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The 2011 Richardson wildland mega-fire in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) in northern Alberta, Canada had large effects on air quality. At a receptor site in the center of the AOSR ambient PM 2.5 , O 3 , NO, NO 2 , SO 2 , NH 3 , HONO, HNO 3 , NH 4 + and NO 3 - were measured during the April-August 2011 period. Concentrations of NH 3 , HNO 3 , NO 2 were also monitored across the AOSR with passive samplers, providing monthly summer and bi-monthly winter average values in 2010, 2011 and 2012. During the fire, hourly PM 2 and O 3 were also monitored across the AOSR with passive samplers, providing monthly summer and bi-monthly winter average values in 2010, 2011 and 2012. During the fire, hourly PM 2.5 concentrations >450μgm -3 were exceeded on 13days in May and 7days in June. During the fire emission periods, sharp increases in NH -3 and the Canada Wide Standard (CWS) of 30μgm -3 were exceeded on 13days in May and 7days in June. During the fire emission periods, sharp increases in NH 3 , HONO, HNO 3 , NH 4 changes. There were large differences in the relative contribution of various N compounds to total inorganic N between the no-fire emission and fire emission periods. While in the absence of fires NO and NO + , NO 3 - and total inorganic reactive N concentrations occurred, all closely correlated with the PM 2.5 changes. There were large differences in the relative contribution of various N compounds to total inorganic N between the no-fire emission and fire emission periods. While in the absence of fires NO and NO 2 dominated, their relative contribution during the fires was ~2 fold smaller, mainly due to increased NH 3 , NH 4 concentrations affected large areas of northern Alberta during the Richardson Fire. While NH + and NO 3 - . Concentrations of HONO and HNO 3 also greatly increased during the fires, but their contribution to the total inorganic N pool was relatively small. Elevated NH 3 and HNO 3 concentrations affected large areas of northern Alberta during the Richardson Fire. While NH 3 and HNO 3 concentrations were not at levels considered toxic to plants, these gases contributed significantly to atmospheric N deposition. Generally, no significant changes in O 3 and SO 2 concentrations were detected and their ambient concentrations were below levels harmful to human health or sensitive vegetation., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The global incidence of megafires is on the rise, leading to extensive areas being shrouded in dense smoke for prolonged periods, spanning days or weeks 1 . Here, by integrating long-term regional observations of non-structural carbohydrate content in trees across California's Central Valley with spatiotemporal satellite data, we present compelling evidence that dense smoke plumes negatively impact carbohydrate stores in three tree species: Prunus dulcis, Pistacia vera and Juglans regia. Our findings show that the presence of smoke causes a significant decrease in total non-structural carbohydrates, with reductions in the accumulation of both soluble sugar and starch reserves. This decline in carbohydrate levels persists through the trees' dormancy period into the next season's bloom, culminating in a reduced yield. Our results highlight a previously unrecognized wildfire threat that could affect plant health and ecosystem stability in both agricultural and natural environments., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Despite increasing severity and frequency of wildfires, knowledge about how fire impacts the ecology of tick-borne pathogens is limited. In 2018, the River Fire burned a forest in the far-western U.S.A. where the ecology of tick-borne pathogens had been studied for decades. Forest structure, avifauna, large and small mammals, lizards, ticks, and tick-borne pathogens ( Anaplasma phagocytophilum , Borrelia burgdorferi , Borrelia miyamotoi ) were assessed after the wildfire in 2019 and 2020. Burning reduced canopy cover and eliminated the layer of thick leaf litter that hosted free-living ticks, which over time was replaced by forbs and grasses. Tick abundance and the vertebrate host community changed dramatically. Avian species adapted to cavity nesting became most prevalent, while the number of foliage-foraging species increased by 83% as vegetation regenerated. Nine mammalian species were observed on camera traps, including sentinel (black-tailed jackrabbits) and reservoir hosts (western gray squirrels) of B. burgdorferi. One Peromyscus sp. mouse was captured in 2019 but by 2020, numbers were rebounding (n=37), although tick infestations on rodents remained sparse (0.2/rodent). However, western fence lizards (n=19) hosted 8.6 ticks on average in 2020. Assays for pathogens found no B. miyamotoi in either questing or host-feeding ticks, A. phagocytophilum DNA in 4% (1/23) in 2019, and 17% (29/173) in 2020 for questing and host-feeding ticks combined, and B. burgdorferi DNA in just 1% of all ticks collected in 2020 (2/173). We conclude that a moderately severe wildfire can have dramatic impacts on the ecology of tick-borne pathogens, with changes posited to continue for multiple years.

