Hunter Bassler, Author at Wildfire Today

Australian and New Zealand firefighters head to Canada as part of years-long partnership

Hunter BasslerJuly 23, 2024July 23, 2024WildfireAlberta, Australia, BC, Canada, CIFFC, New Zealand1 Comment

The British Columbia Wildfire Service recently welcomed a group of 60 IMT members and specialized personnel from Australia and New Zealand to assist throughout the province. Another 30 went to Alberta.

The firefighters arrived in Canada as part of a years-long partnership through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

“The relationship between the B.C. Wildfire Service and Australia is longstanding, extending more than 15 years of mutual aid, support, and knowledge transfer,” they said. “The first instances of support started during the 2007 wildfire season in Australia, when B.C. assisted by sending more than 60 personnel to support fire suppression efforts.”

Firefighters from Down Under in Canada — Staff from Australia and New Zealand in B.C. before traveling to their initial Canadian
assignments. ~BC Wildfire Service

CIFFC is a not-for-profit group operated by Canadian wildland fire management partners and shares resources and mutual aid throughout the nation and internationally using the Canadian Interagency Mutual Aid Resource Sharing (MARS) Agreement — and the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council during wildfire seasons. CIFFC has a similar agreement with the U.S.

During the catastrophic 2021 season in British Columbia, the B.C. Wildfire Service was able to rely on these arrangements to request support from other Canadian provinces, the federal government, Mexico and Australia. CIFFC supports this coordination of resources.

Fire officials attribute the strong relationship between the nations to a shared understanding of how to approach emergency management.

“The agencies operate similarly in terms of warning systems, collaboration, and information sharing. We share a lot in common when it comes to fire behavior as well. Large bushfires and wildfires that can cause significant impact to close-by communities and property, hot dry and windy conditions, and fires with ability to grow quickly are not uncommon for the two nations.”

Nine of the 90 total firefighters came from the South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS), according to the South Australian government; the deployment could last up to 40 days.

“I feel humbled and honored to have this opportunity to travel to Canada to support their firefighters in a time of need and to deploy the skills I have learned over the years and to learn some new ones,” CFS Divisional Commander Phil Tapscott said. “These opportunities always reaffirm that what we do here in the CFS is of a very high quality.”

Around 883 wildfires have burned in British Columbia since the beginning of the year, according to the BC Wildfire Service list. Of those, 349 are still burning and 211 are considered out of control; 16 evacuation orders in 2024 have been issued.

Alberta has recorded 927 wildfires this year, 161 of which are labeled “active” and 53 of which are “out of control,” according to the province’s wildfire status dashboard.

Briefing on working in B.C., topics from radio communications to safety around wildlife. ~BC Wildfire Service

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Russia declares multiple states of emergency as wildfires threaten thousands, government inaction continues

Hunter BasslerJuly 18, 2024July 18, 2024Wildfireclimate change, Russia, Ukraine invasion, wildfires8 Comments

Multiple wildfires across Russia have caused officials to issue multiple states of emergency and evacuate thousands, while government officials are accused of largely ignoring the problem.

The latest state of emergency was issued by Novorossiysk Mayor Andrei Kravchenko on July 14, according to the Kyiv Independent. The city in southern Russia was forced to evacuate around 500 people from the fire that burned at least 153 acres as of July 15. More than 300 people, including workers from the Emergency Situations Ministry, were fighting the fire.

Two other regions declared wildfire-driven states of emergency at the beginning of July, a Reuters article reported. The Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, declared a federal state of emergency for wildfires on July 1. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported more than 107 registered wildfires burned more than 331,000 hectares (~818,000 acres) in the region.

The governor of the remote Siberian region of Tuva made the declaration on the same day as Sakha after a wildfire burned around 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) driven by intense heat, strong winds, and dry thunderstorms.

“At the moment, 23 forest fires have been registered on the territory of the republic,” said Vladislav Khovalyg, head of the Tuva region. “Most of them are in inaccessible mountainous areas. July as a whole promises to be the most difficult month in terms of the fire situation, and we have to fight for every hectare of forest.”

Experts warned that the nation was unprepared for an alarming wildfire season. The Moscow Times reported that limited state capacity for fire prevention and control, along with ongoing dry grass burning practices, worried experts of the potential for the season to turn into an annual crisis.

