Characterization of global wildfire burned area spatiotemporal patterns and underlying climatic causes

Wildfires are widespread disasters and are concurrently influenced by global climatic drivers. Due to the widespread and far-reaching influence of climatic drivers, separate regional wildfires may have similar climatic cause mechanisms. Determining a suite of global climatic drivers that explain most of the variations in different homogeneous wildfire regions will be of great significance for wildfire management, wildfire prediction, and global wildfire climatology. Therefore, this study first identified spatiotemporally homogeneous regions of burned area worldwide during 2001–2019 using a distinct empirical orthogonal function. Eight patterns with different spatiotemporal characteristics were identified. Then, the relationships between major burned area patterns and sixteen global climatic drivers were quantified based on wavelet analysis. The most significant global climatic drivers that strongly impacted each of the eight major wildfire patterns were identified. The most significant combinations of hotspots and climatic drivers were Atlantic multidecadal Oscillation-East Pacific/North Pacific Oscillation (EP/NP)-Pacific North American Pattern (PNA) with the pattern around Ukraine and Kazakhstan, El Niño/Southern Oscillation-Arctic Oscillation (AO)-East Atlantic/Western Russia Pattern (EA/WR) with the pattern in Australia, and PNA-AO-Polar/Eurasia Pattern-EA/WR with the pattern in Brazil. Overall, these results provide a reference for predicting wildfire and understanding wildfire homogeneity.

Wildfires in the Atomic Age: Mitigating the Risk of Radioactive Smoke

This Perspective highlights the lingering consequences of nuclear disasters by examining the risks posed by wildfires that rerelease radioactive fallout originally deposited into the environment by accidents at nuclear power plants or testing of nuclear weapons. Such wildfires produce uncontainable, airborne, and hazardous smoke, which potentially carries radioactive material, thus becoming the specter of the original disaster. As wildfires occur more frequently with climate change and land use changes, nuclear wildfires present a pressing yet little discussed problem among wildfire management and fire scholars. The problem requires urgent attention due to the risks it poses to the health and wellbeing of wildland firefighters, land stewards, and smoke-impacted communities. This Perspective explains the problem, outlines future research directions, suggests potential solutions, and underlines the broader benefits of mitigating the risks.

Utilization of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery for Improving Burnt Area Mapping Accuracy

Wildfires pose a direct threat when occurring close to populated areas. Additionally, their significant carbon and climate feedbacks represent an indirect threat on a global, long-term scale. Monitoring and analyzing wildfires is therefore a crucial task to increase the understanding of interconnections between fire and ecosystems, in order to improve wildfire management activities. This study investigates the suitability of 232 different red/near-infrared band combinations based on hyperspectral imagery of the DESIS sensor with regard to burnt area detection accuracy. It is shown that the selection of wavelengths greatly influences the detection quality, and that especially the utilization of lower near-infrared wavelengths increases the yielded accuracy. For burnt area analysis based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the optimal wavelength range has been found to be 660–670 nm and 810–835 nm for the red band and near-infrared band, respectively.

Modeling the systemic risks of COVID-19 on the wildland firefighting workforce

Wildfire management in the US relies on a complex nationwide network of shared resources that are allocated based on regional need. While this network bolsters firefighting capacity, it may also provide pathways for COVID-19 transmission between fire sites. We develop an agent-based model of COVID-19 built on historical wildland fire assignments using detailed dispatch data from 2016-2018, which form a network of firefighters dispersed spatially and temporally across the US. We use this model to simulate SARS-CoV-2 transmission under several intervention scenarios including vaccination and social distancing. We find vaccination and social distancing are effective at reducing transmission at fire incidents. Under a scenario assuming High Compliance with recommended mitigations (including vaccination), infection rates, number of outbreaks, and worker days missed are effectively negligible. Under a contrasting Low Compliance scenario, it is possible for cascading outbreaks to emerge leading to relatively high numbers of worker days missed. The current set of interventions in place successfully mitigate the risk of cascading infections between fires, and off-assignment infection may be the dominant infection concern in the 2021 season. COVID-19 control measures in place in wildfire management are highly beneficial at decreasing both the health and resource impacts of the ongoing pandemic.

UAS and smartphone integration at wildfire management in Aotearoa New Zealand

Background: From 2016, wildfire emergency response used Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) also known as Uninhabited or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Systems (UAS) or "drones" (hereafter UAS), smartphones and smartphone applications (apps) on-site, for the first time at scale in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter New Zealand). This study outlines the deployment and use of this new technology in monitoring at wildfires in New Zealand from 2016, and the conveyance of fire response information to operational personnel. Methods: A quantitative and qualitative questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews were used to gather feedback on the use of this emerging technology from wildfire management personnel. The results were analysed to determine perception change over time, using retrospective analysis. The issues presented, and the uptake by fire management and personnel for the incorporation of such technology at wildfires in New Zealand are discussed. Findings: The integration of UAS and visual, infrared/infrared-thermal (IR/TIR) sensors has been used at over ten wildfire management response incidents throughout New Zealand since 2016. The quantitative perception of use and benefit of information technology in wildfire management response improved from the initial viewpoints, from indifferent to strongly supportive, and supportive to strongly supportive for UAS and smartphone use, respectively. Qualitative analysis showed that both positive views on the new technology increased, and indifferent and negative views diminished substantially following exposure to its operational integration into wildfire management. Conclusions: The use of technology such as UAS has gained support and currently offers the potential to increase safety and reduce suppression and mop-up costs. A reduction in the time taken for hotspot detection and management, combined with the ability to redeploy heavy-lift aircraft away from such tasks would lead to efficiencies in cost and resource utilisation. UAS as platforms for remote-sensing devices (such as cameras and laser scanners), and smartphone apps are now considered important tools for deployment at New Zealand wildfires by operational and Incident Management personnel. The adoption of any new systems or technology requires flexibility, especially in terms of management support, in which regular information, training and instruction should be considered crucial.

Transcending Parallel Play: Boundary Spanning for Collective Action in Wildfire Management

A key challenge in the United States is how to manage wildfire risk across boundaries and scales, as roles, responsibilities, and ability to act are distributed among actors in ways that do not always incentivize collective action. In this review paper, we provide several conceptual contributions to the understanding of wildfire management through the application of boundary spanning frameworks. This includes: (1) a characterization of four major types of boundaries in managing wildfire risk; (2) a review of major boundary spanning features and frameworks that integrate them; and (3) consideration of current and potential applications of the boundary spanning construct to the domain of wildfire management. Our goal is to advance knowledge of how actors in this arena may overcome “parallel play” to more collectively address wildfire risk. We generate new thinking about wildfire management, and offer potential implications and questions for future research, policy, and management.