The rise in wildfire frequency and severity across the globe has increased interest in secondary succession. However, despite the role of soil microbial communities in controlling biogeochemical cycling and their role in the regeneration of post-fire vegetation, the lack of measurements immediately post-fire and at high temporal resolution has limited understanding of microbial secondary succession. To fill this knowledge gap, we sampled soils at 17, 25, 34, 67, 95, 131, 187, 286, and 376 days after a southern California wildfire in fire-adapted chaparral shrublands. We assessed bacterial and fungal biomass with qPCR of 16S and 18S and richness and composition with Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S and ITS2 amplicons. Fire severely reduced bacterial biomass by 47%, bacterial richness by 46%, fungal biomass by 86%, and fungal richness by 68%. The burned bacterial and fungal communities experienced rapid succession, with 5-6 compositional turnover periods. Analogous to plants, turnover was driven by "fire-loving" pyrophilous microbes, many of which have been previously found in forests worldwide and changed markedly in abundance over time. Fungal secondary succession was initiated by the Basidiomycete yeast Geminibasidium, which traded off against the filamentous Ascomycetes Pyronema, Aspergillus, and Penicillium. For bacteria, the Proteobacteria Massilia dominated all year, but the Firmicute Bacillus and Proteobacteria Noviherbaspirillum increased in abundance over time. Our high-resolution temporal sampling allowed us to capture post-fire microbial secondary successional dynamics and suggest that putative tradeoffs in thermotolerance, colonization, and competition among dominant pyrophilous microbes control microbial succession with possible implications for ecosystem function., (© 2023 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The extreme 2018 hot drought that affected central and northern Europe led to the worst wildfire season in Sweden in over a century. The Ljusdal fire complex, the largest area burnt that year (8995 ha), offered a rare opportunity to quantify the combined impacts of wildfire and post-fire management on Scandinavian boreal forests. We present chamber measurements of soil CO 2 and CH 4  fluxes, soil microclimate and nutrient content from five Pinus sylvestris sites for the first growing season after the fire. We analysed the effects of three factors on forest soils: burn severity, salvage-logging and stand age. None of these caused significant differences in soil CH 4 uptake. Soil respiration, however, declined significantly after a high-severity fire (complete tree mortality) but not after a low-severity fire (no tree mortality), despite substantial losses of the organic layer. Tree root respiration is thus key in determining post-fire soil CO 2 emissions and may benefit, along with heterotrophic respiration, from the nutrient pulse after a low-severity fire. Salvage-logging after a high-severity fire had no significant effects on soil carbon fluxes, microclimate or nutrient content compared with leaving the dead trees standing, although differences are expected to emerge in the long term. In contrast, the impact of stand age was substantial: a young burnt stand experienced more extreme microclimate, lower soil nutrient supply and significantly lower soil respiration than a mature burnt stand, due to a thinner organic layer and the decade-long effects of a previous clear-cut and soil scarification. Disturbance history and burn severity are, therefore, important factors for predicting changes in the boreal forest carbon sink after wildfires. The presented short-term effects and ongoing monitoring will provide essential information for sustainable management strategies in response to the increasing risk of wildfire., (© 2021 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Droughts and climate-change-driven warming are leading to more frequent and intense wildfires 1-3 , arguably contributing to the severe 2019-2020 Australian wildfires 4 . The environmental and ecological impacts of the fires include loss of habitats and the emission of substantial amounts of atmospheric aerosols 5-7 . Aerosol emissions from wildfires can lead to the atmospheric transport of macronutrients and bio-essential trace metals such as nitrogen and iron, respectively 8-10 . It has been suggested that the oceanic deposition of wildfire aerosols can relieve nutrient limitations and, consequently, enhance marine productivity 11,12 , but direct observations are lacking. Here we use satellite and autonomous