the seminar series come from grants to NARC&DC to instruct local and regional officials on building coalitions that will create the adoption and enforcement of ICC's Wildland-Urban Interface Code. This new program, Wildfire Safe, Sound & Code Smart, seeks to develop effective planning, building and prevention strategies in national recognized WUI areas where 12 million Americans live and work.