I was a fourth grade teacher in the Mesa Public Schools District for 5 years prior to joining the Arizona Burn Foundation and greatly valued my time as an Arizona educator. Transitioning to the Arizona Burn Foundation allowed me to continue my love of teaching, but give children the tools they need to stay safe from fire and burns.

The Milo & Moxie: Smart Safety Rangers™ program includes lesson plans that teach Kindergarten through 5th grade students Arizona state standards such as point of view, author’s purpose, and summarizing, while integrating fire safety and burn prevention education. Milo & Moxie: Smart Safety Rangers™ supports students’ complex reasoning on how to stay safe in and around their home at the same time promoting grade level learning objectives. The success of Milo & Moxie: Smart Safety Rangers™ to educate 250,000 children has led ABF to create a new children’s wildfire prevention program.

Every year, wildfires burn across the United States threatening precious lives and property. The United States has already seen 27,770 wildfires burn over one million acres this year alone. Wildfires in Arizona can spread even faster than other areas of the country due to our unique vegetation, topography, and climate.

Unfortunately, 78% of Arizona wildfires in 2019 were caused by humans. So far this year, 223,225 acres have burned due to human related activity (the Bush Fire alone burned almost 200,000 acres and was human caused). According to the Department of Forestry and Fire Management, “So far in 2020, three times as many acres have burned in Arizona as in all of 2019.” The Arizona Burn Foundation realized a need for wildfire education in Arizona to help teach children and parents how to prevent wildfires.

The Milo & Moxie: Wildfire Prevention book continues the relationship between Milo & Moxie as they help children, families and communities stay safe during fire season. It is through their fluctuating experience that readers can learn how to create fire resistant zones, pack an emergency supply kit, and build, maintain and extinguish a safe campfire.

The Milo & Moxie: Wildfire Prevention book demonstrates strategies to help prevent and stop the spread of wildfires. This program provides students the opportunity to practice safe camping and become wildfire prevention leaders. The combination of wildfire prevention education, standard aligned curriculum, and a comprehensive library of fire safety resources will help reduce the trauma caused by wildfires in  Arizona each year.

The Arizona Burn Foundation continues to educate children about the importance of fire safety, burn prevention, and wildfire education but cannot do so without your help.  Please consider making a gift today to help promote our Milo & Moxie: Wildfire Prevention program.

 

Sincerely,

Sabrina Bosch Prevention & Education Programs Manager