BY LAURA KING
By the time the Lahaina fire killed almost 100 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures on the island of Maui, Hawaii, on Aug. 8, the northern hemisphere was in the throes of a disastrous wildfire season.
Greece and Canada (page 22) experienced significant wildland fires in the summer of 2023, and in the case of Canada, some municipalities were woefully unprepared. A report by the city of Halifax, presented to municipal council in October, after a May 28 fire burned 151 homes, said the municipal emergency plan had not kept up with growth, and hadn’t been updated since 2018.
The report also said the lack of evacuation routes led to some residents being trapped behind fire lines, and confusion behind the scenes compounded the challenges faced by residents.
As for Lahaina, scientists said in late December the fire was caused by the same meteorological phenomenon responsible for California’s most damaging wildfires – a downslope windstorm – and was not, as originally suspected, the effect of Hurricane Dora.
Overall, in the United States, there were fewer fires in 2023, but with more significant impact. As Rich McCrea writes (page 42), as of Sept. 22, more than 44,011 wildfires had burned 2,342,143 acres (947,831 hectares). The 10-year average wildfire occurrence for the United States (2013-2022) is 44,575 fires burning 6,046,153 acres (2,446,791 hectares).
Contrast that with Greece (page 36), which experienced one of the worst fire seasons on record, with more than 140,000 hectares burned, hundreds of structures destroyed, and more than 20 fatalities.
As past IAWF board member Gavriil Xanthopoulos and colleagues write, the 2023 fire season “again highlighted the inadequacies of the Greek fire management system.”
While many countries have embraced prescribed burning, Greece’s Civil Protection organization remains focused on fire suppression.
“However, the firefighting doctrine has not changed and much of the control efforts are carried out from the roads, which, as a rule, are compromised. Even existing and ad-hoc firebreaks are not used effectively to control intense fires, let alone the strips around the roads where understory vegetation has been removed. Over-reliance on aerial resources continues.”
In Catalonia, in northern Spain (page 28), the evolution of wildland fire from first generation incidents partially attributed to lack of farming and more forested area, to extreme, sixth-generation, weather-driven events caused the Catalan Fire Rescue Service to implement a prescribed burning program, but as Marc Castellnou and Edgar Nebo write, global collaboration on best practices is necessary to manage the landscape.
In Cyprus, the effect of climate change on wildland fire is a relatively new reality, according to Petros Petrou and Kostakis Papageorgiou (page 32).
“The 2023 fire season in Cyprus was severe and particularly destructive. Following a winter with below average precipitation and a hot and dry summer, the conditions were particularly favourable for the ignition and rapid spread of forest fires.”
A lengthy heatwave in Cyprus, during which temperatures reached 46 C, worsened conditions.
“Cyprus has experienced aggressive fire activity, an aboveaverage number of fires and burned area, and the ignition of several significant fire incidents that had severe impacts on communities and the environment.”
In Australia (page 18), La Nina contributed to three consecutive years of below average fire seasons, although, writes David Bruce, “fire is an almost year-round experience in Australia, with the fire season moving in a predictable north to south direction from the Top End around June to Tasmania up until March.”
Experts predicted a more intense 2024 fire season, and with a new Australian Fire Danger Rating System established in late 2022, the federal minister for emergency management, Murray Watt, emphasized the importance of national coordination and support.
“But we’re conscious that this is shaping up to be the first significant fire season since Black Summer (2019-20), so we’re doing everything we can to be as prepared as possible at every level.”
These geographic overviews emphasize the importance of learning and global collaboration, which are highlighted by Ciaran Nugent, Jan Kaczmorowski and Alex Held (page 8) in their piece about Forest Camp in Poland, which in 2023 included more than 130 participants – firefighters, foresters, policy advisors, scientists, students, and journalists – from 22 countries.
“There is much more to these exchanges than just fire fighting; the mix of disciplines, inter-regional exposure to wildfire and wildfire training and development are natural precursors to genuine integrated fire management across borders, across disciplines and across cultures.”
This issue of Wildfire magazine offers a global perspective and a consistent refrain to share information, ideas, strategies and tactics, training, and research – all in line with the IAWF mission and vision.
