A $1 million award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will help researchers in Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering develop tactics to protect children from harmful emissions from controlled wildland burns. The initiative will provide equipment and new communications approaches in middle and high schools in Albany and Columbus, Ga., and Phenix City, Ala. Georgia Tech is focusing on the three cities because of their proximity to regular controlled burns, in addition to the communities’ lower socioeconomic statuses.
Continue ReadingFire Research
This page features regionally relevant fire science news, publications, and resources. You can search for even more fire science publications in the SFE Regional Fire Science Publication Database (RFSPD).
New Technology Seeks to Identify Buildings Damaged by Wildfire
People around the world are suffering from the nerve-wracking anxiety of waiting weeks or months to find out if a home has been damaged by an intensifying wildfire. Now that the smoke disappears for aerial photography, researchers have found a way to identify damage to the building within minutes.
Through a system they call Damage Map, a team at Stanford University and California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) has brought an artificial intelligence approach to building evaluation. Instead of comparing the previous and next photos Machine learning Depends only on post-fire images.
Continue ReadingPartner Webinar: Putting LANDFIRE Data (and Models) to Work in the Scientific Community
LANDFIRE delivers 20+ vegetation and fire datasets, and a state-and-transition model for every ecosystem in the United States. Have you ever wondered how others in the scientific community use these products? Join us and find out.
Members of the LANDFIRE Team will bring you a timely, relevant and succinct webinar describing three different applications of LANDFIRE data in published scientific literature from 2021. Our talk will start with a “30K foot view” of how LANDFIRE data is (generally) used by students, academics and agencies. We will then spotlight three example scientific papers each with a unique focus on drought, fire and climate change. We will highlight general findings, and touch on the LANDFIRE datasets, applications used for each journal article.
Papers we will discuss:
1. Drought Sensitivity and Trends of Riparian Vegetation Vigor in Nevada, USA (1985–2018) | Albano, Christina, McGwire, K.C., Hausner, M.B., McEvoy, D.J., Morton, C.G., Huntington, J.L. (LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Type classification used) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/9/1362
2. Yang, D., Fu, CS. Mapping regional forest management units: a road-based framework in Southeastern Coastal Plain and Piedmont. For. Ecosystems. 8, 17 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40663-021-00289-w
3. Modelling Species Distributions and Environmental Suitability Highlights Risk of Plant Invasions in Western US | McMahon, Devin, E., Urza, A.K., Brown, J.L., Phelan, C., Chambers, J.C. (LANDFIRE Reference Database used) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13232
There will be 15 minutes at the end of this discussion for Q/A.
Continue ReadingTall Timbers News: Fire Modeling, Shortleaf Pine-Oak Study, Staff on NPR
The latest Tall Timbers Research Station newsletter has a number of stories related to fire and fire science:
Fire Modeling Leaps Forward with California Partners
Shortleaf pine-oak-hickory long-term study begins
Tall Timbers’ Dr. Morgan Varner on National Public Radio
Continue ReadingFire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE)
The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) is a large collaborative, multifaceted fire research project that involves scientists from across the US, including many from the South. Our partners at the Tall Timbers Research Station Wildland Fire Science Program are heavily involved in FASMEE, with research on fire behavior, smoke dynamics, and fire effects. Be sure to read more about the FASMEE stand-replacement prescribed burns that were held at the Fishlake National Forest and Dixie National Forest over the past couple of years. Want to learn more? Check out the FASMEE media coverage, including the videos posted below and a story from Vice News. Check out this amazing view from inside one of the FASMEE prescribed stand-replacement burns!
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Joint Fire Science Program Announces 2021 Primary Funding Opportunity Announcement Recipients
The Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) is pleased to announce that the program approved 6 proposals as part of the Primary Funding Opportunity Announcement for 2021. Principal investigators receiving the funding work at universities, federal agencies, and NGOs. Six proposals were awarded, including one to Christopher Ross at Tall Timbers Research Station. Ross’s project is “Quantifying Prescribed Fire’s Capacity to Mitigate Wildfire Induced Damage and Loss of Valued Resource.”
See all the awarded projects here.
Continue ReadingEPA Research Addressing Threats to Public Health from Wildfire Smoke
EPA researchers are working to provide the science needed to better prepare and respond to outdoor and indoor wildfire smoke. The science is part of a large federal initiative by the Biden-Harris Administration outlined in a White House fact sheet to address the growing threat from wildfires, which are increasing in size and intensity, driven in large part by climate change.
Read about the ongoing EPA research on wildfire smoke here.
Continue ReadingFunding Opportunity: People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3) Program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Award Program – is seeking applications proposing to research, develop, design, and demonstrate solutions to real world challenges. The P3 competition highlights the use of scientific principles in creating innovative technology-based projects that achieve the mutual goals of improved quality of life, economic prosperity and environmental protection. The EPA offers the P3 competition in response to the environmental and public health challenges in the United States, including those in small, rural, tribal and/or underserved communities. Please see the P3 Student Design Competition website for more details about this program. Proposed projects must embody the P3 approach, which is that they have the intention and capability to simultaneously improve the quality of people’s lives, provide economic benefits and protect the environment.
Solicitation Closing Date: October 27, 2021: 11:59:59 pm Eastern Time
More information can be found on the program site here.
Continue ReadingWildfire smoke is hurting your skin, scientists find
A New York Times article covers new research published by Dr. Maria Wei, Raj Fadadu, and colleagues from UC San Francisco linking skin disease to wildfire smoke.
Read the article here.
Continue ReadingLongleaf Research Needs Survey
The Longleaf Alliance is soliciting feedback on pressing longleaf research needs. The research needs survey is open to all partners, TLA members, and longleaf supporters.
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