• WILDFIRESAI Technology and Self-Coordinating Drones to Detect and Investigate Wildfires

    Engineers have developed a swarm of self-coordinating drones for firefighting, as part of an effort to develop cost-effective early mitigation strategies for wildfires.

  • FIRE-PROOFING BUILDINGSNew Gels Could Protect Buildings During Wildfires

    Researchers have developed a sprayable gel that creates a shield to protect buildings from wildfire damage. It lasts longer and is more effective than existing commercial options.

  • FIREFIGHTINGInnovating Firefighting Technology with Smart Solutions to Enhance Urban Resilience

    The increase in high-rise and densely populated urban development has heightened the demand for safety and resilience solutions against emergencies, such as fires. Researchers have created advanced technological solutions to enhance firefighting and urban resilience.

  • WILDFIRESHow the Marshall Fire Sparked a Political Transformation in Colorado

    By Jake Bittle

    After the fire destroyed his town in 2021, a state rep took on insurance companies, mortgage lenders, and landlords — and beat them all.

  • WILDFIRESFuture Climate Change Will Impact Opportunities for Prescribed Fires

    Prescribed burning is one of the most effective tools to prevent catastrophic fires. Some locations in the United States are facing a future where safe conditions to burn are fewer and farther between.

  • WILDFIRESUsing Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires

    Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.

  • 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.