April 22 is the deadline for: (1) oral paper abstract submission (2) poster abstract submission and (3) special sessions for “The ‘88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond” conference. The Program Committee will review all abstracts and determine which will be accepted as well as the schedule of presentations. Authors of accepted papers and/or posters will be notified by e-mail no later than May 30, 2008. The ‘88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond is being held in Jackson, Wyoming on September 22-27, 2008. This momentous conference commemorates the 20th anniversary of the 1988 fires in Yellowstone and the northern Rocky Mountain area.

The event is presented by the International Association of Wildland Fire in association with the National Park Service 9th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with the support of a consortium of partners. The conference will offer a host of opportunities to celebrate and learn lessons from past and present fire management practices and scientific research which serve as a foundation for the future of fire management. Discussions, presentations, and special sessions will focus on the following themes:

• Fire behavior, weather and fuels, including crown fire modeling, long range fire behavior, weather forecasting, fuels, and fuels management.
• Fire ecology, including wildlife, water, aquatic systems, landscape ecology and fire history.
• Fire management and policy, including fire suppression, operations, safety, and planning.
• Global trends: carbon, invasive species, climate change.
• Cultural and social perceptions of fire and the human interaction.

The content of submissions may include any subject as it relates to wildland fire challenges, and should not be limited to the 1988 fires.

More information, including the call for papers and a draft of the program can be found on the conference web site. The website has recently been updated and registration for the conference is now OPEN! Be sure to join us in Jackson, Wyoming September 22-27, 2008.

(originally posted April 8, 2008)

Today we introduced a more efficient and user friendly Wildland Fire Event Calendar. The calendar has always been one of the most visited pages on our web site, so we take it seriously and keep it updated.

The new version loads pages much more quickly and has a more logical layout. It looks a little different, but we expect our visitors will appreciate its advantages. It is a Google-based calendar, but we add all of the events. If you already have your own Google calendar, you can easily add an event to your calendar from ours. Click on the Contact button if you want to request that one of your events be added to our calendar

The IAWF is one of the partners in the Aerial Firefighting Conference which will be held October 21-22, 2008 in Athens, Greece. Numerous vendors and users of wildland fire aircraft are already committed to participating.

This is the first aerial firefighting conference in many years and should be very worthwhile for those involved in managing or using wildland fire aircraft. It will address both the global issues and aerial technologies and techniques necessary to attack both low-populated forest and agricultural wildfires and the highly-populated urban and high-rise environments. This conference will bring together the worlds experts and focus on aerial firefighting technologies and operations, including the cooperation and collaboration experiences and lessons learned in ground-to-air firefighting management.

(originally posted September, 2007)

We recently completely redesigned our web site. We started from scratch and built the site again from the ground up. We hope that it is more user friendly and appealing to our members and others who visit. We know that it will be more compatible with a broader range of web browsers. It now has a search function that should help you find what you need on the site. If you have comments or ideas about the redesign, click on the “Contact” tab on the home page in the top-right corner.

(originally posted April 24, 2007)

The International Association of Wildland Fire has issued a Position Paper on Climate Change. It is also on our Documents and Reports page.

(originally posted in December, 2007)

The Extended Abstracts from the Human Dimensions of Wildland Fire conference are now available. Click HERE to download the 2.8 MB pdf file.

(originally posted March, 2007)

The International Association of Wildland Fire is pleased to present its 2nd annual Ember Award to Dr. James K. Brown. The purpose of the Ember Award is to recognize sustained excellence in wildland fire research and to encourage innovation, exploration, application, and dissemination of important research results. The name “Ember Award” reflects the fact that research and science often move slowly, and their benefits or impacts may not be apparent for years. The award recognizes sustained and excellent research contributions to wildland fire science, innovative solutions to important wildland fire challenges, and effective and appropriate communication of wildland fire science and research results.

Jim received his bachelors degree from the University of Minnesota in 1960, his masters from Yale University in 1961, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1968, all in Forestry. From 1961 to 1965 he did research on field measurements of fuel properties and fire-danger rating systems while with the U.S. Forest Service Lake States Forest Experiment Station in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1965, he transferred to the Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana where he conducted research on the physical properties, inventory and prediction of fuels. From 1979 through 1995 he was leader of a prescribed fire and fire effects research unit of 25 employees.

His research was focused on fuel consumption, fuel hazard appraisal, fire ecology of western forests, and development of computer information systems for fuel prediction and application of prescribed fire. He has authored over 100 technical journal articles and reports. In 1992 he received the Forest Services Superior Science Award for his research on fuels and contributions to fire management. During Jims distinguished Forest Service career, his seminal research in fire effects, fuels, and fire behavior set the standard for many in the field.

At the start of his career, fire effects science was in its infancy. Jim had the foresight to observe that fire effects are intimately linked to fire behavior so he dedicated much of his career to ensuring that the two fields of behavior and effects were closely integrated in all of his studies. Many of his findings are integrated into the complex fire behavior and effects computer models used today. A careful scholar, a thoughtful ecologist, and an advocate for wise use of scientific information, Jim exemplifies the qualities honored by this award.

Photo, left to right: Chuck Bushey (IAWF President), Dr. James K. Brown, Elizabeth Reinhardt.

(originally posted in March, 2007)

During the 2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference in Destin, Florida, March 23-27, 2007, the attendees contributed to a raffle and raised $1,088 for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation (WFF). The IAWF Board of Directors voted to match this and sent a total of $2,176 to the WFF.