biogeochemical Argo float data to evaluate the effect of 2019-2020 Australian wildfire aerosol deposition on phytoplankton productivity. We find anomalously widespread phytoplankton blooms from December 2019 to March 2020 in the Southern Ocean downwind of Australia. Aerosol samples originating from the Australian wildfires contained a high iron content and atmospheric trajectories show that these aerosols were likely to be transported to the bloom regions, suggesting that the blooms resulted from the fertilization of the iron-limited waters of the Southern Ocean. Climate models project more frequent and severe wildfires in many regions 1-3 . A greater appreciation of the links between wildfires, pyrogenic aerosols 13 , nutrient cycling and marine photosynthesis could improve our understanding of the contemporary and glacial-interglacial cycling of atmospheric CO 2 and the global climate system., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Large, severe fires are becoming more frequent in many forest types across the western United States and have resulted in tree mortality across tens of thousands of hectares. Conifer regeneration in these areas is limited because seeds must travel long distances to reach the interior of large burned patches and establishment is jeopardized by increasingly hot and dry conditions. To better inform postfire management in low elevation forests of California, USA, we collected 5-yr postfire recovery data from 1,234 study plots in 19 wildfires that burned from 2004-2012 and 18 yrs of seed production data from 216 seed fall traps (1999-2017). We used these data in conjunction with spatially extensive climate, topography, forest composition, and burn severity surfaces to construct taxon-specific, spatially explicit models of conifer regeneration that incorporate climate conditions and seed availability during postfire recovery windows. We found that after accounting for other predictors both postfire and historical precipitation were strong predictors of regeneration, suggesting that both direct effects of postfire moisture conditions and biological inertia from historical climate may play a role in regeneration. Alternatively, postfire regeneration may simply be driven by postfire climate and apparent relationships with historical climate could be spurious. The estimated sensitivity of regeneration to postfire seed availability was strongest in firs and all conifers combined and weaker in pines. Seed production exhibited high temporal variability with seed production varying by over two orders of magnitude among years. Our models indicate that during droughts postfire conifer regeneration declines most substantially in low-to-moderate elevation forests. These findings enhance our mechanistic understanding of forecasted and historically documented shifts in the distribution of trees., (© 2020 by the Ecological Society of America.)

Through their potentially devastating impacts on the environment, wildfires may impact pathogen, vector, and host interactions, leading to changing risks of vector-borne disease in humans and other animals. Despite established risks for tick-borne disease and increasing frequency and severity of wildfires in the United States, impacts of wildfire on ticks and tick-borne pathogens are understudied. In 2015, the large Wragg fire extensively burned a long-term field site at Stebbins Cold Canyon University of California Reserve (CC). We characterized the tick, reservoir host and pathogen community over a two-year period after the burn, comparing our findings to pre-fire data and to data from Quail Ridge Reserve (QR), a nearby unburned site. After the fire, there were 5.5 times more rodent, primarily Peromyscus spp., captures at CC than QR (compared to 3.5 times more pre-fire). There were significantly fewer dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes) at both sites post-fire, likely due to drought but not fire. Pre-fire tick infestation prevalence on rodents was comparable across sites (12.5% at CC and 9.9% at QR) and remained low at CC post-fire (13.7%) but was significantly higher at QR (48.0%), suggesting that ticks or their habitat were destroyed during the burn. Normalized difference vegetation indices documented a 16-fold loss of vegetation post- compared to pre-fire at CC; loss of vegetation and direct impacts on fauna are likely the main drivers of the post-fire differences in ticks we saw at CC. These data contribute to our understanding of tick-associated disease risks in our increasingly disturbed landscapes., (© 2020 The Society for Vector Ecology.)

