Global wildfire management resolution passed by UN environmental conference, led by India
A landmark effort toward fighting wildfires on a global scale took another step forward after a new resolution was passed at the seventh United Nations Environmental Assembly conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The resolution, drafted and led by India, received wide…
Quest for ‘Holy Grail’ of wildland firefighting safety awarded NASA contract
For a decade before Wildfire Today Founder and wildland firefighting stalwart Bill Gabbert’s death, he wrote numerous articles on what he called the “Holy Grail of wildland firefighting safety.” Gabbert described this Grail as a system that c…
Building capacity: workshops to master prescribed burns
By Erin Myers and Steven Miller The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service has ambitious goals: to treat an additional two million acres of hazardous fuels on national forests and grasslands annually; and to support partners by treating an additional thre…
A chief for the new US Wildland Fire Service
Brian Fennessy has told his colleagues at the Orange County Fire Authority that he is retiring as head of the agency in January to become the first Director of the newly created United States Wildland Fire Service. In a memo to all OCFA firefighters and profes…
Aerial fleet active as Australian summer kicks in
The death of two firefighters and the loss of around 40 homes have marked the effective start of the bushfire season across southern Australia and the active engagement of the national aerial firefighting fleet. Milder conditions today have provided both New S…
Are prescribed burns worsening Australia’s bushfires?
A body of research is challenging long-held beliefs that lessening fuel load inherently lowers fire risk. Studies published by researchers from the Australian National University and Curtin University since 2022 have claimed long-held research that underpinned…
Idaho to ‘double’ logging efforts under new USFS wildfire agreement
The United States Forest Service announced a new wildfire risk reduction agreement with Idaho officials on Friday that will, in part, double the state’s current timber production. The USFS and Idaho committed to increasing an annual sustainable timber sa…
Democrats demand answers for Trump’s cutbacks at the USFS
A letter signed by 12 Democratic Senators is demanding answers from U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz after a report found that the Service is far behind its usual wildfire risk reduction efforts across the nation, stemming from the administration’s …
Alaska’s largest city to update decades-old wildfire plan after several record-setting seasons
Anchorage is set to update its city-wide wildfire plan after nearly 20 years to face the increasing threat of wildfires throughout the state. Alaska has experienced several record-setting fire seasons over the past two decades, including 6.6 million acres…
Born of the flames: founding Lebanon’s Akkar trail firefighting team
By Khaled Taleb It was a typical Sunday – August 22, 2020. I had just wrapped up a hiking trip and returned home early, expecting a quiet afternoon. But within minutes, the news spread like wildfire: A massive blaze had broken out in Wadi Haql al-Khirbeh, quic…