‘Unfathomably’ fast wildfire killed 4 wildland firefighters near Colorado-Utah border, new report finds

The first federal report on the Knowles Fire, which killed four wildland firefighters near the Colorado-Utah border on June 27, was released by the Department of the Interior on Friday.

The 95-page report used interviews from the surviving firefighter, fire managers, and other crew members working nearby fires to gain a complete understanding of the events that led to the firefighters’ deaths, according to department officials. Other data used in the report included dispatch logs, remotely-sensed data and physical evidence from the scene of the entrapment.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Firefighters killed near Colorado-Utah border were waiting for helicopter pickup when burnover overtook them, latest investigation details show

Officials determined that the crew only had nine seconds between learning the helicopter they requested to rescue them could not land and needing to deploy their fire shelters. The Knowles Fire, which merged with the nearby Snyder Mesa, Jones and Gore fires, spread more than 7 miles over complex broken mesa and canyon topography in under three hours, which witnesses described as “shocking” and “unfathomable.” Sustained winds of 25 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph persisted for hours.

“An Air Attack with more than 30 years of experience was ‘shocked’ at the run the Snyder, Jones and Dolores
Fires made on June 27th,” the report said. “The fires’ tendency to spot over natural barriers that day was unlike anything the fire management organization had previously experienced … For some, it was the windiest day they had ever experienced on a fire, or, indeed, at all. One experienced firefighter described it as less like normal fire spread and more ‘like a storm, sweeping with the wind’ over the landscape.”

Heavy smoke made it impossible for the crew’s requested helicopter to land safely, according to the report. A helicopter was eventually able to return to the site two and a half hours after the burnover and found the two surviving firefighters, one of whom would die from their injuries later. A second helicopter landed at the scene minutes later and confirmed there were no other survivors.

The report included 19 numbered findings, but listed no blame or recommendations to avoid similar situations in the future.

“No single decision or system failure fully explains the outcome. Instead, the events reveal the cumulative effects of known limitations operating under extraordinary tempo and conditions,” officials said in the report. “By documenting and analyzing these interactions with care and honesty, the team seeks to equip firefighters, managers, dispatchers, and aviation personnel with clearer insight so that similar sequences may be recognized and interrupted in the future.”

Click here to read the full report.

New wildfire platform connects US fire departments, emergency managers and tribal governments to resources

A new online platform to connect wildfire responders and stakeholders to resources focused on strengthening preparedness, mitigation, and community resilience has been launched by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, with support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the US Forest Service.

The Wildfire Resilience Hub streamlines access to the Association’s wildfire programs, training opportunities, practical tools, and technical expertise, representatives said in a press release. The resources include:

  • Wildfire programs supporting community wildfire preparedness, mitigation, and resilience.
  • Resources and tools such as practical guides, publications, templates and educational materials.
  • Training and education materials like webinars, workshops, and professional development opportunities.
  • Technical assistance like expert guidance and support.
  • Community solutions like successful initiatives, best practices, and lessons learned from other communities.
  • News, events, and funding opportunities.

People interested in accessing the resources must be signed up through the Association’s Ready, Set, Go! Program. Membership is free and can be completed online.

“The Wildfire Resilience Hub supports a more connected approach to wildfire preparedness by bringing programs, education, resources, and technical assistance together in one platform,” Association representatives said in a press release. “By improving access to information and encouraging collaboration among fire departments, government agencies, and community organizations, the Hub helps partners identify practical solutions, strengthen preparedness efforts, and build more wildfire-resilient communities.

Click here to access the hub.

Two helicopter crashes kill 4, injure 2, as wildfires rage

Two separate firefighting helicopter crashes in four days have left four dead and two injured as Indonesia’s wildfires continue to burn across the nation.

The latest crash happened on Sunday during a firefighting operation in the Barito River waters of Tabatan Village, in the Kuripan District of South Kalimantan, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency. Emergency officials initially claimed that all of the helicopter’s crew members were safe, but later said initial reports were incorrect, and instead only two crew members, one Australian and one New Zealander, were found injured and have since been hospitalized.

Emergency crews have since confirmed that Helicopter Landing Officer Yayan Supyansuri died in the crash.

[UPDATE: This article originally reported information that both injured crew were Australian.]

That crash happened four days after another water-bombing helicopter crashed in the Seruyan Regency of Central Kalimantan during a firefighting operation, killing three Indonesian crew members and injuring several others, the Agency said. Those killed in that crash included:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Dudi Firmansyah
  • Captain Nurhafiz Akbar
  • First Sergeant Heri Prasetyo

“The dedication, service, and spirit shown by the deceased in carrying out humanitarian duties will always remain a part of our collective endeavor to protect the public from the threat of disasters,” the Agency said in a social media post.

