Breaking News: Wildfires

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25-Sep-2017 8:05 PM EDT
Escaping Wildfires
University of Utah

The U-led study is the first attempt to map escape routes for wildland fire fighters from an aerial perspective. The researchers used LiDAR technology to analyze the terrain slope, ground surface roughness and vegetation density of a fire-prone region in central Utah, and assessed how each landscape condition impeded a person’s ability to travel.

Released: 13-Sep-2017 4:30 PM EDT
The Medical Minute: Being Prepared for All Types of Emergencies
Penn State Health

Hurricanes Irma and Harvey have left many outside their paths thinking about how they might prepare for a weather emergency.

Released: 22-Aug-2017 10:05 AM EDT
National Mutual Aid Technology Exercise Brings Together a Diverse Group
Homeland Security's Science And Technology Directorate

NMATE brought together technologists, operators, and decision makers from around the country to determine to what extent existing mutual aid technology systems are able to share and incorporate each other’s resource and situational awareness information.

Released: 21-Jun-2017 1:05 PM EDT
No Mercury Accumulation in Fish After Fire
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

The USDA Forest Service in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area (BWCWA) will continue to use controlled burns without worrying about fish health in associated watersheds.

13-Jun-2017 12:00 PM EDT
Wildfires Pollute Much More Than Previously Thought
Georgia Institute of Technology

Wildfires are major polluters. Their plumes are three times as dense with aerosol-forming fine particles as previously believed. For the first time, researchers have flown an orchestra of modern instruments through brutishly turbulent wildfire plumes to measure emissions in real time. They have also exposed other never before measured toxins.

22-May-2017 11:00 AM EDT
Smoke From Wildfires Can Have Lasting Climate Impact
Georgia Institute of Technology

Researchers have found that carbon particles released into the air from burning trees and other organic matter are much more likely than previously thought to travel to the upper levels of the atmosphere, where they can interfere with rays from the sun – sometimes cooling the air and at other times warming it.

15-Mar-2017 12:05 PM EDT
How Do Forests Recover From Fire?
Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

Forest fires can be frightening, destructive events. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) March 15 Soils Matter blog post explains the effects of forest fires on soil ecosystems—and how they bounce back.

Released: 3-Oct-2016 5:05 PM EDT
Livestock, Landowners and the Threatened Chiricahua Leopard Frog May Benefit From a Restoration, Conservation Project in Grant County, New Mexico
New Mexico State University (NMSU)

Several organizations and private landowners are working on restoration techniques to improve wildlife habitat and forage for livestock in Grant County, New Mexico. Projects include stock tank rehabilitation, as well as riparian, spring and wetland restoration.

Released: 28-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
As Hazard Warnings Increase, Experts Urge Better Decisions on Who and When to Warn
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)

Effective warnings are a growing need as expanding global populations confront a wide range of hazards, such as a hurricane, wildfire, toxic chemical spill or any other environmental hazard threatens safety.

       
Released: 29-Jun-2016 2:05 PM EDT
El Niño Could Drive Intense Season for Amazon Fires
University of California, Irvine

The long-lasting effects of El Niño are projected to cause an intense fire season in the Amazon, according to the 2016 seasonal forecast from scientists at NASA and the University of California, Irvine.

24-Jun-2016 5:00 PM EDT
From Fire Break to Fire Hazard
McMaster University

The peat bogs of the world, once waterlogged repositories of dead moss, are being converted into fuel-packed fire hazards that can burn for months and generate deadly smoke, warns a McMaster researcher who documents the threat – and a possible solution ¬– in a paper published today in the journal Nature Scientific reports.

Released: 1-Jun-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Wildfire on Warming Planet Requires Adaptive Capacity at Local, National, Int'l Scales
Southern Methodist University

'Fire adaptive communities' live compatibly with wildfire -- in some cases for centuries or millennia; magnitude of the wildfire challenges we face on a warming planet will demand greater collaboration and integration.

Released: 31-May-2016 9:00 AM EDT
Ecologists Advise an Increase in Prescribed Grassland Burning to Maintain Ecosystem, Livelihood
Kansas State University

At least 50 percent of the tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills is burned every three to four years or less frequently and is susceptible to becoming shrubland if fire frequencies are not increased.

Released: 25-May-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Wildfire -- It's Not Spreading Like Wildfire
Swansea University

A new analysis of global data related to wildfire, published by the Royal Society, reveals major misconceptions about wildfire and its social and economic impacts.

Released: 11-May-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Wildfires to Increase in Alaska with Future Climate Change
University of Montana

Climate change is melting glaciers, reducing sea-ice cover and increasing wildlife activity - with some of the most dramatic impacts occurring in the northern high latitudes.

Released: 26-Apr-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Model Predicts How Forests Will Respond to Climate Change
Washington State University

US Northeast's mixed forests unsustainable after 2050 while Cascade Mountains may require subtropical forest species.

Released: 21-Mar-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Drought Alters Recovery of Rocky Mountain Forests After Fire
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A changing climate is altering the ability of Rocky Mountain forests to recover from wildfire, according to a new study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. When warm, dry conditions lead to drought in the years following fires, it impedes the growth and establishment of vulnerable new post-fire seedlings. The study also shows that forest recovery has been negatively affected by increased distances between burned areas and the sources of seeds that typically replace trees lost to fire.

Released: 14-Mar-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Wildland Communities Must Learn to Live with Fire
South Dakota State University

“If you live in flammable countryside, you’ve got to work with fire. You can’t make it go away,” according to professor Mark Cochrane, a wildfire expert and senior scientist at the Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence. That means moving from the notion that fires are unnatural and toward a managed approach that involves reintegrating fire as a vital landscape process and building communities that are resilient to fire.

