Wildfire Magazine Q2 2024

FUEL, FIRE AND SMOKE: EVOLVING TO MEET OUR CLIMATE CHALLENGE

TRALEE

DELEGATES COMMIT TO MORE GLOBAL COLLABORATION

BY LAURA KING, ERIC EVENSON, JENNIFER FAWCETT, JOE WILKINS, AND STEVE MILLER

It rains – a lot – in Tralee, Ireland, and there was no doubt it would pour during the 7th International Fire Behaviour and Fuels conference field trip on Wednesday, April 18.

More than 75 conference delegates from North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Iceland, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic listened to farmer Brigid O’Connor at her Gleann Na Gealt property explain that traditional practices have changed – there are fewer sheep farmers due to cost and commitment, resulting in more vegetation, or fuel, on the mountains:

the vegetation feeds wildfires and challenges management and suppression efforts.

Brilliantly, the IAWF had provided associationbranded umbrellas to delegates, who, regardless, shivered in the sometimes-pelting precipitation as O’Connor simply tightened the hood of her windbreaker, raised her strong voice, and spoke with authority amassed over decades of farming in southwest Ireland.

A bit further up the mountainside, at Glenteenassig Forest Park, delegates were welcomed by Bernard

IAWF branded umbrellas came in handy during the field trip in Tralee to Gleann Na Gealt farm. Photo by Laura King.

Despite the weather, a demo of wildland firefighting equipment by local Coillte fire teams, Kerry Fire and Rescue Service, and the National Park service was conducted, and thrilled delegates.. Photo by Steve Miller.

Burke and his team who manage the site on behalf of Coillte Teoranta– the Irish state Forest Board. Coillte was also a supporting partner for the conference in Tralee.

Local Coillte fire teams, Kerry Fire and Rescue Service and the National Park Service explained their roles in wildland fire and land management, demonstrated their equipment, and answered myriad questions; they’d been on the mountain for hours, waiting for our delayed buses, but their enthusiasm, professionalism and humour was testament to their hardiness and agency collaboration.

The rain and fog persisted but our Irish hosts had trucked hot beverages and melt-in-your mouth cookies up the mountainside, to the delight of the damp delegates.

As equipment demos continued and the afternoon temperature dropped, some sopping North Americans (who were, admittedly, underdressed, and unprepared for the Irish weather!) stealthily slunk back to buses staged nearby, having wrongly assumed a planned Bambi-bucket demonstration at the mountainside lake would be called off. Perhaps in North America it would have been. But Tralee’s

gregarious and indefatigable conference chair Ciaran Nugent, regional inspector with the Forest Service, sloughed off concerns about visibility (“It’s Ireland!”) and sure enough, the distant hum of the chopper encouraged everyone to slog back up the road to witness the precision with which the pilot executed multiple pick-ups and drops.

The final, and perhaps most-anticipated stop on the five-hour outdoor adventure was a thirst-suppression demonstration at the Railway Tavern, an ancient and tiny pub with gigantic character. Guinness flowed (after long awaited loo visits!), the fireplace crackled, and delegates warmed up to Irish tunes and plenty of banter.

Like its counterparts in Boise and Canberra, the Tralee conference was diverse in subject matter, presenters, and participants.

A particularly poignant session by the first keynote speaker, Edward Alexander, co-chair and head of delegation of Gwich’in Council International, inspired delegates to think about the people whose expertise in traditional or Indigenous fire came long before prescribed burning and suppression tactics.

Alexander noted that:

• Indigenous fires burned when the ground was frozen, and duff was protected. Wildfires burn and expose ground and yedoma, contributing dramatically to the release of methane.

• Fires are increasing in intensity, duration, and area across the circumpolar Arctic.

Trends include:

• Hotter summers and more warm nights.

• Shorter snow seasons.

• Longer fire seasons with more land burned.

• More evacuations.

Alexander asked participants how to:

• Engage with wildland fire in the Arctic;

• Spur more research on Indigenous use of fire;

• Inspire more people to research fire in the Arctic;

• Tackle the negative climate feedback loop of Arctic wildfire and permafrost melt;

• Work with IAWF on these issues.

IAWF board member Amy Cardinal Christianson and colleague Alex Zahara with the Canadian Forest Service reinforced Alexander’s position that more collaboration with Indigenous Peoples is critical for better outcomes.

Tralee conference chair Ciaran Niugent and farmer Brigid O’Connor explain how the landscape and vegetation have changed over decades because of a decrease in sheep farming. Photo by Steve Miller.

Tralee keynote speakers Jennifer Fawcett (left), Joseph Wilkins (back right) and Conceição Colaço, with conference delegates, during a break in the rain on the field trip near Tralee. Photo by Laura King.

Tralee keynote speakers Jennifer Fawcett (left), Joseph Wilkins (back right) and Conceição Colaço, with conference delegates, during a break in the rain on the field trip near Tralee. Photo by Laura King.

Christianson noted that in Canada, a disproportionate percentage of Indigenous people are evacuated during wildland fires. Indigenous people represent 4.9 per cent of Canada’s population but 42 per cent of evacuees.

Christianson and Zaraha explained that Indigenous culture is land based, so if land is impacted by intense fire, it can obliterate the culture. There is a disconnect, they said, because in Canada, First Nations are managed federally but fires are managed at the provincial / territorial level.

Nuggets that delegates learned:

• The term traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK, was developed by white people and infers historical knowledge. In fact, Christianson said, the term Indigenous knowledge better represents current knowledge and is also based in science.

• There are differences between cultural fire and prescribed fire. Cultural fire is Indigenous led around cultural objectives and land stewardship and involves slow, cool burns – “fire we can walk beside,” along with spiritual and ceremonial aspects and traditional ignition methods. Cultural fire is “living with the land.”

