Europe preps for a wild wildfire summer
Europe has boosted its wildfire preparations ahead of a forecasted busy 2026 season by deploying its largest force yet of firefighters, aircraft and other experts across the continent. The announcement comes as the World Meteorological Organisation issued a Gl…
IAWF at Wildfire Camp in Germany
We are at Interschutz 2026 in Hanover, Germany all this week: 1-6 June 2026. IAWF Vice President Ciaran Nugent is hosting a small display outdoors in the Wildfire Camp with a small group of colleagues. For the first time in its 70-year history the large Inters…
Global wildfire report for 2025 notes drop in area burned, as USAID cuts threaten future reports
Wildfires filled the headlines of 2025 from the US to South Korea to Spain and beyond, but an annual report shows that last year was actually one of the lowest fire years of this century. At the global scale, land area burnt by wildfires in 2025 was nearly 828…
Save the environment, and the economy, with prescribed burning, researchers say
The environmental benefits of fighting bad fire with good fire have been documented for decades, but researchers are now working to show just how much economic good prescribed burning brings. A study recently published in the journal Science integrated and ana…
Power agency that destroyed Pacific Northwest wildfire evidence ‘completely rewrites’ mitigation plan for 2026
The Pacific Northwest’s federal power agency, recently found guilty of destroying evidence that may have tied it to a disastrous 2020 wildfire, has released its latest fire mitigation plan. The Bonneville Power Administration released this year’s u…
Water pollution lasts for years after a wildfire burns, new research shows
Contaminants from wildfires can create long term water quality concerns in areas far from the fire-impacted zones as drifting smoke plumes and rainfall runoff challenge standard water filtration techniques. A recently published analysis of 23 studies across 28…
Wildfire science editing award
Congratulations to Dr Xinyan Huang, recipient of the International Journal of Wildland Fire Outstanding Associate Editor Award for 2025. This award honours Associate Editors who have demonstrated sustained excellence in their responsiveness, thoroughness, and …
Canada begins its aerial firefighting build
Canada’s long-term pledge to build up its aerial firefighting resources has begun with the lease of 12 aircraft that will be shared nationally for the 2026 wildfire season. As reported in March, Canada has put aside $316.7 million over the next five years for …
Extinction of unique US animals and plants at risk in wildfire on California’s ‘Galapagos of North America’
Extinction has always been a risk on Santa Rosa Island. Researchers have hailed the California island as having the most prolific aleontological record of extinct species such as pygmy mammoth, flightless sea duck, vampire bat and giant deer mouse. The environ…
Volunteer Handline Crews Model Gains Traction as Wildfires Increase in Germany
By Jan Sudmersen and Detlef Maushake Germany is a little smaller than California but has almost twice as many people, about 84 million. Though the country is densely populated and industrialized in large areas, about 30 per cent is defined as forest land – hal…