The intensity and frequency of wildfires in California (CA) have increased in recent years, causing significant damage to human health and property. In October 2007, a number of small fire events, collectively referred to as the Witch Creek Fire or Witch Fire started in Southern CAand intensified under strong Santa Ana winds. As a test of current mesoscale modeling capabilities, we use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate the 2007 wildfire event in terms of meteorological conditions. The main objectives of the present study are to investigate the impact of horizontal grid resolution and planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme on the model simulation of meteorological conditions associated with a Mega fire. We evaluate the predictive capability of the WRF model to simulate key meteorological and fire-weather forecast parameters such as wind, moisture, and temperature. Results of this study suggest that more accurate predictions of temperature and wind speed relevant for better prediction of wildfire spread can be achieved by downscaling regional numerical weather prediction products to 1 km resolution. Furthermore, accurate prediction of near-surface conditions depends on the choice of the planetary boundary layer parameterization. The MYNN parameterization yields more accurate prediction as compared to the YSU parameterization. WRF simulations at 1 km resolution result in better predictions of temperature and wind speed than relative humidity during the 2007 Witch Fire. In summary, the MYNN PBL parameterization scheme with finer grid resolution simulations improves the prediction of near-surface meteorological conditions during a wildfire event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eucalypts, especially blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), have been extensively planted in Portugal and nowadays dominate most of its forest landscapes. Large-scale forestation programs can intensify fire activity, and blue gum plantations are often viewed as highly flammable due to the nature and structure of the fuel complex. The role of eucalypt plantations in the fire regime of Mediterranean climate regions is increasingly debated following the recent catastrophic wildfires in Portugal and elsewhere. In this study we examined the effects of eucalypt forestation on burned area (BA), fire size, and fire severity in Portugal. This was based on fire and vegetation mapping and statistics, fire weather data, satellite imagery, and national forest inventory data. Eucalypt BA comprised an average of 12.5% of total BA (1980-2017) and did not increase over time and with eucalypt expansion. Eucalypt metrics did not explain interannual BA variability after accounting for the effects of other variables. Forest fires started within eucalypt stands were the least likely to become large, and large fire size was irresponsive to forest composition. Likewise, forest type was a generally minor influence in mega-fire severity and accounted for just 1.4-8.6% of surface fuel-hazard metrics variation. In general, large-scale conversion of maritime pine to eucalypt stands (1970-2015) implied lower fuel accumulation. Fire activity results are consistent with fuel hazard results and express trade-offs between short-rotation forestry and fire behaviour in blue gum stands, with high spotting potential versus modest crown fire likelihood. We found no support for the contention of a modified fire regime as a result of eucalypt forestation in Portugal, but the rising undermanaged and abandoned blue gum estate, especially after large-fire seasons, is a concern for the future. However, it remains to be determined whether post-fire eucalypt regrowth is a higher fire threat than native vegetation in the same context., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the development of fire-generated thunderstorms in mega fire events is important given their high impact on the evolution of the fire fronts, where the fire spread becomes highly unpredictable and difficult to suppress. This study aims to investigate numerically the influence of strong pyro-convective activity on the local atmospheric conditions by means of a numerical simulation based on the coupled Meso-NH/ForeFire code. To our knowledge, it is the first time that the effect of wildfire spread on the local atmospheric conditions is accounted explicitly in a high-resolution NWP model to investigate pyro-convection activity. More specifically, we study numerically the Portuguese Pedrógão Grande mega fire, which was one of the most destructive and deadliest wildfire hazards affecting the Mediterranean region in the recent years. The spatio-temporal propagation of the wildfire was assigned a priori on the basis of the official investigation's reports, while the impact of the forced fire evolution and of the ensuing heat and water vapour emissions on the local atmospheric conditions is accounted explicitly. The simulation, configured with very-high spatial and temporal resolutions, was capable of resolving the intense convective column reaching the upper troposphere and the fast development of the associated cloud system. The numerical fire produced intense updraughts with vertical velocities above 15 m/s, whereas the associated pyroCb cloud was composed by five different hydrometeor species