The “official indifference” was seen in real-time during the Siberia wildfires, which have burned an area the size of Normandy since the beginning of the year, French newspaper Le Monde reported. While the Russian government is preoccupied with its incursion into Ukraine, officials are neglecting necessary resources to fight wildfires burning throughout the nation.

“The problem is not just in the forest and its poor management,” an Irkutsk resident told Le Monde. “It’s largely in the heads of the people and the authorities, who don’t want to see it or fight it.”

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported more than 107 registered wildfires burned more than 331,000 hectares (~818,000 acres) in the region.

Russia’s wildfire problem is exacerbated by Earth’s changing climate. Recent research has shown wildfires will worsen in the coming years, even in areas where wildfires are currently rare, such as Russia’s alpine regions. Smoke from the worsening wildfires, e.g. in Siberia, is projected to cause thousands of deaths and billions in costs for East Asia.

The colors on the Russian Hydrometeorological Center’s map below represent the number of days of predicted “high” and “extreme” fire danger in April, according to the Moscow Times. The purple indicates less than one day, the yellow between one and three days, pink between four and six days, red between seven and nine days, and dark red over ten days.

Indigenous knowledge to be used in future Australian bushfire research

Hunter BasslerJuly 12, 2024ResearchAustralia, bushfire, indigenous, NSW, researchLeave a comment

Australia’s National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week started on July 7 with a commitment from bushfire researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Canberra City.

The university has previously published numerous articles of landmark research on bushfires, including creating the world’s first extreme bushfire warning system, developing the first fire-retardant paint that passes the stringent BAL-40 test, and studying the long-lasting impacts of Australia’s “Black Summer” Bushfires.

- - - - RELATED: Earth’s most extreme wildfires are growing more intense and frequent

University researchers have made a new commitment to future bushfire projects, vowing to incorporate more Indigenous practices.

“UNSW Canberra researchers are working to better incorporate Indigenous practices and understandings of fire in bushfire management, to better prepare for an increasingly uncertain future thanks to climate change,” a press release from the university said.

Similar to the practices of various Native American tribes, fire played an intrinsic role in the lives of Australia’s Indigenous communities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for countless generations, and is still in use today.

Small controlled fires help them hunt, clear pathways through bush, and regenerate vegetation, according to The Nature Conservancy. “Cool Burns” have recently made a comeback after centuries of Euro-Australian suppression diminished the practice, caused by early colonizers’ view of fire as only a threat rather than a land-management practice. The loss of managed fire on Australia’s landscape, along with climate change, is a direct contributor to the severe bushfires that have burned the country since.

UNSW Bushfire Director Jason Sharples, a member of the Aboriginal Bundjalung people, said Indigenous fire knowledge adds needed depth to modern bushfire research.

“Local Indigenous people would know the land was ready for a burn when certain environmental indicators aligned, for example, when wattle flowers fell and when certain cloud formations were observed over prominent mountains,” Sharples said.

“Essentially, Country told them the right time to burn, and the people would offer fire as a gift back to Country. From a Western scientific perspective, this aligns with selecting the correct season based on the native flora, and only burning on a day when temperature and relative humidity conditions are within an acceptable range, as indicated by the cloud formations.”

UNSW is already working on two projects with the commitment to Indigenous practices in mind. One of the projects is studying how ridgelines, which correspond closely with Indigenous Songlines, cause unique wind patterns and influence fire spread. The other project compares modern bushfire regimes in southeast Australia with traditional fire regimes, Indigenous calendars, and cultural fire lore to better understand how climate change will affect future bushfires.

The university’s commitment pairs well with this year’s NAIDOC theme: “Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.” The theme conveys the strength and vitality of the nation’s Indigenous cultures which have stayed alive for generations despite historic and ongoing oppression and persecution.

“NAIDOC Week is a good opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of promoting the cultural practices and learnings of Indigenous Australians and this will remain central to the work we do within UNSW Bushfire,” Sharples said.

India state’s officials blame pine trees for wildfire severity. Experts say that isn’t the full story.

Hunter BasslerJuly 8, 2024Wildfirefuels reduction, India, pines, Uttarakhand3 Comments

An article written by The Wire author Hridayesh Joshi breaks down systemic issues facing the wildland firefighting force in Uttarakhand, India.

