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.

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Keeping Good Company: A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and CAL FIRE Partnership, Part 2
CAL FIRE-San Diego County Fire Authority Station
3/3/2022
Partnerships will be key to addressing the new norm of more frequent, severe wildfires and implementing the historic new funding for federal wildland fire management provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A partnership in California showcases how two agencies can collaborate to more effectively respond to wildfires on both state- and federally-managed lands. This second installment explores the effectiveness of that partnership in the San Diego area.
Keeping Good Company: A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and CAL FIRE Partnership, Part 1
San Diego National Wildlife Refuge firefighters.
3/2/2022
Partnerships will be key to addressing the new norm of more frequent, severe wildfires and implementing the historic new funding for federal wildland fire management provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. A partnership in California showcases how two agencies can collaborate to more effectively respond to wildfires on both state- and federally-managed lands.
dotGov Notes: The Office of Wildland Fire Quarterly Bulletin (content.govdelivery.com)
Newsletter subscribe screen on a laptop and cell phone on a desk with a cup of coffee.
3/1/2022
The winter 2022 edition of the Office of Wildland Fire's quarterly bulletin discusses a historic investment in wildland fire management, workforce reforms for firefighters, COVID-19 mitigation for the 2022 fire season, and more. 
In the News: UN: Wildfires Getting Worse Globally, Governments Unprepared (apnews.com)
Smoke rising from the 2020 Archie Creek Fire.
3/1/2022
A warming planet and changes to land use patterns mean more wildfires will scorch large parts of the globe in coming decades, causing spikes in unhealthy smoke pollution and other problems that governments are ill prepared to confront, according to a U.N. report.
Teaming Up to Take On the Double Threat of Invasives and Wildfires
National Park Service fire and aviation management personnel monitor a prescribed fire in Florida.
3/1/2022
Invasive species and wildfire pose a dual threat to the nation’s communities, natural landscapes, and cultural resources. As we recognize National Invasive Species Awareness Week, we are also looking forward to how new, historic funding will support a strategic approach to combating these threats across government agencies.
Amid Historic Investment in Wildland Fire Management, Partnerships are Key
The Goose Creek Fire in 2020.
2/23/2022
Wildland fire management within the U.S. is built on interagency cooperation and extensive partnerships at the federal, state, Tribal, and local level. With the historic investment provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, robust partnerships will enable a cohesive approach to wildfire management across boundaries. 
Director’s Report: Shaping Wildland Fire Management for the Future
The Bondurant Fire in Wyoming in 2016.
2/22/2022
As our nation has experienced increasingly severe wildfire activity in recent years, significant new funding for wildfire management demonstrates the importance the country has placed on addressing this crisis together. This funding will help us shape a wildland fire management program geared toward the challenges that lie ahead.
Interior Announces Plan to Implement Historic Wildland Fire Management Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Wildland Fire, Press Release
A prescribed fire burns near a community in Florida.
2/16/2022
The Department of the Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire today announced initial plans for investing nearly $1.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to increase the resilience of communities and lands facing the threat of wildland fires and to better support federal wildland firefighters. 
dotGov Notes: Advancing Wildland Firefighter Workforce Reforms (content.govdelivery.com)
Silhouetted firefighters. Photo by USDA.
2/16/2022
Over the next five years, the Interior Department will receive nearly $1.5 billion for wildland fire management, including $164 million for workforce improvements, ranging from a new wildland firefighter classification series to mental health support, improved compensation to additional training.
In the News: ‘A Deranged Pyroscape’: How Fires Across the World have Grown Weirder (www.theguardian.com)
Firefighters receive a briefing amid smoke from the 2020 Holiday Fire in Ore. By Megan McGinnis, BLM
2/8/2022
Despite the rise of headline-grabbing megafires, fewer fires are burning worldwide now than at any time since antiquity. But this isn’t good news – in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable.
Meet BIL: How the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Supports Wildland Fire Management
Firefighters watch a retardant drop on the Peavine Fire in Nevada. Photo by Sarah McNeil, BLM.
1/24/2022
The once-in-a-generation investment in wildland fire management provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will significantly expand Interior’s forest and rangeland restoration, hazardous fuel management, wildfire preparedness, and post-fire recovery efforts.
In the News: The Unequal Impacts of Wildfire (headwaterseconomics.org)
Aerial view of homes burned by the Almeda Fire in Oregon. Photo by Ahturner through Adobe Stock.
1/12/2022
Variables such as income, age, mobility, and other socioeconomic factors can influence vulnerability to wildfire impacts.
In the News: Extreme Air Pollution from U.S. Wildfires Now Affects Millions of People (www.newscientist.com)
Smoke rises from the South Moccasin Fire in Montana. Photo by Lauren Kokinda, BLM
1/12/2022
The portion of the western U.S. hit by the unusually high co-occurrence of two air pollutants because of wildfires has more than doubled in the past decade, exposing millions more people to dirty air.
In the News: This Vast Wildfire Lab is Helping Foresters Prepare for a Hotter Planet (www.nytimes.com)
Road bordering burned forest, from above
1/6/2022
When the Bootleg Fire tore through a nature reserve in Oregon this summer, the destruction varied in different areas. Researchers say forest management methods, including controlled burns, were a big factor.
Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security Jointly Establish New Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission
Firefighter talks on radio during a retardant drop at the Rice Ridge Fire. Photo by Kari Greer, FS.
12/17/2021
The Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security announced the establishment of a Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. Establishing this Commission fulfills a key provision of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and represents a critical step in combating the nation’s wildfire crisis and improving resilience in America’s landscapes.

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