• TRUTH DECAYOn Hurricanes and Hoaxes: A Case for Finding Common Ground

    By Rosie Semlyen

    Conspiracy theories offer an easy, emotionally satisfying answer to a complicated problem. Instead of facing the reality of climate change, or reckoning with their own complicity, people can choose a different story: that climate disasters are manipulated, that scientists are corrupt, and that the crisis is exaggerated for political gain.

  • CRISIS MANAGEMENTCrisis Management Agencies Facing Crises

    By Christina Lengyel

    Ninety-five percent of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s funding comes from federal sources.

  • DISASTERSPerfect Storm: Megafires Set the Stage for Debris Flows

    By Jules Bernstein

    Storms now pounding Southern California are raising the specter of more danger for residents — debris flows in areas already reeling from devastating fires. Flows pose bigger threat than typical mudslides.

  • WILDFIRES5 Israeli Innovations for Fighting Wildfires

    By Zachy Hennessey

    As regions from California to the Mediterranean face wildfire threats, these innovations can help win the battle against out-of-control flames.

  • TRUTH DECAYIn Times of Crisis, States Have Few Tools to Fight Misinformation

    By Matt Vasilogambros

    While officials in Southern California fought fire and falsehoods, Meta —the parent company of Facebook and Instagram —announced it would eliminate its fact-checking program in the name of free expression. As social media companies are pushing back against efforts to crack down on falsehoods, questions are asked about what, if anything, state governments can do to stop the spread of harmful lies and rumors that proliferate on social media.

  • WILDFIRESThe L.A. Fires Show a Need to Rethink Our Wildland Firefighting Systems

    By Jay Balagna

    As bad as the fires in the Los Angeles area have been—more than 12,000 structures burned, about 180,000 people evacuated, more than 35,000 acres scorched, and at least 25 deaths—they could have been even worse, but in some ways Angelenos got lucky. Asystem built on luck, however, is not a durable system. It is already strained, and it risks breaking down in a world of greater and more frequent wildfires.

  • WILDFIRESWhat Mercenaries Can Teach Us About Climate-Fueled Disaster Responses

    By Isabelle Bond

    The devastating fires in Southern California, many of which are still burning out of control, have exposed a controversial and increasingly attractive disaster response alternative that engages the private sector.

  • CHEMICAL SPILLSAccidents Not Waiting to Happen

    By Marina Schauffler

    Fires are classified by the material ignited, and only Class A fires —involving wood, cloth, rubber and some plastics —respond well to water. Class A foam is typically used on structural fires because it penetrates into materials to quell flames quickly. But a recent firefighting foam spill points to a much larger problem Maine has ignored.

  • DISASTER PREPARATIONS Building a Fellowship that Empowers Policymakers to Leverage Science

    By Ryan Gallasch

    As all of us just saw with hurricanes Helene and Milton, extreme weather and other impacts of climate change are already affecting the fabric of our society. As evident by these recent tragedies, U.S. leaders are navigating a complex and interconnected policy landscape as they wrestle with how to confront climate change.

  • FIRST RESPONDERSArtificial Intelligence Means Better, Faster and More for First Responders

    Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) hold tremendous potential to enable first responders to better process information and drive faster and more precise response. However, these capabilities present certain risks.

  • DISASTERSAmid Hurricane Milton’s Devastation, a Sliver of Good News

    By Anna Lamb

    Earlier this month Hurricane Milton caused an estimated $50 billion in damage and claimed the lives of at least 14 people, yet didn’t deliver the scale of destruction some had feared. Cellphone data suggest evacuation mandates, warning systems worked.

  • DISATER EVACUTIONWhen Hurricane Evacuation Isn’t an Option

    By Ayurella Horn-Muller

    Those who remain to face a hurricane are often labeled brave or stubborn. Sometimes they feel the threat is overblown, the need to leave overstated. But some have no other choice. Not everyone rides out storms like Milton or Helene by choice. Some simply cannot afford to flee.

  • AUTONOMOUS DISASTER RESPONSEAutonomous Disaster Response Technology Successfully Applied to Fire Extinguishing System of a 3,200-ton Vessel

    An innovative technology for autonomously responding, without crew intervention, to ruptures to the pipes within the fire extinguishing system of vessels has been successfully verified for the first time in Korea.

  • EXTREMISMExtremists Co-Opt Hurricane Response to Blame Israel, Incite a Storm of Hateful Narratives

    Right-wing extremists have been exploiting the devastation surrounding Hurricane Helene — a storm that has so far claimed the lives of at least 230 people in the southeast U.S.— and now Hurricane Milton, to advance antisemitic or anti-Israel conspiracy theories that federal disaster assistance has been slow or inadequate because they believe the U.S. is sending funds and personnel to Israel instead.

  • DISASTER RESPONSEEvacuating in Disasters Like Hurricane Milton Isn’t Simple – There Are Reasons People Stay in Harm’s Way, and It’s Not Just Stubbornness

    By Carson MacPherson-Krutsky

    Evacuating might seem like the obvious move when a major hurricane is bearing down on your region, but that choice is not always as easy as it may seem. Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.