K-12 Education

This report looks at the economic and social impacts of fuels treatments in an effort to answer persistent questions asked by Congress as they consider funding levels. Although this report is focused on woodlands, especially in the Southwest, I think the implications are important for the whole fire community. The sections on the wildland urban interface (where the natural areas meet the cities) are particularly important in the Great Plains.

Considerable prescribed fire research has been conducted on Ashe juniper (Juniperus ashei) and redberry juniper (J. pinchotii) communities in Texas. Prescribed fire is an effective, cost competitive method of controlling juniper. This paper outlines how to safely and efficiently conduct prescribed fires in juniper communities and discusses vegetation responses in the two major juniper types found in Texas.

In 1963, Omer C. Stewart, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, wrote an article about the use of fire by aboriginal peoples. This publication was not regarded with much importance when Stewart first presented it, but now his ideas are more respected within the fire community. Stewart focused on the value of learning about the ways indigenous peoples used fire as an ecological management tool. His article “Barriers to Understanding the Influence of Use of Fire by Aborigines on Vegetation” discusses the importance of taking time to learn from aboriginal people about their historical use of fire. In addition, Stewart addresses several reasons that historical information acquired from indigenous people is often disregarded in the realm of science.

In this article, Twidwell and others compared accident and fatality rates for wildland fire (wildfire and prescribed fire) to related occupations such as construction, animal production, crop production, and logging. Firefighters had the least fatalities from 2006-2013. Prescribed fire had far fewer fatal injuries than wildfire from 1963-2013. The authors caution that the datasets have limitations and really provide an approximation.

This report describes a new set of standard fire behavior fuel models for use with Rothermel’s surface fire spread model and the relationship of the new set to the original set of 13 fire behavior fuel models. To assist with transition to using the new fuel models, a fuel model selection guide, fuel model crosswalk, and set of fuel model photos are provided.

This handout was published in 2005, but it contains good information. Topics covered include history of fire use in Texas, fire ecology in different ecoregions, use of fire in wildlife management, several case studies, roles of fire management agencies, and increasing stakeholder involvement.

The recent increase of wildfires in the southern Great Plains has illustrated a need for development and application of fuels (vegetation) management techniques in the region. Fuels management is crucial to fire suppression and fire fighter safety, as the amount of fuel directly influences flame lengths. Flame lengths, in turn, are among the primary factors used to describe fire intensity, which has a direct impact on the ability to suppress wildfires.

The increasing frequency and intensity of wildland and wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires have become a significant concern in many parts of the United States and around the world. To address and manage this WUI fire risk, local fire departments around the country have begun to acquire the appropriate equipment and offer more training in wildfire response and suppression. There is also growing recognition of the importance of wildfire mitigation and public outreach about community risk reduction. Using survey and interview data from 46 senior officers from local fire departments around the U.S., this report describes how some local fire departments are addressing the wildfire peril in terms equipment, training, fitness, response strategies and tactics, public communication, education, and mitigation activities. The successes and challenges these departments have experienced also show how departments face and overcome barriers to being better prepared and ready to control and mitigate a wildfire incident in their communities.

Smoke Signals is a quarterly newsletter published by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Branch of Wildland Fire Management at the National Interagency Fire Center. The newsletter, written by authors from across Indian Country, highlights activities and accomplishments taking place in the forestry and wildland fire management programs.

https://www.bia.gov/bia/ots/dfwfm/bwfm/forestry-fire-newsletters