Stephen Pyne

Dr Stephen Pyne is the recipient of the 2025 Ember Award for Excellence in Wildland Fire Science Dr Stephen Pyne is currently an emeritus professor at Arizona State University. In his academic career he specialized in environmental history, specifically as it relates to the cultural history of wildland fire. He is best known through the prolific number of books he has written on the cultural history and management of wildland fire throughout the world. It has been said that if there were ever a “global wildland fire laureate” title bestowed on an individual, it would certainly belong to Dr Pyne. Steve spent 15 seasons as a wildland firefighter with the US National Park Service on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park between 1967 and 1981. Later he wrote fire management plans for Rocky Mountain and Yellowstone national parks. Steve has authored or co-authored 31 non-fiction books between 1982 and 2024 dealing with all aspects of wildland fire around the world, including the cultural history of wildland fire and fire management in the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Europe, Russia, Mexico and the overall planet Earth. More than anyone else, his works have collectively helped wildland fire personnel and the public to better understand the inter-relationships between landscape fire and humanity.