Wildland Fire Blog

Creating conversations across the wildland fire community. Contact us to suggest a topic.

Firefighters from BLM’s Kingman District in Arizona seen from behind hiking with gear as part of a mock fire exercise. Photo by Suzanne Allman, BLM contractor.

Director’s Report: Addressing Wildfires Together through Widescale Mitigation and Personal Precautions

09/07/2022

Nearly 9 out of 10 wildfires are caused by people. Even small precautions taken by individuals can play a significant role in reducing wildfires. Together with ongoing work by the Interior Department and our partners to address our new norm of more extreme wildfires, these efforts will improve our ability to live with fire.

Six members of the all-women conservation corps fire crew at Yosemite National Park pose for a photo at a park viewpoint. (Photo by NPS.)

A National Park Service Pilot Program Introduces Young Women to Careers in Wildland Fire

08/26/2022

Women in the United States have been fighting fires for centuries. Nevertheless, they are underrepresented in firefighting positions across local, state, and federal agencies. Last summer, the National Park Service launched a pilot program to give young women experience in wildland fire management, and are now building on its success.

Group of U.S. army soldiers trained on the Dixie Fire.

Helping Seasoned Wildland Fire Professionals Train the Next Generation

08/22/2022

One of the greatest challenges in wildland fire education is that individual instructors also have day jobs, and opportunities to learn how to be better teachers have been limited. A new partnership with the University of Kentucky’s Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching provided an opportunity this spring for wildland fire instructors to improve their teaching techniques so they can help the next generation of wildland fire professionals develop new skills.

A prescribed fire burns around a fallen tree and in standing trees in the background at dusk. Photo by NPS.

In the News: Once-ignored Indigenous Knowledge of Nature Now Shaping Science (www.mprnews.org)

08/15/2022

In many Indigenous communities, people have long made careful use of burns to promote forest health. But the Western view saw fire as inherently bad. On the Fond du Lac Reservation of Lake Superior Chippewa, this resulted in a curbing of burns. Nowadays, Tribes are reclaiming traditional ecological knowledge they were prohibited from using in the past, including fire.

Abby Sherwood, intern at Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire, on a Demmer Scholars Program tour of the White House. Photo courtesy of Abby Sherwood.

My Experience Interning for Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire

08/12/2022

Abigail Sherwood, an intern with the University of Montana’s Demmer Scholars Program, shares her experience with Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire.

An aerial photo shows how the Willowcreek Fire in late June 2022 was stopped when it reached a fire break created 22 years ago and maintained annually. Photo by Kristen Munday, BLM.

In the News: Fire Breaks Helped to Stop June Blaze (www.bakercityherald.com)

08/01/2022

A tractor that plowed swathes through rangeland in northern Malheur County, Oregon, more than two decades ago is a major reason why the Willowcreek Fire, the biggest blaze in the area so far this year, stopped when it did in late June.

An image of the 2021 Caldor Fire in California taken by Landsat.

Fifty Years of Landsat: Watchman for Wildfires (www.usgs.gov)

07/22/2022

Landsat satellites have been collecting information about wildfires since the 1970s, helping land managers and emergency responders assess the impact of fires on ecosystems and communities.

A dispatcher at the Boise Interagency Dispatch Center tracks wildfires and firefighting resources in southwestern Idaho. Photo by Neal Herbert, Department of the Interior.

Welcome to FireNet, Where Wildland Fire Agencies Collaborate

07/20/2022

With tens of thousands of wildland firefighting agencies spread throughout the U.S., achieving seamless information sharing and communication has historically been complex. FireNet provides a shared, secure single point of access to facilitate national wildland fire management across personnel from diverse organizations, regardless of affiliation.

Wood shake or shingle roofs can increase risk from wildfires. Photo by Pantira through Adobe Stock.

In the News: Wood Roofs are a $6 Billion Wildfire Problem (headwaterseconomics.org)

07/18/2022

Millions of Americans living in wildfire-prone areas have homes that are not constructed with wildfire in mind. Roofs are highly vulnerable to wildfire due to their large surface area and potential for embers to accumulate. Understanding how many vulnerable roofs exist in wildfire-prone areas can illuminate the scale and cost of home retrofits needed to help communities adapt to wildfires.

A wildland firefighter monitors a prescribed fire in Florida. Photo by NPS.

Using the Power of Data to Mitigate Wildfire Risk: Welcome to IFTDSS

07/18/2022

As climate change propels more extreme fire activity, a powerful tool called IFTDSS is putting the power of data into the hands of fire and fuel specialists, enabling them to prioritize fuel treatments to better mitigate the risk from wildfires to communities and landscapes.

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