The pilots injured in the first crash were part of a broader mission by the Australian Government to offer support to Indonesian crews fighting the fires, smoke from which has lowered air quality in Australia. The Government deployed 20 specialist aviation personnel from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, along with a C-130 Hercules Large Air Tanker and a Cessna Citation, which acted as a scout aircraft, according to the Agency. The deployment was scheduled to last from Nov. 6 to Nov. 12.

Air pollution from Indonesia’s wildfire smoke has killed an estimated 3,500 people in the country, and continues to worsen air quality in neighboring nations to “unhealthy” and even “hazardous” levels, according to a recent analysis from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

READ MORE: Over 3,500 killed from Indonesia wildfires’ air pollution

New ‘firewave’ term narrowly misses Word of the Year recognition

A term invented to describe the growing threat of simultaneous urban wildfires narrowly missed recognition as “Word of the Year.”

“Firewave” describes a series of urban wildfires within a short period of time, usually due to extended periods of hot and dry weather. The definition is listed in the international Collins Dictionary, which listed the term as a runner-up for its “Word of the Year” for 2026.

The term was coined by researchers at Imperial College London in 2025 and speaks to the growing impact of climate change, representatives of the dictionary said in a blog post.

“Think heatwave, but with added peril, and scientists warned this year that cities are increasingly at risk,” the post said.

The researchers coined the term after a series of extreme heatwaves across the United Kingdom, which severely affected London in particular and caused the London Fire Brigade’s busiest day since World War II. They identified vapour pressure deficit, the atmosphere’s ability to extract moisture from the land surface, as a much more accurate indicator and driver of wildfires than either humidity or temperature.

They also created the concept of “firewaves” to help forecast and predict times when similar urban wildfire outbreaks may occur and prepare officials accordingly.

“It is hoped that the results will be of operational value to the LFB, and lay the foundation for further work investigating the role of heatwaves and VPD in increasing wildfire hazards in cities and other urban environments worldwide,” researchers said in the paper they published in the Springer Nature Link academic journal of Fire Technology.

Click here to read the full study.

Over 3,500 killed from Indonesia wildfires’ air pollution

Indonesia’s hazardous air quality killed thousands in September, according to data analysis from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The country’s worsening air quality emergency killed 5,310 in September alone; 3,560 were attributed directly to emissions from a surge in forest and land fires over the past months, the center’s analysis found. The data were estimated using research on mortality rates and air pollution, broken down by region.

“The number of citizens exposed to “unhealthy” to “hazardous” air quality hit a monthly record peak of 58 million in September — a 40% jump from August’s peak,” representatives said in the analysis. “Citizens inhaling hazardous-level air in Kalimantan alone nearly tripled from 2.8 million to 6.4 million during the worst days of the month.”

Forest and land fires (karhutla) burning throughout the country surpassed records previously set during 2015, when numerous states of emergency were declared due to “Southeast Asian haze” caused by slash-and-burn practices in Indonesia. Despite that, the country’s National Disaster Management Agency has been constrained due to a 75% budget cut this year, according to the researchers.

Wildfires burning in Indonesia’s peatlands, forests, and agricultural land since July caused the country to produce the world’s highest levels of emissions in September. The European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service says the smoke is also deteriorating air quality in countries much further away, including southern Sumatra, southern Kalimantan, southern Papua New Guinea, the Indian Ocean, mainland South-East Asia, the western Pacific and as far as north-west Australia.

“The government is facing heavy criticism for prioritising political and economic interests that benefit from a laissez-faire approach to land use, logging, and plantation expansion over public health and safety,” the Centre said in a press release. “On 20 October, the two-year mark of Prabowo-Gibran administration, student protestors took to the streets to demand that the government declare karhutla a national disaster and stop leaving underfunded provinces to handle the crisis alone.”

View the interactive map.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air is registered as a nonprofit in Finland, with staff across Asia and Europe.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Indonesia’s wildfires impact air quality for much of region

Nearly $20M awarded to rural Texas fire departments to prepare for wildfire

When a wildfire ignites in Texas, the first people on the scene are most likely from one of the state’s hundreds of volunteer fire departments, most of which have less than adequate resources to contain the flames.

Officials with the Texas A&M Forest Service say they are aware of this disparity and are attempting to address it with new funding through its Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program, specifically for firefighting equipment, training and other emergency needs. The program’s most recent $20 million award is its first round of funding for the 2027 fiscal year.

