President’s Desk
LEARNING FROM OTHERS
BY KELLY MARTIN
It’s hard not to notice that counties throughout the world seem to be dealing with unbelievable losses. In 2023: in Canada four firefighters were killed and smoke emissions exceeded the yearly average by almost five times; in Maui, the Lahaina fire killed 100 people; Greece experienced the worst fire season in the last 20 years with a reported 18 people killed; and to start the 2024 fire season, 26 people died in Chile and two people were killed in the largest fire in Texas history.
We have known for some time that we need to think differently about wildfires; now is the time to act. Our collective mindset of requesting more and more resources to suppress all wildfires hoping to achieve a different outcome is limiting our ability to bring in new and novel actions.
There is much discussion in wildland fire circles about the emerging recognition that aggressive wildfire suppression is a contributing factor to increased risks to people, communities, and ecosystems. If we could rewind the clock 100 years or more, we would be living in an environment where fire was just as ubiquitous as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornados. Indigenous people learned to live with and adapt to these natural events. Once we walked out of this natural balance, the concept of fire suppression in perpetuity became inextricably linked to requiring more and more funding and resources to suppress more and more wildfires. Now, ever increasing severe wildfires are causing loss of life, property, biodiversity, cultural use of fire, carbon capture and storage.
Integrating wildfire suppression with other known vital prevention and mitigation efforts is proving to be a path forward with a long view to reducing loss of life and propropery and critical resource values. Our future depends on our ability to tip the scale in favor of a more holistic approach to wildfires, which puts more focus on pre-fire and post-fire planning and mitigation. We have little time to waste.
A critical report completed in the United States in 2023, the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission report, was presented to the US Congress and released to the public as a proactive approach to managing wildland fires. I encourage you to download the report to link opportunities unique to your work and your community (https://www.usda.gov/ topics/disaster-resource-center/wildland-fire/commission). Recommendations identified in the report might also apply to broader opportunities in many other countries. Central to the report is reframing our ability to know and understand how to live with fire.
If we could rewind the clock 100 years or more, we would be living in an environment where fire was just as ubiquitous as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornados.
Every year the IAWF hosts international conferences for members to share, learn and renew and form new networks of people working in similar spaces. Our upcoming Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference (page 24), which educates the public and stakeholders about the role of fire in ecosystems and responsible fire practices, is crucial for implementing successful fire management principles. This year the conference runs April 15-19 on three continents: in Tralee, Ireland; Canberra, Australia; and Boise, Idaho, in the United States. I encourage all of you to check out the rich agendas of topics and presenters and maybe we will see you this spring. (www. iawfonline.org and click on events / conferences).
I appreciate this opportunity to thank all the previous presidents of IAWF and each one of you for allowing me this opportunity to serve you and our international communities as the president of the International Association of Wildland Fire for 2024. And thank you to past president Joaquin Ramirez for his outstanding leadership these last two years. For the last six years I have been an active IAWF board member, the last two years as a primary representative on the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. This last year my travels have taken me to South Africa for our first ever Women in Fire Training Exchange, and I’ve recently returned from the Women’s Training Exchange in Portugal where we hosted women from 21 counties. I have much to learn from other counties in how they view and implement integrated fire management. These amazing experiences since retiring from my federal firefighting career in 2019 have given me a unique perspective that I longed for during the better part of my adult life. I am excited about the prospects of sharing much of what I have learned and continue to learn and grow with all of you during my term as president this year.
Kelly Martin has been an IAWF board member since 2019, when she retired as chief of fire and aviation, Yosemite National Park, National Park Service, Pacific West Region. Martin began her federal career as a GS-3 with the Apostle Island National Lakeshore in 1984 while attending college and worked her way up through the wildland fire ranks during her 34-year career. Martin is the past chair of two National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) programs: Fire Environment Committee (FENC) and the National Fire Management Leadership (M-582) course. Martin is a strong advocate for diversity, inclusion and gender parity throughout the wildland fire community. Her most recent efforts include providing leadership for the Women in Fire Training Exchange (WTREX) since 2016.
