Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference - Boise

FUEL, FIRE AND SMOKE: EVOLVING

BOISE

OUTLINING A PATH TO THE FUTURE

BY RICHARD MCCREA

The 7th IAWF Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference opened its first session on Monday, April 15, in Boise, Idaho, under the shadows of the snowcapped peaks of the Rocky Mountains. This conference was well attended by fire practitioners, researchers, managers, professors, and students. The Boise conference attendance included 385 folks from 10 countries, 26 states, and 23 exhibitors. Students comprised two per cent of the attendees with the rest of the group split between researchers and practitioners.

Kelly Martin, IAWF president, opened the session with a welcoming statement and gave recognition to the leadership role that IAWF provides that unites fire managers and Indigenous Peoples. Martin emphasized the importance of global communication, collaboration, support for local communities, science, and the need for more flexible and adaptive approaches. IAWF recognizes that the scale and impact of wildland fire is continuing to grow on a worldwide basis and that some current management approaches are not workable. The fire community needs to craft strategies to effectively manage fire in all ecosystems and promote the importance of prescribed and managed fire.

Dr. Lori Moore-Merrill, U.S. fire administrator, opened with the keynote presentation that was shown virtually in Canberra. Moore-Merrill discussed the roles of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), which is to support and strengthen fire and emergency services and stakeholders to prepare for, prevent, mitigate, and respond to hazards. One of the current initiatives of USFA is the launch of the prototype version of the new, interoperable fire information and analytics platform, known as the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) for U.S. fire and emergency services. The goal of NERIS is to empower the local fire and emergency services community by equipping it with near real-time information and analytic tools that support data informed decision making for enhanced preparedness and response to emergency incidents of all types.

Prior to the opening remarks participants had the choice of two workshops; one on gathering user inputs for long-term fire weather outlooks and the second on communicating practices for more effective wildland fire management. A tour of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) was also available.

The Tuesday, April 16, morning keynote presentation, streamed from Ireland, was by Dr. Mark Parrington, senior scientist in the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and Dr. Joseph Wilkens, assistant professor, Department of Atmospheric Science, Howard University. Parrington discussed the Copernicus Climate Change Service, one of the six thematic services provided by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts. This centre integrates fire models into weather forecasts and monitors smoke emissions, pollution, vegetation responses to climate and provides earth observation products for wildland monitoring and forecasting. Wilkens’ presentation focused on research into wildland fire smoke and its impacts.

The concurrent sessions on April 16 focused on fire behavior and fuels, technology and approaches, operations and management and extreme fire behavior. The presentations that day were followed by a poster session in the evening.

Nick Nauslar, National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist, did a presentation that focused on long accumulation of woody fuels and duff in our forests from mortality and disease impacts. These fuel accumulations contribute to extreme fire behavior, spotting, pyrocumulus development, firestorms, and high severity impacts. High winds are not required for this type of firestorm development because of the intense indrafts, and large vortices created by column development. With these firestorms the flames can spread in multiple directions and 80 per cent of the fuel burns after the flaming front passes. With our current fire behavior models it is difficult to predict fire behavior in these situations. This research is focused on the study of burnout of “big” fuels under controlled environmental conditions of wind speed, temperature, and humidity. The burning experiments are conducted in a laboratory setting, and a large steel building was constructed for this purpose. During these experiments various arrangements of fuels are burned with close monitoring of fuel moistures, burnout times and weight reduction of woody fuels. Initial findings show that wind speed, fuel moistures, fuel arrangements/geometry and topography really matter. During experiments the large fuels burnout from the bottom up and wind speed has a big impact on consumption. The focus of the research is to build the ability to predict fire behavior transition from line spreading fire to area fire spread.

On April 18, the concurrent sessions focused on fire behavior and fuels, fuels mitigation in the WUI, fire behavior and technology, and weather and climate. Robyn Heffernan, NWS Meteorologist, did a presentation on NOAA improvements in the United States fire weather hazards program. NOAA programs include research, operational forecasting, incident meteorologists (IMET), and the storm prediction programs. Daily operations include forecasts for weather, smoke, air quality, extreme weather events, debris flows, and fire detections. Long-term climate conditions are forecasted for temperature and precipitation. There is an increasing need for IMETs on incidents, and additional support for prescribed fire operations and spot weather forecasts. NOAA is investing in improvements in climate and weather forecasts, smoke modeling and equipment for IMETs.

The final session on April 18 was a keynote panel concerning the 2003 wildfire season in Canada. The 2023 fire season in Canada was long and arduous with 17 million hectares burned (42 million acres), which was double the previous record. The country bore witness to a remarkable display of national and international solidarity, the undeniable impact of climate change, and the fortitude of its fire management community. There were 100 days of poor air quality in some areas and many events of extreme fire behavior. Canadian fire suppression resources were assisted by support from 13 countries. Fire suppression personnel who lived in the vicinity of the fires endured a long fire season, which had effects on their well-being. Some communities were directly impacted by large fires and smoke, with numerous evacuations, which had the biggest effects on First Nations communities. Many residents who were affected opted to stay behind, which was a struggle for fire suppression agencies to manage.

The IAWF program in Boise was a great success and well attended. The presentations covered a broad spectrum of fire management operations and research. The information presented will contribute to a better understanding of the challenges we face and the opportunities for future improvements in wildland fire management.

Rich McCrea worked 32 years in fire management and forestry with federal agencies in the United States. Outfitted with a degree in forestry, McCrea started his career as a seasonal employee with the forest service as a forestry technician and member of the Helena Interagency Hotshot Crew, then moved on to permanent positions with the Bureau of Indian Affairs as a forester and fire management officer at three different field locations and at the National Interagency Fire Center. The last 12 years McCrea has worked as a fire management consultant and a freelance writer and historian.