• Prescribed fire is agency or organization driven; its objectives are usually hazard reduction or ecological, and involve “production burning” – as much in as little time possible. Prescribed or applied fire generally involves a paramilitary structure, a topdown bureaucratic approach and ignition using accelerants.

Keynote speaker Conceição Colaço, a forestry engineer and researcher with the school of agriculture in Portugal, ISA’s Centre for Applied Ecology, became known during the conference for her thoughtful questions and delightful disposition. Colaço’s session supported what Alexander and Christianson discussed; that there has been transmission of ancestral knowledge of fire from the 6th century BC; and that fire is empowerment of traditional communities.

The Day 1 conference workshops also focused on collaboration and lesson-sharing. Lindon Pronto, senior fire management expert with the European Forest Institute, Eric Evenson, science communications specialist with the North Atlantic Fire Science Exchange (NAFSE), and Polly Weigand, workshop and field trip coordinator with NAFSE, led delegates in a brainstorming exercise related to funding opportunities to help lesson sharing.

Ideas included more IAWF scholarships for students, government funding and grants for universities, prescribed fire councils and coalitions, community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs), and sponsorships from IAWF and the private sector. It was noted that NASA’s wildfire initiative has federal and international funding opportunities, and that groups such as The Nature Conservancy and other private companies can help fund TREX and WTREX events. It was also stressed that building trust and ensuring collaboration efforts are meeting objectives may increase opportunities for funding. A summary, highlighting the topics, ideas and notes from the brainstorming exercise, was sent to all participants to continue lesson sharing efforts across the North Atlantic.

On Day 2, the European Forest Institute’s Alexander Held enlightened delegates about unexploded explosive ordinances, or UXOs – a problem that dates to the First World War. With conflicts in more areas globally, more fire-prone regions are subject to UXOs, creating danger for firefighters. (Watch for a Held’s story in an upcoming issue of Wildfire magazine.)

European Forest Institute’s Alexander Held enlightened delegates about unexploded explosive ordinances, or UXOs – a problem that dates to the First World War. With conflicts in more areas globally, more fire-prone regions are subject to UXOs, creating danger for firefighters. Photo by Steve Miller.

Joe Wilkins with Howard University moderated the fire behaviour and fuels track, comprising five sessions with speakers from Ukraine, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, and Brazil:

• Community directed wildfire fuel mapping; using aerial laser scanning data – Patrick Robinson

• Propagator for large wildfires: Brazilian case study –Nicolò Perello

• Prescribed fire – managing the taiga forests in Sweden – Anders Heurlin

• Midlands peat bog fires, past and future – Anthony Tynan

• Lessons learned from the large fires in Sweden of 2014 and 2018 – Jenny Sander

Heurlin’s Holy Grail of fire slide stuck a cord with delegates. Officials, Heurlin said, are monitoring to find the Holy Grail of fire, where fire has achieved the desired objectives. This, Heurlin said, is a generational question or challenge, because the return interval in Sweden is 30 years.

After dozens of sessions, traditional Irish food, music, and rain, former IAWF board member Steve Miller, director of fire and aviation management with the US Forest Service, eastern region, synthesized the information gleaned and next steps.

The mayor of Tralee told us about 100 years of fire relationship between Tralee and North America.

Information exchanges like the North American Fire Exchange can help build dialog that will help build bridges. In many cases, the information exists but the ability to find it does not.

The critical role of Indigenous fire stewardship and past efforts to thwart that role now contributes to the wildfire problem, and how those wildfires disproportionately impact Indigenous populations.

The first step toward dealing with UXOs is to recognize them.

How fire in Boreal forests is a trans–national, transcontinental problem that may be bigger than any of us can imagine due to its impacts on yedoma and other carbon / methane sinks beneath Boreal forests, and these aspects are not accounted for in current climate models.

Sharing circles = collaboration.

Cultural fire is the empowerment of traditional communities no matter where they are and that we have three options: traditional use of fire; prescribed fire; wildfire. There is no “no fire” option.

We should seek the Holy Grail of prescribed fire, but doing so requires the investment of multiple generations.

Wildfires are changing; many regions are experiencing longer seasons, greater fire severity and some of increases are so dramatic they are initially discounted as unbelievable.

There is a scale of war on the planet not seen since the Second World War, which will have multiple impact pathways on fire, for example, cropland left untended or converted, and a loss of trained personnel to serve in the military.

Fire has been here for 420,002,024 years so why don’t we understand it yet?

We should ask ourselves, Is the way we are doing things working?

How do we live with fire? Do we save ourselves or the ecology?

In Germany firefighting = water.

WHAT DIDN’T WE HEAR?

About fire in developing countries.

About fire in Africa.

Local solutions.

About promoting more native grazing.

Administration and support for projects, especially funding management efforts.

Data from the conference: participants’ countries of origin; gender; age; field; how many people attended an IAWF conference for the first time.

Effectiveness of different firefighting techniques.

About imperialism and the responsibility imperialist nations may have toward fixing the fire problems of their former colonies.

Cost planning and economics.

Reporting about failures or bad results in management.

Air-quality impacts of prescribed fire on vulnerable communities.

Fire response is big business; as it is privatized, money is shifted from preparedness and mitigation to suppression.

The role of partisan politics in fire response.

Power dynamics continue to exist in which vulnerable populations have no power / voice.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO DIFFERENTLY?

Encourage the international exchange of knowledge.

Step out beyond the scientific bubble.

Ensure future events have a greater workshop component.

Take action around UXOs, peatland fires, prescribed burn associations.

Work harder to promote local connections.

Collaborate with the people with whom we connected during the conference.

Become active in IAWF.

Have a more comprehensive view of the fire problem.