A lasting lesson and teaching event legacy of the 1961 Western Australian bushfires
In 1961, from 20 to 24 January, a series of large, destructive bushfires burned in the forested south-west region of Western Australia. A subsequent Royal Commission investigated causes and made recommendations to enhance controlled burning that had profound i…
Dozens dead and hundreds of homes destroyed amid Chile wildfire outbreak
More than 500 firefighters are battling over two dozen wildfires throughout Chile with no end in sight as weather conditions worsen fire spread, according to National Forest Corporation officials. Security Minister Luis Cordero on Monday said at least 19 peopl…
The global cost of wildfires can be invisible and long-term: UN report
The costliest wildfire event of the year – the January fires in and around Los Angeles that directly claimed the lives of 30 people – burnt a relatively small 23,000 hectares (56,000 acres) but caused at least USD 53 billion in damages. Of those damages,…
National 30-minute wildfire response law faces debate
US wildland fire agencies would be required to respond to wildfires within 30 minutes and deploy within three hours if the Wildfire Response and Preparedness Act is signed into law. The mandated response time was described as a “commonsense” measur…
Help reduce cancer in the fire service
January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month in the United States. Follow in the footsteps of tens of thousands of US firefighters who are making an impact on firefighter health and safety. Join the NIOSH National Firefighter Registry (NFR) for Cancer. All US…
US Wildland Fire Service launched, despite lack of funding and without majority of nation’s firefighting resources
The United States Department of the Interior on Monday officially announced the launch of the “U.S. Wildland Fire Service,” an effort by the department to unify the wildfire-fighting resources of numerous agencies. Secretary of the Interior Doug Bu…
USFS to standardize post-fire recovery programs, scrutinize current projects
The USDA Forest Service plans to standardize post-fire recovery actions nationwide. The Service will soon be launching a nationwide environmental assessment to analyze the effects of general post-fire recovery actions, issues, and alternatives to facilitate co…
Extreme fire warnings for southern Australian heatwave
Update, 13 January – The searing heatwave across southeastern Australia in early 2026 set the stage for an outbreak of bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales. The heatwave was one of the most intense on record as temperatures soared to 111°F (43.9°C) …
‘Wildland Fire Service’ consolidation effort stalled pending further study
Congress just unveiled a new package of bills to fund some agencies and avert a full government shutdown at the end of January. The package includes a specific push back against the Trump administration’s attempt to consolidate the nation’s wildlan…
Long-term health scars left by LA’s historic wildfires
The fires have been long extinguished, but the health effects of Los Angeles’ destructive 2025 wildfires are still living on one year later. The Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Kenneth, Hughes and Sepulveda fires killed 440 people, destroyed nearly 16,000 homes…