Released: 11-Mar-2016 4:05 PM EST
Wildland Fire Emissions Worse in Polluted Areas
University of California, Riverside

UCR study shows biomass grown in areas of poor air quality releases more pollutants when burned than biomass grown in clean air.

Released: 11-Mar-2016 10:05 AM EST
Olin Drone Research Aims to Help Fight Wildfires
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Olin College professor working on proof of concept system to deploy drones into a wildfire and send back information in real time, potentially saving lives and livelihoods in the process.

Released: 19-Jan-2016 3:05 PM EST
Fires Burning in Africa & Asia Cause High Ozone in Tropical Pacific
University of Maryland, College Park

UMD-led study indicates “biomass burning” may play larger role in climate change than previously realized.

Released: 21-Oct-2015 6:05 PM EDT
Measuring the Impacts of Severe Wildfires in the Arctic
Northern Arizona University

NAU researcher leads project to measure effects of severe boreal wildfires and the loss of permafrost on ecosystems. The NASA-funded research is part of the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment.

Released: 5-Oct-2015 1:05 PM EDT
International Research Team Finds Thriving Wildlife Populations in Chernobyl
University of Georgia

A team of international researchers, including James Beasley, assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School Forestry and Natural Resources, has discovered abundant populations of wildlife at Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear accident.

Released: 5-Oct-2015 9:05 AM EDT
Management Lessons from Wildfire Fighting, Twitter’s Impact on IPOs, and Reversing Repugnant Views of Human Organ Sales Are among Topics in New Johns Hopkins Business Research Magazine
Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

The fall 2015 issue of Changing Business is now available online and in print. The cover story, “Trial by Fire,” examines a study in which workers in various fields can benefit from the lessons that wildfire fighting offers in performing well under unpredictable circumstances. The topic is of particular timeliness as states in the Western U.S. continue to battle spreading wildfires.

Released: 18-Sep-2015 2:05 PM EDT
Reducing Catastrophic Wildfires Through Managed Burns
Northern Arizona University

An article published in Science this week, suggests catastrophic wildfire danger could be reduced by increasing use of planning burning in land management plans.

Released: 8-Sep-2015 4:05 PM EDT
Southern California Wildfires Exhibit Split Personalities
University of California, Irvine

Wildfires have ravaged both populated and unpopulated regions of Southern California at an increasing rate over the past few decades, and scientists from three University of California campuses and partner institutions are predicting that by midcentury, as a consequence of climate change causing hotter and drier summers, a lot more will go up in flames.

Released: 18-Aug-2015 12:05 PM EDT
UCI, NASA Researchers Find Link Between Amazon Fire Risk, Devastating Hurricanes
University of California, Irvine

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine and NASA have uncovered a remarkably strong link between high wildfire risk in the Amazon basin and the devastating hurricanes that ravage North Atlantic shorelines. The climate scientists’ findings appear in the journal Geophysical Research Letters near the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s calamitous August 2005 landfall at New Orleans.

Released: 23-Jul-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Ocean Acidification, Fighting Wildfires, the Mediterranean Diet and more Top Stories 23 July 2015
Newswise Trends

Other topics include editing genes, cellular switchboards, treating menopause and more...

       
Released: 22-Jul-2015 8:00 AM EDT
Trial by Fire: Wildfire Fighting Offers Lessons in Performing Well in Unpredictable Situations
Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

As continued drought and unusually high temperatures raise alarm over the severity of this year’s wildfire season in western states, a Johns Hopkins University researcher’s study of wildland firefighting has uncovered lessons in performing under uncertainty that should benefit workers in a variety of contexts.

   
Released: 20-Jul-2015 10:05 AM EDT
Changing Climate Lengthens Forest Fire Season
South Dakota State University

Over a 35-year period, the length of forest fire seasons worldwide increased by 18.7 percent due to more rain-free days and hotter temperatures, according to South Dakota State University professor Mark Cochrane, a senior scientist at the Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence. The wildfire expert is part of a team of researchers led by W. Matt Jolly of the U.S. Forest Service Fire Science Laboratory that examined weather data from 1979 through 2013 to determine how a changing climate impacts forest ecosystems.

Released: 12-Jun-2015 8:05 AM EDT
Scientists Study How, Why Butterflies Survive Fires
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Deciding how often and when to use prescribed fire can be tricky, especially when managing for rare butterflies, University of Florida scientists say. That realization stems from a UF Institute of Food and Agricultural study in which researchers experimented with pupae -- insects in their immature form between larvae and adults -- of butterflies known to frequent fire-prone habitats of Florida.

Released: 26-May-2015 11:05 AM EDT
Starved for Fire, Wisconsin’s Pine Barrens Disappear
University of Wisconsin–Madison

A century spent treating wildfires as emergencies to be stamped out may have cost Central Wisconsin a natural setting that was common and thriving before the state was settled.

Released: 17-Mar-2015 3:05 PM EDT
Forest Managers Hindered in Efforts to Use Prescribed Burns to Control Costly Wildfires
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Land managers use prescribed burns to help prevent wildfires and protect the ecosystem. They prefer to burn every few years, but costs, liability and proximity to development prevent them from performing the prescriptive burns.

Released: 10-Nov-2014 10:15 AM EST
Wildfires that Could Impact Human Communities in Eastern Colorado Rockies Most Likely to Start on Private Lands, Experts Say
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA)

Scientists find that on the front range of the Colorado Rockies the highest fire risk factors are from privately owned lands and threaten other privately held land and property.



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