We also owe our thanks to the companies that contributed items to be raffled. They are:

• ESRI
• Kestrel (Nielsen-Kellerman Co.)
• Forestry Suppliers
• Madd Dog Foam Nozzles
• Speedtech Instruments
• Lab Safety Equipment

The IAWF held similar fund raising events for the WFF at 8th Wildland Fire Safety Summit in Missoula, Montana, in 2005, and also at the 1st Fire Behavior and Fuels conference in 2006 in Portland, Oregon.

The IAWF believes in the mission of the WFF, which is to “honor past, present, and future members of the wildland firefighting family”. The WFF also provides emergency support services to the families of injured and fallen firefighters. For more information about the WFF, visit their web site at Wildland Firefighter Foundation.

(originally posted February 20, 2007)

The results of a survey the International Association of Wildland Fire initiated about the Thirtymile fire are now available on our DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS PAGE in the News Releases section.

The Thirtymile fire, started by an escaped campfire near Winthrop, Washington, claimed the lives of four U.S. Forest Service firefighters on July 10, 2001. On January 30, 2007 the U.S. Attorney in Spokane, Washington, charged the Incident Commander of the fire with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of making false statements.

The IAWF, a non-profit, professional association representing members of the global wildland fire community, initiated the survey of wildland firefighters after hearing speculation that some firefighters were no longer going to serve in certain key management positions on wildland fires due to the new threat of going to prison for making mistakes on fires. The objective was to collect data to determine the scope of the issue, and provide objective information to the wildland fire agencies.
Wildland firefighters were invited by email as well as postings on wildland fire forums to take the survey which could only be taken once from each computer.

The survey was taken by 3,362 people. This large number indicates how important this issue is to wildland firefighters. The IAWF hopes that this data about the effects of the criminal charges will assist the wildland fire agencies and policy makers to formulate a strategy for mitigating the adverse impacts that the survey identified.

HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA, FEBRUARY 9, 2007

The International Association of Wildland Fire is pleased to announce that it has awarded two scholarships to students in Canada and Australia. These scholarships, each worth $2,500 USD, are designated for Master of Science or PhD. students studying wildland fire or wildland fire-related topics.

Sean T. Michaletz, a PhD. student at the University of Calgary in Canada, received one of the scholarships. Sean has developed models for deciduous and coniferous mortality following low intensity fires, and has also worked with crown scorch models. His PhD. research will concentrate on combining some of his individual tree models into stand and landscape level models.

Andrew Sullivan, a PhD. student at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, received the other scholarship. Andrew has been working on the development of fire spread simulation software, was co-author of a book on grass fire behavior and management, and conducted field experiments in Australian forests. His PhD. research focuses on the role of the competitive thermokinetics of cellulose thermal decomposition and combustion in patterns of bushfire spread.

We received many excellent applications from students that are engaged in first class research. The selection panel had a difficult task selecting only two scholarship recipients. The IAWF is exploring ways to expand the scholarship program in 2008 to also include students enrolled in undergraduate wildland fire programs. We expect to make an announcement about how to apply for the next round of scholarships in the third quarter of 2007.

More information, including photos of the two individuals, can be found on our Scholarships page.

(originally posted in 2007)

The proceedings from the 2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, “The Fire Environment Innovations, Management, and Policy” are now available for downloading HERE. Be advised that it is a large file, 31 MB, and should not be attempted with a dial-up internet connection. A CD with the proceedings can be ordered from the U.S. Forest Service’’s Rocky Mountain Research Station.

(Originally posted December 28, 2006)

The International Association of Wildland Fire issued a joint News Release about the December 19, 2006 criminal complaint against a firefighter involved with the 2001 Thirty Mile fire in Washington. It can be found on our HERE and is also on our Documents and Reports page.

(originally posted in December, 2006)

Please welcome the new members of the Board of Directors (BOD) for the International Association of Wildland Fire. The new BOD members are, effective January, 1, 2007: Dan Bailey, Falls Church, Virgina, USA; Janice Coen, Boulder, Colorado, USA; Tim Dolan, San Francisco, California, USA; Gary Morgan, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Brett Shields, Bowral, New South Wales, Australia; Bill Sommers, Great Falls, Virginia, USA; Ann Walker, Salem, Oregon, USA

In addition, we have a new slate of officers starting January 1, 2007: President: Chuck Bushey; Vice President: Paul Woodard; Secretary: Marc Titus; Treasurer: Elizabeth Reinhardt

We want to thank the BOD members whose terms will end December 31, 2006. We greatly appreciate their service and we hope they will continue to be active in the IAWF. Many thanks go out to: Tony Blanks, Howard Dupuis, Keith Harrap, Dick Mangan, Jim Tidwell, Domingos Xavier Viegas, and Don Saari.

(originally posted in 2007)

In order to better serve our members, we now have a toll-free telephone number that can be used within the U.S. and Canada: 1-888-440-IAWF (4293). We had hoped to make it usable for our members in Australia and Europe too, but apparently that is not possible.

(originally posted in May, 2007)

In May, 2007, the International Association of Wildland Fire was one of the founding members of the Fire Management Actions Alliance (FMAA), an initiative of the United Nations” Food and Agriculture Organization presented at the 4th International Wildland Fire Conference in Seville, Spain. The purpose of the FMAA “is to stimulate improved fire management and reduce damage from fire worldwide”.

The Objectives are to:

• review and update the Fire Management Voluntary Guidelines;
• encourage stakeholders at all levels to adopt and use the Guidelines;
• review experiences from applying the Guidelines;
• strengthen international cooperation in fire management.

More information can be found at the FMAA web site.