Treesearch

A sequence of catastrophic wildfires that occurred during the past decades in Greece point to the need to re-examine the established wildfire risk governance policies. The most important regulations for fire suppression and fuel/forest management were established four decades ago (Law 998/1979). Wildfire suppression is now led by the Greek Fire Service, while pre-suppression vegetation management is supervised by the Greek Forest Service. The limited available budget is clearly distributed in favor of fire suppression (about $410 million annually), with minor funding remaining for fuel...

Fires in the peatlands of Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia are significant sources of greenhouse gases (GHG). Ignitions for these fires are widely regarded as occurring because of land clearing associated with palm oil and timber production and smallholder agriculture. The scale of peat forest degradation has led to intra- and inter-governmental, academic, and NGO efforts to monitor, document and reduce GHG emissions. Laws and policies are emerging as a result of these efforts. However, naming broad economic reasons for fire use in peatlands is inadequate for formulating land management...

To perform optimally, a wildland firefighter needs a diverse skillset. In addition to mastering firefighting tactics, the job requires a high level of physical fitness, proper nutrition, mental acuity, and self-awareness. These human performance factors are vital because, unlike other professions, failure to perform optimally in wildland firefighting can result in serious injury or death. Yet despite the job requirements and potentially fatal consequences, human performance is overlooked in wildland firefighting training.

In the Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 1998, appropriation for Interior and related agencies, U.S. Congress established funding and direction to initiate the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP). Federal wildland fire management agencies developed the Joint Fire Science Plan to provide program direction. Under the guidance of an interagency governing board, the program matured into a full-featured science program utilizing a multi-faceted process to determine research priorities; efficient and open proposal solicitation, review, and funding procedures; and effective, collaborative science delivery...

Within the ancestral homelands of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the Fire Continuum Conference (May 2018) discussed the complexity of wildland fire and fuels research and management. The CSKT fieldtrip took place on the Flathead Reservation, about 20 miles north of Missoula, and the presenters addressed many facets of the fire continuum and the CSKT’s novel approach towards addressing the complexity challenge. Approximately 53 people, from a variety of different countries, states, and backgrounds, attended the field trip which made for a great opportunity for shared...

Forty-one participants joined field trip coordinator LaWen Hollingsworth, Fire Behavior Specialist at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, as well as local Forest Service managers, the Type I Incident Commander, and the County Sheriff’s office, to learn about management of the 2017 Lolo Peak Fire. At four stops, participants had views of the burn area, heard about management decisions and actions and the Highly Valued Resources and Assets that informed decisions, talked with a local property owner, and saw previous fuel treatments and shaded fuel breaks that were useful...

Missoula District Ranger Jennifer Hensiek and other field trip presenters (see list of presenters at end) led about 35 participants on a tour through a portion of the Marshall Woods Restoration Project in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area on the Lolo National Forest (NF). The tour included stops throughout the project area to view thinning and prescribed burn treatments, as well as stops on private land adjacent to the project area to demonstrate the importance of community and partner engagement to project success. The number of unique stakeholders invested in the project area...

Wildfire environmental impacts and the threat they pose to human live and values depend of how fast it spreads, how much biomass is consumed, and how much energy it releases and at what rate. Nearly every feature of contemporary fire management relies upon the understanding and prediction of fire behavior characteristics and a number of tools have been developed for such purpose. However, no attempts have been made so far to provide an overall worldwide picture of fire behavior characteristics, patterns and drivers. These are the general objectives of the BONFIRE project, requiring...

Army Garrison Camp Williams (AGCW) is a military based located south of Herriman, UT. The base serves primarily as a training area for the Utah National Guard and is a fire-prone landscape located adjacent to urban development. The fire regime at Army Garrison Camp Williams (AGCW) was described in terms of fire frequency, annual area burned, sources of wildfire ignition, and historical fire patterns based on an analysis of historical fire perimeters (table 1). Additionally, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) data (Rollins and Frame 2006) were utilized to...

A case study is presented for the major run of the Machine Gun Fire on September 19, 2010, which started within the confines of Army Garrison Camp Williams (AGCW) and spread beyond installation boundaries to the north, destroying three homes and requiring an evacuation of approximately 1600 people in an adjacent community. This fire was selected for a wildfire behavior case study analysis because of its large size and destructive nature in relation to the wildland urban-interface area adjoining the base. Alexander and Thomas (2003) suggest that a wildland fire behavior case study should...