PRESIDENT ’S D ES K
A CALL FOR PRESCRIBED BURNING As we gather in May in Pasadena and June in Melbourne for our association’s first Fire & Climate conference, I am happy to say that it is with a strong purpose because the challenge we face across landscape management, community risk and the safety of our wildland firefighters is clear. Our wildfire community sees first-hand that climate change is resulting in drying and warming trends across the world. In January 2022, IAWF released a formal position statement on climate change and wildfire that sets forth our association’s vision and calls to action to our wildland fire community. We must act now to create the wider public collaboration required for this change. As the position paper acknowledges, “In many cases, fire seasons will lengthen, become more extreme and extend into landscapes previously unaffected by wildland fires. This will increase the risk to the health and safety of firefighters, the community, the environment, industries and the economy.” Fire & Climate 2022 sets our focus in motion. I am excited as the session agendas demonstrate the
breadth of our community’s efforts to address where the climate scenarios are taking the pyroscapes worldwide. I am also thankful to IAWF’s past president, Alen Slijepcevic, who guided the development of the climate change position paper and the accepted vision it sets forth for IAWF’s future efforts. I feel that one of the strongest pronouncements made by the position paper is that prescribed burning must be implemented at all levels as a management tool in this new environment. As IAWF’s position paper recognizes, “Prescribed burning and wildland fire used under prescriptive conditions can reduce the severity of future potential fire behavior, increase the potential success of containment efforts and maintain and improve the health and resiliency of ecosystems.” It also recognizes that such cross-jurisdictional activities require a shared responsibility and increased collaboration for success. The position paper also acknowledges some sobering realities. First, that the complexity under which incident management teams operate is increasing and includes a more complex wildland urban interface.
---------------------------------------- IAWF VISION --------------------------------------To safely and effectively extinguish wildfires, when needed; use prescribed and wildland fire where possible to meet protection and land and resource management objectives; manage our natural resources through progressive fuel reduction to increase landscape resilience in the face of climate change; and educate and prepare our communities to accept our co-existence with smoke and wildland fire.
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APRIL - JUNE 2022
