New research published by the European Union found Russia’s ongoing invasion has worsened environmental challenges in Ukraine, including ongoing wildfire trends.
The risk of large forest fires has “significantly increased” in the nation. The country’s worst wildfire years happened over the last 5 years, by far the worst of which was in 2024, the EU study said.
“The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has severely hampered efforts to prevent and control large fires,” researchers said. “Restrictions on public access to forests and natural landscapes, introduced by Martial Law, have blocked fire prevention activities such as patrolling and establishing firebreaks.”
Numerous other wartime impacts have caused issues for wildfire mitigation, including the enlistment of firefighters and the destruction of fire management infrastructure.
Credit: Publications Office of the European Union
Wildfires account for between 45% and 65% of forest cover loss in the nation annually, cover loss that has worsened since the invasion began.
The spike was driven by more frequent heat waves, droughts, and windy weather, which Ukraine’s forest management and emergency response systems were not prepared to deal with.
“Explosive remnants and other potential causes further increase the risk of wildfires, and reallocation of fire-fighting resources makes it more difficult to prevent or control large fires,” the study said. “Climate change also contributed to forest cover loss by significantly increasing the risk of large forest fires, especially in the last five years.”
The largest forest fires in the nation happened in the Eastern and Southern regions, specifically Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Kherson oblasts. The fires tended to cluster along the front lines of military, underscoring the close relationship between conflict and forest fires.
There has been a seismic shift in the goals of modern European fire fighting. The aim “is not to eliminate fire, because it is part of the natural dynamics of ecosystems, but to make fires less dangerous,” said Fernando Pulido, director of the Dehesa Research Institute at the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain. “Even with many resources, you cannot do complete fire prevention.”
It’s a consensus many experts in fires and forestry have been trying to disseminate for decades with varying results. They are unified in their prescription for a problem that is growing worse with every increasingly hot year: the only way to avoid destructive mega fires is through thoughtful land management and the controlled reintegration of fires into ecosystems.
A Fire Technician from Viera do Minho City Council, setting fire to gorse bushes during a prescribed burn in Serra da Cabreira, a mountain in Vieira do Minho district win northern Portugal, on January 24, 2024. Prescribed burning, also known as controlled burning, involves setting planned fires to maintain the health of a forest. These burns are scheduled for a time when the fire will not pose a threat to the public or to fire managers.
There is however no one golden bullet solution, rather the key to long-term mega fire prevention is the use of a mix of tools tailored to a territory’s needs. Across the Iberian Peninsula there are several international, national and local fire smart initiatives being implemented in public and private forests including the use of prescribed burns, extensive livestock grazing, agroforestry land mosaics and the extraction of trees and shrub litter for biomass energy resources. These solution projects break up continuous fuel loads acting as a barrier to stop or slow fire while reducing the flammability of landscapes surrounding vulnerable towns and, in many cases, boosting rural development.
FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE
Managing the land means allowing it to burn periodically to avoid untameable wildfires. This can be achieved in a controlled way, by prescribed fires, which reduce accumulated fuel loads, renew soils, increase water availability, create pastoral areas and importantly create firefighting pathways. In Portugal the tool has been used since the 1980s, being one of the first European countries to introduce a structured legal framework for the practice.
A group of sappers, guided by the Fire Technician from Viera do Minho City Council, Nelson Rodrigues, debriefing ahead of starting a prescribed burn in Serra da Cabreira, a mountain in Vieira do Minho district win northern Portugal, on January 24, 2024. Prescribed burning, also known as controlled burning, involves setting planned fires to maintain the health of a forest. These burns are scheduled for a time when the fire will not pose a threat to the public or to fire managers.
The Serra Cabreira mountain range, in the northern Portuguese region of Braga, is a shining example of authorities proactively using prescribed burning to keep vegetation undergrowth under control and extreme wildfires at bay. The aim is to avoid a disaster like the one that occurred in October 2017, near the municipality of Vieira do Minho, where 1600 hectares burned. At the time, the highly flammable carqueja shrub had grown to more than 1.5 meters high and enveloped much of the land. Because of the available fuel, fires raged from the valley to the mountaintop.
Prescribed fires can’t just be lit and left. Before any flame is sparked, fire technicians in Portugal must have a burn plan approved by the National Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF). In Spain, prescribed burning is regulated according to the provisions of each autonomous community. After approval, technicians must wait for the ideal on-site weather conditions. The window for burning is typically open for 10 weeks a year between November and March and requires dry but not parched soil, substantial wind speeds, high relative humidity and low temperatures. The specially trained teams control the fire’s progression using drip torches, wind speed and direction, slope, vegetation density and hand-held mops to suppress spot fires.
Nelson Rodrigues, 49, is the Vieira do Minho municipal council’s head fire technician specializing in prescribed burns and fire analysis. In five-year cycles he and his team have been burning parcels of the Cabreira mountain range. He explains the difference between prescribed fires and wildfires is in the severity of the burn.