More than 1,200 forest fires burned this year in Uttarakhand and claimed the lives of at least ten people, including some forest guards. In response, state officials have orchestrated a statewide campaign against pine tree litter, called “Pirul Lao-Praise Pao,” or “Bring Pine Litter, Take Away Money.” The program incentivizes locals to collect piles of pine needles that litter the state’s forest floor. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami even recorded himself scraping up pine needles to promote the program.

“Under the campaign ‘Pirul Lao-Paise Pao,’ a large number of people are collecting pine needles and selling it to the government at the rate of ₹ 50/kg,” (about 60¢ USD per 2.2 lbs.) Dhami said. “At present, due to this campaign, the incidents of forest fire have reduced significantly and the villagers living near the forest area are also earning income.”

In May, the Uttarakhand government suspended 10 frontline Forest Department employees as nearly 1,350 hectares (3,336 acres) of Himalayan hills remained burning for nearly a month. The decision to suspend the forest guards and foresters followed an emergency meeting of senior government officials with Chief Minister Dhami. He postponed his scheduled engagements to chair the meeting with the Forest Department officials.

“Ten employees have been suspended in different areas,” he said, “five were attached to the forest headquarters and two were issued showcause notices for dereliction of duty leading to massive fire incidents since April 1.”

Trivendra Singh Rawat was the first Chief Minister in the state to start a pine needle collection program by linking it to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) after coming to power in 2017, according to the Statesman.

“Around 25 lakh (~2.5 million) metric tonnes of pine needles are produced annually in the state,” Rawat said. Researchers at India’s Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering found that pine needles, if heated with an absence of oxygen through pyrolysis, could be converted into a bio-oil and used in blended fuels. Rawat estimates that volume of pine needles could generate nearly 200 MW of power.

Experts, however, say the state’s narrative focus on pine needles as the cause of wildfires misses the mark because pine duff is an easy scapegoat for government officials to focus on rather than the more systemic issues of inadequate forest staff, drought, and a widespread absence of fire breaks.

“One could argue this campaign was the government’s attempt to pivot the blame away from grim ground realities and solely toward these aged pine trees,” Joshi wrote. He said, instead of addressing all these issues together, the Uttarakhand government’s decision to “villainize” one species is a myopic strategy and will prove to be detrimental in the long term. Pine is just one conifer standing among many other species on the Himalayan slopes. Focusing solely on pine shows the government’s misunderstanding of the larger Himalayan ecosystem and is leading to unsustainable solutions to the forest fire issue.

Pine trees have made up an integral part of India’s mountain forest cover since the Himalayas first formed. Collection of pine needles alone won’t be enough to control forest fires, experts told Joshi. Instead, the state should create a more holistic approach that addresses the human causes of forest fires.

Read the full article here.

factors

World’s largest tropical wetland burned this year

Hunter BasslerJuly 6, 2024July 7, 2024Researchbiodiversity, Brazil, grasslands, Pantanal, wetlandsLeave a comment

Record-breaking wildfires between January and June burned an ecological foothold — and biodiversity haven — spanning across Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay this year, just four years after similar fires burned 13,300 acres of the preserve.

The Pantanal is considered the world’s largest tropical wetland area, the world’s largest flooded grasslands, and one of the most important areas of freshwater in the world.

NASA captured some of the intense fires’ burn scars in satellite imagery.

“Fire season in southern Brazil usually starts in July and peaks in August and September,” NASA said. “The false-color images emphasize the burn scars (brown) from several of the fires. Unburned vegetation is green. Near- and short-wave infrared bands help penetrate some of the smoke to reveal the hot spots associated with active fires, which appear orange.”

The repeated fires have left the environment in a state of constant recovery — and nearby communities are struggling.

“We were just trying to recover from the 2020 fire, which devastated our Pantanal. We had not fully recovered and now we are facing this again,” said a volunteer firefighter with the Baia Negra Environmental Protection Area’s Association of Women Producers.

A recent report from MapBiomas Brazil, a collaborative initiative including NGOs, universities, and technology companies, sheds light on a major cause of the fires: surface water loss.

Edge effects on the native vegetation and continuous habitat — including exposure to wind and solar radiation, susceptibility to fire, increased predation rates, and

The Pantanal is the biome in Brazil that has dried up the most between 1985 and 2023. The report said annual water surface for the area last year was just under 944,000 acres — only 2 percent of the wetland biome was covered by water. The total is reportedly 61 percent under the historical average. The area was 50 percent drier in 2023 than it was in 2018 when the area’s last major flood happened.