along the main convective column and reached an altitude of 10 km. It is remarkable that the numerical experiment reproduced phenomena occurring at a fine scale related to cloud microphysics, such as very-localized outflows. This study, based on a coupled numerical simulation, was capable of illustrating in detail the development of a pyroCb cloud from strong pyro-convective activity. • Simulation of a PyroCb cloud based on an atmosphere-fire coupled code. • Modelling fire-generated thunderstorms in mega fire events. • Use of an atmosphere-fire coupled simulation to study the deadliest Portuguese wildfire ever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is considered to affect wildfire spread both by increasing fuel dryness and by altering vegetation mass and structure. However, the direct effect of global warming on wildfires is hard to quantify due to the multiple non-climatic factors involved in their ignition and spread. By combining wildfire observations with the latest generation of climate models, here we show that more than half of the large wildfires (area>500 ha) occurring in the Iberian Peninsula between 2001 and 2021 present a significant increase in the rate of spread with respect to what it would have been in the pre-industrial period, attributable to global warming. The average acceleration of the rate of spread due to increased fuel dryness is between 2.0% and 8.3%, whereas the influence of enhanced vegetation growth since the pre-industrial period could potentially be even higher than the direct impact of temperature increase in fuel conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wildfire simulation models are used to derive maps of burn probability (BP) based on fuels, weather, topography and ignition locations, and BP maps are key components of wildfire risk assessments. Aims: Few studies have compared BP maps with real-world fires to evaluate their suitability for near-future risk assessment. Here, we evaluated a BP map for the conterminous US based on the large fire simulation model FSim. Methods: We compared BP with observed wildfires from 2016 to 2022 across 128 regions representing similar fire regimes ('pyromes'). We evaluated the distribution of burned areas across BP values, and compared burned area distributions among fire size classes. Key results: Across all pyromes, mean BP was moderately correlated with observed burned area. An average of 71% of burned area occurred in higher-BP classes, vs 79% expected. BP underpredicted burned area in the Mountain West, especially for extremely large fires. Conclusions: The FSim BP map was useful for estimating subsequent wildfire hazard, but may have underestimated burned areas where input data did not reflect recent climate change, vegetation change or human ignition patterns. Implications: Our evaluations indicate that caution is needed when relying on simulation-based BP maps to inform management decisions. Our results also highlight potential opportunities to improve model estimates. An FSim burn probability (BP) map for the conterminous US was compared with observed wildfires from 2016 to 2022 in order to evaluate the suitability of wildfire simulation models for quantifying near-future wildfire risk. Our results highlight where burn probability models may be improved by incorporating dynamic weather and human influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires are among the most common natural disasters in many world regions and actively impact life quality. These events have become frequent due to climate change, other local policies, and human behavior. Fire spots are areas where the temperature is significantly higher than in the surrounding areas and are often used to identify wildfires. This study considers the historical data with the geographical locations of all the "fire spots" detected by the reference satellites covering the Brazilian territory between January 2011 and December 2022, comprising more than 2.2 million fire spots. This data was modeled with a spatio-temporal generalized linear mixed model for areal unit data, whose inferences about its parameters are made in a Bayesian framework and use meteorological variables (precipitation, air temperature, humidity, and wind speed) and a human variable (land-use transition and occupation) as covariates. The meteorological variables humidity and air temperature showed the most significant impact on the number of fire spots for each of the six Brazilian biomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented wildfires of 2017 in Portugal, particularly affecting the Centre Region, resulted in more than 100 deaths and numerous other dramatic socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Due to the unparalleled magnitude of these events, the extent of the burned area, and the catastrophic consequences, forest and fire management were placed at the center stage of public and political concerns, receiving wide mass media attention and amplification likely to shape public opinion and influence policy decisions. Through a quasi-qualitative content analysis approach, this article focuses on the media narratives conveyed by the news issued over two years (N = 1056) by eight newspapers of different periodicities and geographical scopes regarding the wildfires of October 2017 in the Matas do Litoral—coastal