“A natural fire destroys the vegetation, destroys the soil and then in the next rains the [burned] soil is washed away and only the rocks remain. [With prescribed burns] we are now burning the top part of the vegetation, the plant doesn’t die, the roots don’t die, it remains fixed to the soil and in about a month it will start to grow again.”
Nelson is confident that due to the interventions a mega fire would not be able to develop in the area he controls; it’s a long-term achievement that fills him with pride. “Imagine that we [have] worked on a landscape for a few years and during the next few years there were never big fires. No habitat was destroyed, no type of forest or environment. And it was possible for us to all work together – shepherds, technicians, hunters and farmers.”
Nelson Rodrigues, a Fire Technician with Viera do Minho City Council, sets fire to gorse bushes during a prescribed burn in Serra da Cabreira, a mountain in Vieira do Minho district win northern Portugal, on January 24, 2024. Prescribed burning, also known as controlled burning, involves setting planned fires to maintain the health of a forest. These burns are scheduled for a time when the fire will not pose a threat to the public or to fire managers.
Lily Mayers is a cross-platform freelance journalist from Sydney, Australia, based in Madrid, Spain. Mayers’ career began in television and radio news for Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC. Since moving to Spain in 2020, Mayers’ work has focused on the long-form coverage of world news and current affairs.
Paulo Nunes dos Santos is a freelance photojournalist and reporter covering armed conflict, humanitarian crises, political instability, and social issues worldwide. Nunes dos Santos is a frequent contributor to international publications including The New York Times and Jornal Expresso.
Teams competing in Alaska’s famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race know to be prepared for blizzards, sub-zero temperatures, and gale-force winds. Competitors in the 2025 race, however, were forced to add wildfires to their already treacherous list of extreme conditions in the race.
The race was moved to its northern route in early March after the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection declared an early wildland fire season, requiring burn permits starting March 17 instead of April 1, according to the Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service.
Alaska’s most populous areas in the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su Valley had two fires spread in snow-free grasses before the Iditarod’s 1st place racer crossed the finish line.
“The risk of human-caused fires has become evident, with at least 17 requiring a response as of April 6,” the Service said. “Most were the result of negligent burning, emphasizing the critical importance of ensuring that burn piles are monitored, keeping fire tools on hand, and never leaving a fire unattended.”
The state’s official first wildfire of the year was the result of an escaped burn set by a Mat-Su resident who was later found to be in violation of Alaska law regarding the “uncontrolled spread of fire,” according to the region’s local newspaper.
Credit: Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection
Early snowmelt is largely to blame for increased wildfire risk throughout the state, according to recently published research from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Each of the state’s largest and most extreme wildfire seasons was preceded by early snowoff, accompanied by large-scale climate patterns that keep a high pressure over the state.
“Three of Alaska’s four largest wildfire seasons occurred during years with earlier than average snowoff dates,” the researchers found. Many Alaskans will remember these seasons. In 2004, 6 million acres burned, and another 4.4 million acres burned the next year. In 2015, 5.1 million acres burned. Years with early snowoff were also responsible for more than half of the historical area burned in Alaska.”
The days when men could be rallied from nearby towns to suppress wildfires for a few months during the year are long gone. Today, each of the five major U.S. federal land management agencies that have wildland fire suppression responsibilities – Bureau of Land Management, National Parks Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the U.S. Forest Service – maintain a permanent wildland fire workforce complemented by a significant temporary workforce.
In recent years, professional education has been discussed as an answer to combat the change in severity and complexity of wildfires and the issues the agencies face in suppressing them.
In many career fields of U.S. federal employment, a professional education is highly regarded and often required, but not in wildland fire. Proponents of institutionalizing an education system in the agencies argue that fire personnel who manage large budgets, cultivate trust of the public and politicians, supervise and lead people in dangerous situations, and collaborate with multiple government organizations should have more than a high school education. Opponents to implementing a more formal education argue that there is a well-functioning system in place that includes a governing body that sets standards, a digital system to track and document completed training, and a learning management system to create and deliver the training and educational content. With the increasing complexity of wildfires impacting communities and rising demands on firefighters to do more over the last several decades, the federal wildland fire agencies should invest in workforce education to better prepare their employees’ decision making and instill stakeholder trust.
If professional education is institutionalized, alongside training, in the federal wildland fire agencies, personnel and managers could better meet the modern demands of the job that were not as prolific or even existed 40 to 50 years ago.
Higher education could be the solution for many issues the U.S. federal wildland fire agencies are facing by incentivizing with earnings and advancement, equipping firefighters with knowledge and skills for the next position and increasing public confidence.
While the current training system for the federal wildland fire agencies is valuable and should not be replaced, the climate of wildland fire has evolved and requires a more resilient and progressive approach to workforce development. Institutionalizing a professional education system will prepare firefighters for the unprecedented severity and complexity of modern wildfires, better equip them as they advance in their careers to meet current challenges and increase stakeholder and public trust in the agencies and the workforces they employ. If the federal wildland fire agencies do not adapt, they will fail. Professionalized education must be integrated into the wildland fire workforce to ensure the nation’s disasters are not national tragedies.