“In 2024, we didn’t have a flood peak,” said Eduardo Rosa with MapBiomas. “The year has seen a peak drought, which should last until September. The Pantanal in extreme drought is already facing fires that are difficult to control.”

The report also found that the entire Amazon region suffered a severe drought with a decrease of 8.2 million acres of water surface.

Up to 25% of Brazil’s native vegetation may be degraded

A new platform from the MapBiomas network shows that between 1986 and 2021 Brazil had between 11 and 25 percent of its native vegetation susceptible to degradation. This corresponds to an area ranging from 60.3 million hectares to 135 million hectares.

Fire effects over time — Visualized fire effects over 7 years, resulting from a single burn or multiple burns.

About 64 percent of Brazil — more than half the country — is covered by native vegetation. The beta version of MapBiomas’ degradation vectors platform makes it possible to generate unprecedented scenarios of the impact of factors that can cause degradation on native vegetation across Brazil.

“This is the first time that degradation can be assessed in a broader way and in all Brazilian biomes,” says Tasso Azevedo, general coordinator of MapBiomas. “But we know that this degradation process occurs in other types of cover, such as agriculture and pasture, as well as soils and water, where we also intend to advance with this information in MapBiomas in the coming years.”

➤ View the main highlights [PDF] of the Degradation module

The degradation vectors considered by the MapBiomas team in this first edition of the platform include the size and isolation of the native vegetation fragments, their edge areas, the frequency of fire and the time since the last burn, as well as the age of the secondary vegetation.

Pantanal: fire as a factor in degradation

In the Pantanal, the degraded area can vary from 800,000 hectares (6.8 percent) to 2.1 million hectares (almost 19 percent). Although it is a biome that coexists with fire, the incidence of fires in the last five years has meant that 9 percent of the Pantanal’s forest formations, which are fire-sensitive areas, have been damaged.

Eduardo Rosa with the MapBiomas’ Pantanal team says some of the vectors of degradation in the Pantanal beyond this analysis must consider the entire biome’s surroundings, since all the rivers that naturally irrigate the Pantanal plain are born in plateau areas. “The removal of native vegetation for agricultural and livestock expansion unprotects the soil and interferes with the distribution of water and sediment. The quantity and quality of water that reaches the plains also depends on dams and hydroelectric plants that alter the natural flow of water,” he says. “Climate issues relating to rainfall and temperature regulate droughts and floods, and the increase in periods of drought has hampered the resilience of the Pantanal ecosystem.”

Turkish wildfires threaten historic sites, ancient city of Assos

Hunter BasslerJune 28, 2024WildfireAssos, helicopters, TurkeyLeave a comment

Turkey’s General Directorate of Forestry is battling a much higher number of wildfires this year compared with 2023; at this time last year, the country had recorded 513 forest fires, 665 other fires, and nearly 1500 total acres burned. As recently as June 24, those numbers have grown to 1093 forest fires, 1029 other fires, and nearly 8300 acres burned.

Aljazeera reported that at least 11 people were killed and dozens hurt as wildfires burned through villages in southeastern Turkey. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca reported the deaths from the overnight blaze between the cities of Diyarbakir and Mardin on Friday. Seventy-eight people were injured, with at least five people in intensive care units.

The elevated fire activity has resulted in increased aerial firefighting. The directorate has deployed aircraft over 4600 times thus far to fight the 2024 fires, and pilots have dropped over 16,000 tons of water. The total is a far cry from last year’s numbers of just 1100 deployments and only 3500 tons of water dropped.

Turkey’s wildfire season has recently received national attention as a fire threatens the ancient city of Assos. The fire has burned 90 percent of the historic area, according to an Agence France-Presse report in the New Straits Times. The fire ripped through the ruins of the ancient port city of Assos, founded in the 8th century BCE near the Dardanelles Strait.

Ninety percent of the historical site of Assos was burned, said Mesut Bayram, mayor of Ayvacik district.

Assos, built on andesite rocks, is famous for its agora, theater, sarcophagi, and Athena Temple, according to Turkey Tour Organizer. “Also, this is where the world-famous thinker Aristotle founded a philosophy school.”

The fire was likely caused by a smoldering cigarette; xix helicopters, two planes, and around 35 engines are fighting the fire.