Wildfire Today

Canadian conservationists push emission limits for wildfire reduction

Hunter BasslerApril 12, 2024April 12, 2024Research, UncategorizedCanada, carbon emissions, fuels industry9 Comments

Groundbreaking research last year found around 37 percent of burned land across North America can be traced directly back to carbon emissions from 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers. Now, environmentalists in Canada are using the research to push for change.

The study, published last May in the journal Environmental Research Letters, used climate, burned area, and global energy balance models to determine what contribution carbon emissions had on increases in vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which partially caused a rise in burned forest area in the United States and Canada. The research concluded, along with the fossil fuel link, that carbon producer emissions contributed to 48 percent of long-term VPD rise between 1901 and 2021.

canada smoke reaches Europe — Smoke from fires in Canada traversed the Atlantic Ocean and drifted over European countries including Portugal and Spain. ~ NASA image of the day for June 27, 2023

“As loss and damage from these hazards mounts, this research can inform public and legal dialogues regarding the responsibility carbon producers bear for addressing past, present, and future climate risks associated with fires and drought in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada,” researchers said. Nearly a year later, Climate Action Network Canada advocates are using that research to advocate a new push for nationwide carbon emission limits.

“To cap wildfires and other climate impacts, the government must cap oil and gas emissions,” said Climate Action Network Executive Director Caroline Brouillette. “Other sectors and everyday Canadians are reducing their emissions, while for decades the oil and gas sector has increased its pollution and pushed back against every form of accountability. Further delay benefits only oil and gas executives’ pocketbooks and climate-denying politicians.”

A survey of nearly 2,000 Canadians found that nearly two-thirds of residents support a greenhouse gas emissions cap for the oil and gas industry. The survey also found that support for an emissions cap is the highest among Canadians aged 60 or older at 71 percent and only 18 percent of Canadians said the industries shouldn’t be required to limit emissions.

Such a cap would prevent 4,800 premature Canadian deaths and yield $45 billion in economic benefits, according to research projections from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. The results were attributed to projected reductions in air pollution — specifically in nitrogen dioxide, fine particulate matter, and annual ozone — if oil and gas industry emissions are capped at 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2023, which is Canada’s national climate target.

~ Full statement from Climate Action Network Canada.

Fuels, Fire and Smoke: Evolving to meet our climate challenge

Kelly AnderssonApril 11, 2024Fire behaviorBoise, Canberra, fire behavior, fuels, IAWF conference, traleeLeave a comment

Wildfires present an increasing challenge to humans and to the ecosystems and atmosphere we depend on. Our response to larger and more destructive wildfires and ability to prepare for a changing climate is increasingly challenged. Understanding fire behavior and human response is ever more important.

The 7th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels Conference offers a forum at which fire management experience and lessons are documented, current work showcased, and emerging research is shared.

This conference on three continents showcases new fire management policies and frameworks to address fire risks and build resilience. The conference will unite policy makers, scientists, fire managers, and Indigenous land stewards for a shared purpose and a better future living with fire.

Held concurrently in Tralee, Ireland and Canberra, Australia and Boise, Idaho.

BOISE HIGHLIGHTS:

Monday: Workshops, Field Tours, Keynote Session by Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, Opening reception with sponsors and exhibitors.
Tuesday: Sessions, exhibitors, and Poster session/reception.
Wednesday: Field tours, workshops, career fair
Thursday: Sessions and exhibitors
Friday: Explore Boise or travel day.

MORE INFO: firebehaviorandfuelsconference.com

North America’s largest ski town prepares for wildfires

Hunter BasslerApril 8, 2024PreventionCanada, planning, preparation, ski resortLeave a comment

There’s only one way in and out of the Canadian municipality of Whistler.

The Coast Mountains surround the forested British Columbia town north of Vancouver, giving Whistler its world-renowned trait of being North America’s largest ski resort community. The rocky slopes, however, occasionally cause transportation problems for Whistler’s residents. Highway 99, the only passage through the southern parts of the mountain range, stands as residents’ only escape route during times of emergency.

Whistler firefighters reflect on the 2023 wildfire season

The frequently suffocated roadway and recent devastating wildfires in the nearby communities of West Kelowna and Kelowna pushed the perennially snow-focused municipality to begin serious planning for a potential fire disaster. Most Whistler neighborhoods are classified as “interface,” but the wildland and ornamental fuel load between residences have characteristics of an “intermix,” or homes being within a forest community. Because of this, Whistler scores high in the plan’s “overall fire risk” category.

Whistler’s pervasive forest primarily drove town officials to take a more proactive approach to wildfire defense in its creation of a community wildfire defense plan.

“Typically when a wildfire is approaching a community, these defense plans are done at the time as it’s approaching,” Whistler Fire Chief Thomas Doherty told Global News journalists for a recent article. “Obviously wildfire specialists will come in and assist with doing these neighborhood defense plans. We’ve done that in advance. We believe we’re one of the first municipalities to do this type of plan, to have this information readily available ahead of time.”

The approach Doherty references includes increasing FireSmart education for residents and visitors, changing municipal legislation and community planning with a wildfire resiliency focus, increasing interagency and firefighters’ wildfire response, and continuing strategic vegetation management efforts.

Global News, in their conversation with Doherty, reports that one of the tools created from this plan includes 19 tactical sheets and GIS maps for various critical infrastructure and water source locations, identifying which neighborhoods have a one-way-in and one-way-out access, and safe zones for responders during times of emergency. All this information will reportedly be available to fire personnel through scannable QR codes.

“Extremely critical to have all this information done in advance,” Doherty said. “It’s just unfortunate when an event does occur. At least we’re that much more prepared. And we have all that information readily available.”

You can read the full Whistler Community Wildfire Defense Plan [HERE].

The Great Plains: Where prescribed burns are a community collaboration rather than a federal effort

Hunter BasslerApril 5, 2024April 5, 2024Prescribed Fireprescribed burn associations, rxfire2 Comments

A fire-focused NPR article had a concise central theme: Trees are not always good, fire is not always bad, and prescribed burning can bring a community together.

The article, written and beautifully photographed in 2022 by journalist Andria Hautamaki, told the story of the Loess Canyon Rangeland Alliance to paint a larger picture of the quick growth prescribed burn associations (PBAs) have had across the country, particularly in states without huge extents of government-owned land.

The Great Plains Fire Science Exchange estimated in 2022 that there were 113 PBAs throughout the United States. That exchange now estimates 135 PBAs, an 83 percent increase in under two years.

RxFire by Florida Panther NWR — Plants flourish after a prescribed fire. Image courtesy Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

PBAs got their start in California and are now found throughout the state. Despite this, California is an outlier in the average states with PBAs: nearly half of California’s land is federally owned. Other states with numerous PBAs (including Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas) have less than 2 percent of their land owned by the federal government.

Prescribed Burn Associations Interactive Map — PBA interactive map at gpfirescience.org

Instead of the USFS burning on federal land, stakeholders in non-West states must convince and collaborate with landowners to spread the gospel of prescribed fire.

“The only way you’re ever going to get fire on the ground is through the landowners, especially in states with a lot of private land,” John Weir, an Oklahoma State University extension specialist for prescribed fire, told Hautamaki during the story. “This is landowner helping landowner. Agencies are important; they help provide technical assistance. But it’s all about grassroots. Landowners can burn safely and effectively because they’re out there managing their own land.”

An abundance of privately owned land isn’t the only thing driving PBA popularity in non-West states. The negative perception fire has gained from numerous disastrous wildfires in recent years has hampered Rx burn efforts in the West. Midwest and Southern states, which don’t have that same negative association with burning, have seen a rise in a grassroots-led fire efforts rather than an agency push.

Previous data have also shown the community-prescribed fire drive to be safe and effective in overcoming common burn limitations related to expertise, equipment, and personnel. A 2012 survey of PBAs found the majority were effective at developing burn plans, working within burn windows, and limiting liability.

“The safety record of PBAs indicates they provide a safe and viable option for landowners and managers who use or would like to use prescribed fire on their lands,” the survey said.

Prescribed Fire Associations:

Regional Prescribed Fire Councils:

ON THIS DAY 05. April 2020

Kelly AnderssonApril 5, 2024April 5, 2024ON THIS DAYcar lot, FloridaLeave a comment

Fire Explorers memories: Greg Greenhoe

Kelly AnderssonApril 5, 2024TrainingAngeles National Forest, fire explorer, Greg GreenhoeLeave a comment

~ Memories from Greg Greenhoe, from 30 years ago:
It was the fall of 1994 and the adult leaders and several fire explorers walked into the Angeles National Forest Supervisor’s Office and inquired whether we would consider sponsoring their Fire Explorer Post. Their sponsor at the time was the City of South Pasadena Fire Department, who had decided to go with a Fire Cadet program and terminate their relationship with Explorer Post 99.

I said why not — this could be a good way to recruit young wildland firefighters into our temporary ranks.

With the help of Training Officer Jim Hall and a large number of rank-and-file firefighters from stations and crews all over the forest, the Post was launched. In the spring of 1995 we hosted the first Wildland Firefighter Explorer Academy at Little Tujunga. Now 30 years later the ANF has three Explorer Posts and is hosting their 30th annual academy.

Graduates of the program are now in leadership positions throughout the Forest Service and other agencies. Hats off to all those who have carried the torch and kept this program going over the years — I’m impressed!