Wildland Fire News

A selection of news releases and stories related to wildland fire management. For details about ongoing wildfires, visit the National Interagency Fire Center.

Year

Type

A wildland firefighter saws through dense foliage. Photo by Joe Bradshaw, BLM.

In the News: Does thinning work for wildfire prevention? (www.hcn.org)

02/16/2023

Severe wildfire — which kills most of the trees in its path — has increased eightfold in 30 years. Thinning and prescribed fire are critical for preserving Western forests. But they won’t save forests on their own: climate action is imperative, too.

Four crew members look out from a helicopter in the sky.

Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission Releases Strategy to Meet Aerial Firefighting Equipment Needs (www.doi.gov)

02/13/2023

Today, the Biden-Harris administration's Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission released a report outlining a strategy to meet aerial firefighting equipment needs through 2030.

A patch of bright green corn lilies glow in the sunlight amid an otherwise barren forest floor and blackened trees stretching toward a blue sky. The lilies indicate the presence of shallow groundwater in a post-fire monitoring plot in the Mendocino Nation

A Research Project Aims to Improve Forest Resiliency to Future Wildfires

02/07/2023

A research project that recently received funding from the Joint Fire Science Program, with support from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to help the Mendocino and Shasta Trinity national forests recover from extreme wildfires while developing forest conditions that will build resiliency to climate change, fires, and other disturbances.

A wildland firefighter with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helps private landowners adjacent to the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge set a prescribed fire to manage vegetation and reduce the risk of an extreme wildfire. He holds a drip to

Improving Wildfire Risk Reduction through Ecosystem Mapping

02/06/2023

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing an additional $20 million to the Joint Fire Science Program over five years to support wildland fire science. One proposal that received funding through the law will develop improved ecosystem maps to support strategic fire and fuel management planning at regional and landscape scales.

In the News: To Find and Fight Fires (express.adobe.com)

02/02/2023

Hundreds of wildland fires burned more than 3 million acres in over 580 blazes across Alaska in 2022, the fifth largest area burned since 1990. How do fire managers track and monitor these fires while dispatching and protecting firefighters? The answer, in part, is satellites.

The Office of Wildland Fire Quarterly Bulletin (content.govdelivery.com)

01/30/2023

The winter 2022/2023 edition of the Office of Wildland Fire's quarterly newsletter discusses accelerating the pace and scale of wildfire risk reduction and resilience, the new firefighter classification series, developing a firefighter health and wellbeing program, and more.

Two wildland firefighters from the Snake River Hotshots Crew stand on a small rise overlooking flames burning in tall, dried grass. Black smoke rises from the flames. The fire and smoke fade to the left, and snow-covered peaks are visible in the distance.

Director’s Report: A Historic Down Payment on the Future

01/30/2023

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a historic down payment on the future that will help overcome the worsening climate crisis and increasingly severe wildfires. Accelerating the pace and scale of the Interior Department’s wildland fire management activities is a priority in 2023.