DHS S&T, FEMA and USFA are working closely with the national and international first responder community on the growing problem of fires in the wildland-urban interface (WUI).
Forest management must account for the elevated risk large, hot fires pose to older trees that store more carbon, researchers from NAU, UNM, the U.S. Forest Service and the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss) at Northern Arizona University say in a new opinion piece in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Users and supporters of UC San Diego’s High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) gathered earlier this month for an update on current projects and plans for the internet-connected cyberinfrastructure of cameras and sensors that have alerted first responders to wildfires in remote areas of greater San Diego.
New University of Montana research suggests climate change makes it increasingly difficult for tree seedlings to regenerate following wildfires in low-elevation forests, which could contribute to abrupt forest loss.
Northern Arizona University researchers Julie Mueller, Adrienne Soder and Abe Springer found residents of the Phoenix metropolitan area are willing to pay to protect critical habitats, access to recreation, surface and groundwater and culturally significant areas around the Salt and Verde River watershed.
The 2011 Las Conchas mega-fire in New Mexico burned more than 150,000 acres and threatened the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Now, using data from the fire, researchers at Los Alamos have created an experimental model that will help us better understand the interactions of fire and water in the soil.
In the summers of 2017 and 2018, heat waves and drought conditions spawned hundreds of wildfires in the western U.S. And in November, two more devastating wildfires broke out in California, scorching thousands of acres of forest, destroying homes and even claiming lives. Now, researchers studying ash from recent California wildfires report in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology that burned material in forests might help sequester mercury that otherwise would be released into the environment.
Fires that contribute to deforestation spiked six-fold in Colombia in the year after an historic 2016 peace agreement ended decades of conflict between FARC guerrilla and government forces, according to a study in Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Risk assessment and risk mitigation practices can be beneficial in creating adaptation plans and making mitigation decisions for coastal communities. As scientists ponder the possibility of category six hurricanes, previous disaster prevention plans are no longer adequate for current threats from severe weather.
In a first-of-a-kind study published Nature Ecology & Evolution, scientists provide evidence that implementing the peace accords in Colombia coincided with a spike of fires and deforestation in protected areas.
Light-absorbing brown carbon aerosols, emitted by wildfires, remain longer in the atmosphere than expected, which could have implications for climate predictions.
Coupling two models, one to predict how fast the fire will travel and another to estimate traffic flow, can help emergency managers determine when to evacuate residents during a wildfire.
Astronomers using ALMA, with the aid of a gravitational lens, have detected the most-distant galactic “wind” of molecules ever observed, seen when the universe was only one billion years old. By tracing the outflow of hydroxyl (OH) molecules – which herald the presence of star-forming gas in galaxies – the researchers show how some galaxies in the early universe quenched an ongoing wildfire of starbirth.
Demand for real estate rebounds in high-risk areas within one to two years of a wildfire, UNLV study finds. Here’s what the research may mean for homeowners in California and beyond.
University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Monica Turner and her research team and colleagues explore how the patterns of fire and recovery are changing, particularly as the climate warms and drought becomes more common.
Dry months are getting hotter in large parts of the United States, another sign that human-caused climate change is forcing people to encounter new extremes.
University of California, Irvine Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Amir AghaKouchak is available for media interviews on how heat waves and drought are supercharging the wildfires currently ravaging Greece.
The scholars from Northern Arizona University found the significant and worrisome negative effects of climate change and wildfire could be mitigated with targeted forest restoration.
Two Children's Hospital Los Angeles experts - pulmonologist Shirleen Loloyan Kohn, MD, and psychologist Stephanie Marcy, PhD, provide tips on keeping the whole family safe and sound in the event of a wildfire.
A team of ASU students built an AI drone to detect wildfires before they become catastrophic. The students will compete for a $100,000 prize in an international Microsoft pitch competition this summer.
The recent Thomas Fire in California was the largest wildfire in the state’s modern history. It scorched nearly 282,000 acres between December 2017 and January 2018, and serves as a reminder of how devastating such events can be. Now, researchers report that wildfires in forested watersheds can have a variable but predictable impact on the substances that are released from soils and flow into drinking water sources.
Two University of California San Diego projects, along with a complementary University of Nevada, Reno project, have been selected as recipients of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) 2018 Innovations in Networking Award for Experimental Applications in recognition of work advancing IT and telecommunications technologies to help minimize potential damage caused by wildfires.
This past weekend brought fierce Santa Ana Winds to Southern California that are expected to last all week. As of this writing, major fires are burning in Ventura County and other areas within Los Angeles County. The South Coast Air Quality Management District lists the following areas of direct smoke impacts: ftp://ftp.aqmd.gov/pub/globalist/Advisory2.pdf
Rural counties continue to rank lowest among counties across the U.S., in terms of health outcomes. A group of national organizations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National 4-H Council are leading the way to close the rural health gap.
Experts at Fresno State and Sonoma State are still assessing the impact of the recent fires. So far, winemakers at both campuses see a healthy picture for the state and wine lovers alike.
A new suite of personal protective equipment (PPE) may provide additional protection for firefighters from exposure to carcinogenic vapors and particulate matter at incident sites.