FireUp Your Learning

Welcome to FireReady Essentials

For anyone who lives, works, or owns property in fire-prone areas

~85 min self-paced | 7 lessons + homework at 7, 30, and 90 days

This course explains how homes ignite, how to harden your home against embers and smoke, why your neighbor's choices affect your survival and insurance, and where agencies, insurers, and funders can help.

Whether you're a homeowner or renter who is learning about home hardening and defensible space, a Firewise leader looking for better neighborhood engagement tools, an insurer trying to figure out how community programs can reduce risk, or a funder wondering what outcome data actually looks like — this is for you. You'll complete a self-assessment you can track over time and create a personal Fire Ready Action Plan, providing a clear pathway to formal property evaluation and certification.

This self-paced course is based on insights from Let's Get Fire Ready, a collaborative board game created by fire professionals and tested with Firewise communities since 2025.

Here's how the game goes. Sitting around a table, 2–10 players pick a role card each—Homeowner, Firefighter, Insurance Agent, Funder, Indigenous Fire Manager, among 21 others—to build wildfire resilience in a community over 10 rounds. Players take turns drawing Action cards (Clear Zone 0, Protect Vents, Designate Shelters) and Event cards (Summer Camp Fires, Evacuation Alert, Grant Funding Secured). They collaborate to allocate cash and volunteer hours. They draw on ally cards if they need additional help. They watch the Wildfire Risk Meter climb with unmitigated hazards. Players win together, only if they build halos of protection around their selected tiles and bring the risk meter down to 2 or less by round 10.

The game compresses the real dynamics of building wildfire resilience into 45+ minutes or 10 game rounds: the roles, the costs, the tradeoffs, the coordination, the surprises. This course decompresses those 45 minutes back into the knowledge you need to play them — or live them — well. Every lesson opens with a moment from the game and teaches you the science, the actions, and the systems behind that moment. By the end, you'll have your own Fire Ready Action Plan and a clear view of how your individual actions fit into a community-scale strategy.

You do not need to have played the game to take the course. But if you want to experience what collaborative wildfire resilience can accomplish — order a Let's Get Fire Ready game kit and play it with your neighbors. If you'd like to help scale the reach of this game and course material, sponsor a community pilot here. The course teaches you the science. The game teaches you the collaboration. Together, they teach you that you don't have to do this alone — and you don't have to do it all at once.

When you're ready to begin the course, head to the 'Lessons 1-7' tab and get started with the Course Overview.

You can also enter the Live Feed to introduce yourself, share experiences, and ask questions throughout the week.

If you have feedback, questions or comments on a lesson, feel free to use the comment function or reach out to FireUp through direct messages on this platform. 

Let's get started!