• WILDFIRESReforms Needed to Expand Prescribed Burns

    By Kat Kerlin

    Prescribed fire, which mimics natural fire regimes, can help improve forest health and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic wildfire. But this management tool is underused in the fire-prone U.S. West and Baja California, Mexico, due to several barriers. Study highlights four strategies to overcome barriers to prescribed fire in the West.

  • TRANSPORTATION SECURITYFire-Tested Systems Help Crews Survive Truck Burn-Overs

    By Justin Leonard and Amy Edwards

    Terrifying moments when flames can overrun and burn over a fire truck are called flashover or burn-over. While firefighters have strategies and operational procedures to minimize risk, these dangerous events still occur and can be fatal. Water spray systems are protecting fire trucks and firefighters from burn-overs.

  • WILDFIRESResidents Unprepared for Wildland Fires, Face Barriers in Implementing Prevention Measures

    Individual and social factors contribute to lack of preparedness, despite many available residential wildfire mitigation and educational programs.

  • WILDFIRESImproving Strategy for Social Media Communications During Wildfires

    In the last 20 years, disasters have claimed more than a million lives and caused nearly $3 trillion in economic losses worldwide. Specifically examining wildfires, researchers contradict existing crisis communication theory that recommends Disaster relief organizations (DROs) speak with one voice during the entirety of wildfire response operations.

  • WILDFIRESSimultaneous large wildfires will increase in Western U.S.

    By David Hosansky

    Simultaneous outbreaks of large wildfires will become more frequent in the Western United States this century as the climate warms, putting major strains on efforts to fight fires. This trend threatens to stretch firefighting resources.

  • WILDFIRESWhat Fuels Wildfires in Sierra Nevada Mountains

    By Lucas Van Wyk Joel

    Wildfires in California, exacerbated by human-driven climate change, are getting more severe. To better manage them, there’s a growing need to know exactly what fuels the blazes after they ignite. One of the chief fuels of wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains is the decades-old remains of large trees.

  • WILDFIRESWIFIRE Lab Forms New Partnership with DHS

    By Rajan Tavathia and Kimberly Mann Bruch

    For the past 10 years, the WIFIRE team at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego has been focused on meeting the growing needs of hazard monitoring, mitigation and response. Most recently, the team has partnered with DHS to integrate edge computing – a strategy emphasizing data collection and analysis at the site of or geographically near data sources. Joint effort aims to demonstrate workflows utilizing edge computing for wildfire monitoring, response and mitigation.

  • WILDFIRESThe U.S. Is Spending Billions to Reduce Forest Fire Risks – We Mapped the Hot Spots Where Treatment Offers the Biggest Payoff for People and Climate

    By Jamie Peeler

    In a new study, my colleagues and I mapped out where forest treatments can do the most to simultaneously protect communities – by preventing wildfires from turning into disasters – and also protect the forests and the climate we rely on, by keeping carbon out of the atmosphere and stored in healthy soils and trees.

  • WILDFIRESWildfires Are Much Worse Than a Sign of Climate Change

    By Alvin Powell

    Summer headlines have screamed of climate extremes: Record temperatures, an ocean heat wave, and rampant wildfires. The fires present a dual problem: Not only are they a symptom of climate change — becoming bigger, hotter, and more common in regions where they can affect large population centers — but they also make the crisis worse. By burning vast layers of partially decomposed vegetable matter called peat, fires like those in Canada release even more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

  • WILDFIRESClimate-Fueled Wildfires Lead to Rethink on Fire Tactics

    By Alistair Walsh

    Climate change is making wildfires more frequent and more destructive, and long-time firefighting strategies are no longer working. Scientists are calling for a radical rethink of how we fight wildfires.

  • FIREFIGHTINGFireDrone Supports the Firefighters

    Researchers are developing a heat-resistant drone that can analyze the source of danger at close range in the event of a building or forest fire. This allows firefighters to optimize the strategy of a high-risk operation before entering the danger zone.

  • WILDFIRESWe Aren't Helpless in the Face of Increasing Fires and Smoke

    By Jay Balagna

    Canada, Mexico, or the United States have published strategy documents that aim to rebalance fire’s place in our environment through methods such as prescribed fire. Even the most optimistic outlook on these efforts sees them as long-term solutions, though. Yes, a massive paradigm shift is necessary. But it’s also clear something needs to happen immediately, too. To protect ourselves, we can take steps that won’t distract from those long-term goals.

  • WILDFIREColorado Law Will Require Homes to Be More Wildfire Resistant

    By Jennifer Oldham

    The state will develop building standards for homes in high-risk areas after ProPublica’s reporting showed previous efforts to require fire-resistant housing materials had been repeatedly stymied by developers and municipalities.

  • WILDFIRESA Lawsuit to Protect Streams Could Take Away an Important Firefighting Tool

    By Max Graham

    The U.S. Forest Service uses millions of gallons of fire retardant to fight wildfires. There have long been concerns about what happens when that mix of ammonium phosphate, emulsifiers, and colorants finds its way into water.

  • WILDFIRESControlled Burns Help Prevent Wildfires, Experts Say. But Regulations Have Made It Nearly Impossible to Do These Burns.

    By Jennifer Oldham

    Even though the 2021 Marshall Fire made it clear that the fire threat posed by Colorado’s grasslands endangers large urban areas, federal, state and local rules continue to make it difficult to address the risk.