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Escape routes are essential components of wildland firefighter safety, providing pre-defined pathways to a safety zone. Among the many factors that affect travel rates along an escape route, landscape conditions such as slope, lowlying vegetation…
Author(s): Michael J. Campbell, Philip E. Dennison, Bret W. Butler
Year Published:

During active fire incidents, decisions regarding where and how to safely and effectively deploy resources to meet management objectives are often made under rapidly evolving conditions, with limited time to assess management strategies or for…
Author(s): Christopher D. O'Connor, David E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson
Year Published:

Modern works by highly skilled narrative authors and artists have become increasingly useful for telling the story of wildland fire in the United States. Using unconventional means—and with partial funding by the Joint Fire Science Program—creative…
Author(s): Stephen W. Barrett
Year Published:

On June 1, 2015, the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Branch of Research. Established in 1915 to centralize and elevate the pursuit of research throughout the agency, the…
Author(s): Diane M. Smith
Year Published:

Although communication is often cited as a contributor to organisational accidents, complexities of the communication context are still understudied. In training materials and some investigative reports, communication is often presented as an…
Author(s): Rebekah L. Fox, Elena Gabor, David Thomas, Jennifer Ziegler, Anne E. Black
Year Published:

Uncertainties are pervasive in natural hazards, and it is crucial to develop robust and meaningful approaches to characterize and communicate uncertainties to inform modeling efforts. In this monograph we provide a broad, cross-disciplinary overview…
Author(s): Karen L. Riley, Matthew P. Thompson, Peter Webley, Kevin D. Hyde
Year Published:

Characterising the impacts of wildland fire and fire suppression is critical information for fire management decision-making. Here, we focus on decisions related to the rare larger and longer-duration fire events, where the scope and scale of…
Author(s): Matthew P. Thompson, Francisco Rodriguez y Silva, David E. Calkin, Michael S. Hand
Year Published:

Wildland fire smoke is a complex mixture of air contaminants that have the potential cause adverse health effects. Individuals can be exposed occupationally if they work as wildland firefighters or public exposure from ambient air that is…
Author(s): Joe Domitrovich, George Broyles, Roger D. Ottmar, Timothy E. Reinhardt, Luke P. Naeher, Michael T. Kleinman, Kathleen M. Navarro, Christopher E. Mackay, Olorunfemi Adetona
Year Published:

One crucial component of large fire response in the United States (US) is the sharing of wildland firefighting resources between regions: resources from regions experiencing low fire activity supplement resources in regions experiencing high fire…
Author(s): Erin J. Belval, Yu Wei, David E. Calkin, Crystal S. Stonesifer, Matthew P. Thompson, John R. Tipton
Year Published:

This report examines the Strawberry Fire fatality of Justin Beebe and events surrounding the movement of EMTs to his position.
Author(s): Randy Draeger
Year Published:

A changing climate, changing development and land use patterns, and increasing pressures on ecosystem services raise global concerns over growing losses associated with wildland fires. New management paradigms acknowledge that fire is inevitable and…
Author(s): Matthew P. Thompson, Christopher J. Dunn, David E. Calkin
Year Published:

This paper is the preface to a special issue focused on US wildfire response. The nine papers included build from a 2016 conference special session on monitoring, modelling and accountability of fire management policies and practices. Here we…
Author(s): Christopher J. Dunn, David E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson
Year Published:

Wildland firefighters suppressing wildland fires or conducting prescribed fires work long shifts and are exposed to high levels of smoke with no respiratory protection. Inhalation of smoke is a safety concern for wildland firefighters and can…
Author(s): Kathleen M. Navarro, Stacey S. Frederick
Year Published:

Sharing fire engines and crews between fire suppression dispatch zones may help improve the utilisation of fire suppression resources. Using the Resource Ordering and Status System, the Predictive Services’ Fire Potential Outlooks and the Rocky…
Author(s): Yu Wei, Erin J. Belval, Matthew P. Thompson, David E. Calkin, Crystal S. Stonesifer
Year Published:

Within the Forest Service, we hold safety as the top priority. Fatality incidents are brutal reminders of what is at stake. To ensure we are performing at our best and in the safest way possible, it is necessary that all levels of the organization…
Year Published:

Modeling can play a critical role in assessing and mitigating risks posed by natural hazards. These modeling efforts generally aim to characterize the occurrence, intensity, and potential consequences of natural hazards. Uncertainties surrounding…
Author(s): Matthew P. Thompson, Jord J. Warmink
Year Published:

Wildfire risk assessment is increasingly being adopted to support federal wildfire management decisions in the United States. Existing decision support systems, specifically the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS), provide a rich set of…
Author(s): Matthew P. Thompson, David E. Calkin, Joe H. Scott, Michael S. Hand
Year Published:

Wildland firefighters suppressing wildland fires or conducting prescribed fires work long shifts during which they are exposed to high levels of wood smoke with no respiratory protection. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are hazardous air…
Author(s): Kathleen M. Navarro, Ricardo Cisneros, Elizabeth M. Noth, John R. Balmes, Katharine Hammond
Year Published:

Currently, limited research on large-fire suppression effectiveness suggests fire managers may over-allocate resources relative to values to be protected. Coupled with observations that weather may be more important than resource abundance to…
Author(s): Hari Katuwal, Christopher J. Dunn, David E. Calkin
Year Published:

This report highlights how leadership has been proactively addressing safety issues, specifically, how the Safety Engagement sessions and Life First dialogues have already begun to address many of the systemic weaknesses that have been identified up…
Author(s): United States Department of Agriculture
Year Published: