ISU receives state grant to bolster Pocatello’s wildfire preparedness

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI)– Idaho State University received a grant of around $141,000 from the Idaho Office of Emergency Management to fund a project to increase the Pocatello area's resilience to wildfires.

The 'Disaster Mitigation Response Capacity Enhancement' project is the joint effort of the Bannock County Office of Emergency Management, ISU’s Geographic Information Systems department, and students and faculty from the university's Master of Public Administration program.

The team will use the grant funds to conduct studies and map Pocatello's most wildfire-prone areas as well as ensure homes in Bannock County's wildland-urban interface areas are up to modern fire code.

"In Idaho, wildfires have occurred every year... so this is not a question about whether it will occur, but it's actually more about when it will occur," said Dr. Shin Kue Ryu, chair of ISU's Political Science Department and faculty lead on the project. "With recent events, we're made very aware of the circumstances and that pattern; [the grant] adds additional capacity to existing stakeholders in terms of not only thinking about response, but thinking about mitigation that will eventually save more money and lives and property in the long run."

The team on the Disaster Mitigation Response Capacity Enhancement initiative will conduct studies and mapping surveys until July 2027; results will be used to inform emergency response and mitigation strategies for disaster preparedness organizations in the Pocatello area.