President’s Desk by Dan W. Bailey
March/April 2012
Twenty-two years ago, a small group of individuals formed an organization to deal with the expanding issue of wildland fire. Today, that small group has grown to become the global leader in sharing wildfire research, technology transfer, data collection and innovative education programs. We continue to be focused on what the founders of the group set as the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) keystone, “to truly be an association of individuals, organizations, agencies and businesses from around the world, joining together to understand and address wildfire issues and to learn from each other.”
IAWF now spans the globe through our websites, publications, conferences and joint training, as well as through webinars, tweets, list-serves and online newsletters. We reach our members and beyond with emerging issues and discoveries, and we engage people in the exploration of key wildfire topics, like firefighter safety, fuels mitigation, fire prevention, the wildland urban interface and a host of other topics.
Through our publications Wildfire® and the International Journal of Wildland Fire®, we reach audiences online and in print with the latest, wide ranging, wildfire-related issues and research. Through FireNet®, our online news alert, we reach thousands instantly around the world with wildfire news updates and discussions. We invite article and research submissions to share with our readers. Both our national and global Wildfire Awareness Week® that launched last year will be even bigger this year, as we work with new U.S. partners and with a host of international groups and organizations, including the World Bank and the United Nations. And because our field continues to expand and evolve, we reach out and support emerging new professionals by awarding two scholarships each year to students in advanced studies related to some aspect of wildland fire science.
Our staff, board members and members-at-large are involved with many other groups and organizations in a variety of projects, committees, taskforces, special initiatives and joint training here in the United States and around the world, keeping the IAWF connected and engaged. So depending on where you live, it may be called a wildfire, bushfire, brushfire, range fire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire or veldfire. The bottom line is these fires are touching a broader spectrum of people and organizations globally each year.
To learn, to teach, to share and to communicate has been the real strength of our IAWF organization. As I begin my first year as the 5th President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, I am excited to be working with such a distinguished and extremely qualified global Board of Directors and an exceptional IAWF staff. I am looking forward to building on our extraordinary strengths gained from 22 years of experience, taking us to new and innovative levels involving new partnerships, building our membership base and expanding our global presence and involvement.
In the coming weeks, you will be hearing and reading about new and exciting initiatives, conferences, webinars, state-of-the-art Web-based training and other collaborative programs dealing with wildland fire, the growing issue of the wildland urban interface, community education and global wildfire communication efforts.
If you are not yet a member, I encourage you to join and become a part of the global conversation. If you are a member, I encourage you to get more involved: contact me at president@iawfonline.org, any one of our board members or our Executive Director to learn more and become engaged.
And last but not least, thanks to Chuck Bushey for his leadership over the past four years. He has set the bar very high. Chuck will continue to be an active member and engaged in a number of efforts, including continuing as the Editor/Moderator of IAWF’s FireNET®.