“Demand for assistance through the program routinely exceeds available funding as volunteer fire departments work to maintain and replace vehicles, protective gear and other essential resources,” the Service said in a press release on Friday. “To address longstanding funding needs, the 89th Texas Legislature appropriated $192 million in one-time additional funding to support outstanding requests.”

Click here for a full list of how much money was given to each of the state’s 518 rural departments.

The funding was announced after a very active fire season in the state. Texas recorded its largest summer wildfire in history in September when the Ross Fire burned over 90,000 acres in Palo Pinto County. The fire destroyed 167 structures, including 18 occupied residences, and damaged 95 structures.

Multiple wildfires that burned in the Texas Panhandle in February triggered an “Agriculture Emergency” due to alleged devastating losses they caused to the region’s farmers. Three wildfires in the Panhandle, including the Lavender Fire, 8 Ball Fire, and Canadian Bridge Fire, burned more than 21,350 acres, many of which were farmland.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Wildfires trigger ‘Agriculture Emergency’ in Texas

UK unveils future wildfire plan: military aircraft, specialist fire teams and landscape transformation

Two historic wildfire seasons and a sense of falling “decades” behind in wildfire preparedness have forced the United Kingdom into a game of catch-up. Officials unveiled what they hope to be their first steps forward at England’s first-ever wildfire summit on Friday.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced at the summit in Liverpool that some of the country’s military aircraft would be equipped for firefighting for the first time. The Royal Air Force’s Chinook helicopters and A400M planes will be ready whenever any of the country’s civilian fire services request them for help fighting fires in often inaccessible areas like remote moorland or steep hillsides.

Fireline crews will also get more specialist wildfire teams and lightweight PPE specifically designed for wildfire suppression under the plan, according to Burnham. Up to £45million will go toward fire crew resources, while £25 million more will go toward landscape transformation, specifically to restoring dried-out peatlands and fireproofing farmland.

Burnham said his first-hand experience watching the devastating fire destroy numerous homes in Stourbridge in August drove his desire to increase the nation’s preparedness.

“I will never forget it. Our firefighters were heroes that day, but heroes shouldn’t have to fight with one hand tied behind their backs,” Burnham said at the Summit. “Crews will now have the kit they need to stay safe and military aircraft will stand ready to help tackle wildfires from the sky. We cannot put people through another summer like this one.”

The UK Parliament’s wildfire management report published right before Friday’s Summit painted a dire picture of the country’s fire future. The report looked into the 2026 fire season, the second-worst in the nation’s history only behind the 2025 season when nearly 48,000 hectares (118,610 acres) burned, found numerous weaknesses in the nation’s fire-focused preparedness, resilience and policymaking.

“We found gaps in specialist capability, uncertainty and competition over access to aerial firefighting resources, challenges in securing reliable water supplies during major incidents, and a heavy reliance on local arrangements for resources that are increasingly needed at a national scale,” officials said in the report. “The UK requires stronger national arrangements that allow expertise, equipment and resources to be shared quickly and effectively wherever they are needed.”

In addition to needed aerial and on-the-ground resources, the report called for a unified, clear and publicly available national wildfire strategy. Officials also noted that the country’s coming fire-driven issues will extend beyond the government to local authorities and individual landowners, while initiatives like Burnham’s landscape transformation may worsen public trust.

“We heard repeated concerns from land managers that their knowledge and experience are not always reflected in policy decisions that directly affect their ability to manage wildfire risk,” the officials said. “At a time when the government is asking more of land managers in responding to climate-driven wildfire risk, it cannot afford a situation where those same land managers feel that policy is being done to them rather than developed with them.”

That sentiment was echoed by the National Fire Chiefs Council, which represents the nation’s fire services. Its officials renewed calls for long-term and sustainable funding after the Summit on Friday, saying one-off investments Burnham won’t be enough to meaningfully strengthen the nation’s wildfire resilience.

“The summit has brought much-needed attention to the growing wildfire threat facing the UK, but the scale of the challenge demands a much stronger commitment to action,” Council Chair Phil Garrigan said. “We need the people, equipment, training and specialist capabilities required to meet the challenges ahead. That includes strengthening specialist wildfire teams, developing nationally coordinated aerial firefighting capabilities and ensuring reliable access to water.”

Canadian military wildfire that killed 4 started in ‘automatic grenade launcher’ range, officials confirm

Canadian military police are continuing to investigate a wildfire that killed four and injured 39 on the Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright, while a Board of Inquiry will later conduct a separate independent look into the incident.

Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Brig. Gen. Vanessa Hanrahan on Thursday confirmed the fire began inside an Automatic Grenade Launcher range and started during routine military training activities. The fire was inside a “permanent danger area,” which Hanrahan said restricted firefighters’ ability to suppress the fire and forced them to only observe it.

The fire’s “rapid” spread, characterized by Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland in officials’ first press conference on the tragedy, was caused by a “change in wind direction and velocity,” and wasn’t worsened by the base’s methane gas infrastructure, according to Hanrahan.

“Investigations of this nature are complex and require careful assessment of information and evidence from multiple sources,” Hanrahan said. “While there is significant interest in understanding what occurred, it is important that the investigative process be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it leads.”

Hanrahan said the Military Police were conducting an independent investigation to establish the facts and determine whether any criminal or service offence occurred. Comprehensive terms of reference are being developed for the Board of Inquiry to be formally convened.

The Canadian government previously confirmed the identities of those killed as:

  • Sergeant Morgan Wong, from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment based at Edmonton, Alberta, serving with 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
  • Private Shaun Farrell, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
  • Private Aidan Goulding, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
  • Private Hayden Lykkemark, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta

Officials previously said 19 of the military members who were injured were in critical condition, eight were stable, and 12 were receiving treatment for less serious injuries. Hanrahan did not share an update on the health status of those injured.

Indonesia’s wildfires impact air quality for much of region

Wildfires across Indonesia, October 2026. This image from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the NOAA-21 platform shows thick smoke from fires in the Kalimantan region. Red dots indicate places where VIIRS detected heat signatures indicative of active fires or smoldering landscapes. Source: NASA Earth Data.

Wildfires burning in Indonesia’s peatlands, forests, and agricultural land since July caused the country to produce the world’s highest levels of emissions for September. Now a month later, the fires are still burning, and they continue to reduce the air quality for neighboring countries.

Vast plumes of smoke from the wildfires have been affecting air quality across neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore since the burning began, but recent satellite data from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service shows the smoke is also deteriorating air quality in countries much further away. The Service’s Fire Emissions Watch found the fires’ densest smoke over southern Sumatra, southern Kalimantan and southern Papua New Guinea, while thinner smoke extends over the Indian Ocean, mainland South-East Asia, the western Pacific and as far as north-west Australia.

“Emissions from wildfires in Indonesia from January to September 2026 were among the highest of the past 24 years,” the Service said on its website.

Severe drought across Indonesia’s peatlands caused the months-long outbreak of wildfires encroaching on the site of the country’s new capital city on the island of Borneo.

Over 36% of the world’s tropical peatlands are contained within Indonesia’s borders, and the country’s ongoing drought has made the normally wet landscapes dry enough to ignite, according to NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. Droughts have repeatedly produced long-lasting fires that blanket large areas in smoke over the past three decades. The ongoing “super El Niño” has made conditions this year even worse.

“Wildfires occur in Indonesia every year, but some of the most destructive seasons in recent decades came during El Niño, particularly in 1997 and 2015,” NASA’s Earth Observatory said. “The strong El Niño is making the dry season drier over the fire-prone parts of the country and exacerbating burning – just as we anticipated it would.”

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Underground wildfires in Indonesia trigger world’s highest emissions, spike in respiratory infections

‘Rapid’ wildfire kills 4 Canadian military members, injures 39 others

Four military members were killed and 39 others were injured at the Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright after a “rapidly spreading” wildfire on Saturday, government officials confirmed on Sunday.

Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland, who oversees the headquarters of the unit that was training at the base, said the fatalities occurred after military members responded to a fire on the base during a live-fire training exercise. “Uncommonly” strong winds then caused the fire to spread quickly and change direction toward the base’s administrative area.

“The fire was a kilometer away when the wind shifted,” Rutland said at a press conference on Sunday. “That is not normal for a fire to move a kilometer in 36 seconds.”

Officials did not share a confirmed or expected cause of the fire, saying details were under investigation. Care for injured military members was initially expected to strain local health care resources, but Sayeh Zielke, interim CEO of Acute Care Alberta, said there are 43 ICU spaces available across the province’s health system, along with additional capacity actively being created.

The Canadian government confirmed the identities of those killed as:

  • Sergeant Morgan Wong, from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment based at Edmonton, Alberta, serving with 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
  • Private Shaun Farrell, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
  • Private Aidan Goulding, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
  • Private Hayden Lykkemark, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta

Zielke said 19 of the military members who were injured were in critical condition, eight were stable, and 12 were receiving treatment for less serious injuries.