This article is not meant to be prescriptive or detailed on how to institutionalize education but to provoke thoughts about how the agencies can better prepare their employees to meet the ever-changing demands of wildland fire.
The views and opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the U.S. government. The author is writing in a personal capacity and does not represent any federal entity.
Jared Bandor works for the United States Forest Service, Region 6, at the Pacific Northwest Training Center, where he serves as training specialist. His main duties are serving as the training officer for regional employees, facilitating and instructing regional level courses, and supporting workforce development initiatives for Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) employees. Bandor has a diverse operational background on handcrews, engines, and helitak, as well as fuels, prevention, and training. He is completing a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership, which he plans to use in future workforce development opportunities in the agency.
The act also required firefighters to receive premium pay for instances when they’re deployed to wildfires. The daily pay is equal to 450% of one hour’s wages when they’re responding to an incident outside of their official duties or assigned to a separate fire camp.
By Andrew Vanden Heuvel, Rigel Reynolds, Zachary Meyer, and Samuel Ntadom
Fortnite as a tool for wildfire education
The popular video game Fortnite contains a realistic fire mechanic, which simulates the spread of wildfire and the destruction of various materials.
In the summer of 2024, we launched an ambitious project to turn the popular video game Fortnite into an innovative tool for wildfire education.
Using a video game to tackle a serious issue like wildfire preparedness might seem unusual, but many game developers see great potential for building player agency and raising environmental awareness through video games.
Fortnite is a free online multiplayer game, best known for its last-player-standing Battle Royale mode. However, Fortnite also contains a creative mode, in which players can design original games using a vast library of pre-built structures, vehicles, and devices. These custom games can be published and shared with Fortnite’s 250 million-plus active monthly users. In fact, more than half of all gameplay hours in Fortnite are spent in these user-generated creative islands.
Notably, Fortnite features realistic fire that spreads dynamically between objects, destroys different materials at different rates, and can be extinguished using various liquid items. In many ways, Fortnite can act as a rudimentary fire simulator.
Fortnite Creative offers a powerful platform to create engaging wildfire education experiences and share them with a global audience.
We used Fortnite Creative to develop an interactive wildfire video game and a series of educational videos.
This scene in the video game Fortnite shows a player extinguishing a hot spot with a chug splash.
WILDFIRE GAME
Our first objective was to create a video game centered around wildfire prevention. In our game, Wild Fire, two teams compete to protect their side of the island from wildfires by using techniques such as clearing debris, hardening structures, and managing vegetation through prescribed burns. As fires randomly ignite across the island, players must find and extinguish hot spots to prevent damage. Teams earn points based on how well they protect their structures.
This fast-paced game teaches wildfire preparedness strategies while reinforcing the idea that everyone can help contribute to the safety of their community.
The Wild Fire island in the Fortnite video game contains dense forests and multiple wooden structures, which players must protect against encroaching fire.
EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS
Our second approach was to create a series of educational videos in Fortnite based on CAL FIRE’s Ready, Set, Go! initiative. The goal was to demonstrate wildfire prevention and preparedness concepts such as creating defensible space, building emergency kits, and planning evacuations.
Fortnite has an integrated replay tool that allows users to capture everything that happens during a gameplay session. Afterward, players can navigate through the 3D environment using a virtual camera to view and record the action from any angle.
This feature turns Fortnite Creative into a virtual production studio, enabling players to act out scenes and then go back to film those scenes from any perspective they choose.
Video games offer a powerful way to deliver wildfire education by providing interactive, risk-free environments in which players can experiment with actions and see their consequences. While not hands-on in the traditional sense, these virtual experiences are immersive, which can build empathy, deepen understanding, and connect abstract concepts to the real world.
In Fortnite, players can experience the spread of fire, learn how to mitigate it, and understand how their actions reduce wildfire risk. These experiences bridge the gap between awareness and action, empowering players to believe they really can make a difference.
Educators and wildfire professionals can explore these resources and collaborate with us to enhance and expand their impact by visiting www.andrewvh.com/ wildfire-magazine to preview the resources.
Our thanks to Rushton Hurley at Next Vista for Learning, the authors of The Environmental Game Design Playbook and the Fortnite EDU & ArshtRock Climate Workshop facilitators for their inspiration and support.
[This article first appeared in Wildfire magazine]
Andrew Vanden Heuvel is a professor of physics and astronomy who experiments with innovative approaches to science education. This work was carried out with his three research students, Rigel Reynolds, Zachary Meyer, and Samuel Ntadom, physics students at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI, United States.
Andrew Vanden Heuvel is a professor of physics and astronomy who experiments with innovative approaches to science education. This work was carried out with his three research students, Rigel Reynolds, Zachary Meyer, and Samuel Ntadom, physics students at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI, United States.