public-managed forest areas located in the Centre Region of Portugal. The analysis focuses on three main dimensions: the agents and actors mentioned and their power-related positions, the geographical coverage of the newspapers, and the relevance ascribed to emotions and feelings in the media narratives about the wildfires. The results demonstrate the relevance attributed in media narratives to the views of institutional agents and the negligence of local people's voices. When particularly highlighting the material impacts of the wildfires, media narratives tended to focus less on people's emotions and other non-tangible issues. The variation in these narratives according to the geographical scope of the newspapers and the publication time of the news strongly points out the need to address the heterogeneous character of the media coverage of wildfires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the influence of climate on the fire regime is unanimously recognized, most publications and studies on this influence are on a global scale. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate the role of climate in wildfire incidence at the country and regional scale using multivariate statistical analysis and machine learning methods (clustering and classification algorithms). Mainland Portugal was chosen as a case study due to its climate and because it is the European region most affected by wildfires. The results demonstrate the climate signature in the spatial and temporal distribution of the wildfire incidence. The conclusions of the study include (i) the existence of two pyro-regions, with different types of climate (Csb and Csa) composed of NUTS II regions: the northern region composed of the Norte and Centro regions and the southern region composed of Alentejo and Algarve; (ii) the intra-annual variability in the wildfire incidence, characterized by two peaks, one in the spring and the other in the summer, are a consequence of the country's type of climate; and (iii) how the annual cycle of wildfire incidence varies over the years depends on the weather conditions throughout each year. These results are of fundamental importance for wildfire managers, especially in the context of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires in Mediterranean areas are becoming more frequent, and the fire season is extending toward the spring and autumn months. These alarming findings indicate an urgent need to develop fire susceptibility methods capable of identifying areas vulnerable to wildfires. The present work aims to uncover possible soil moisture and vegetation condition precursory signals of the largest and most devastating wildfires in Greece that occurred in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Therefore, the time series of two remotely sensed datasets–MAP L4 Soil Moisture (SM) and Landsat 8 NDVI, which represent vegetation and soil moisture conditions—were examined before five destructive wildfires in Greece during the study period. The results of the analysis highlighted specific properties indicative of fire-susceptible areas. NDVI in all fire-affected areas ranged from 0.13 to 0.35, while mean monthly soil moisture showed negative anomalies in the spring periods preceding fires. Accordingly, fire susceptibility maps were developed, verifying the usefulness of remotely sensed information related to soil moisture and NDVI. This information should be used to enhance fire models and identify areas at risk of wildfires in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Understanding the potential effects of climate change on forest fire behavior and the resulting release of combustion products is critical for effective mitigation strategies in Greece. This study utilizes data from the MAGICC 2.4 (Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse Gas-Induced Climate Change) climate model and the SCENGEN 2.4 (SCENarioGENerator) database to assess these impacts. By manipulating various model parameters such as climate sensitivity, scenario, time period, and global climate models (GCMs) within the SCENGEN 2.4 database, we analyzed climatic trends affecting forest fire generation and evolution. The results reveal complex and nuanced findings, indicating a need for further investigation. Case studies are conducted using the FARSITE 4 (Fire Area Simulator) model, incorporating meteorological changes derived from climate trends. Simulations of two fires in East Attica, accounting for different fuel and meteorological conditions, demonstrate an increase in the rate of combustion product release. This underscores the influence of changing meteorological parameters on forest fire dynamics and highlights the importance of proactive measures to mitigate future risks. Our findings emphasize the urgency of addressing climate change impacts on wildfire behavior to safeguard environmental and public health in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire suppression and climate change have increased the frequency and severity of wildfires, but the responses of many organisms to wildfire are still largely unknown. In this study, we assessed the risk of habitat loss for amphibians, mammals, and reptiles caused by wildfires in central Mexico. We accomplished this by: (1) determining the likelihood of wildfire occurrence over a 12-year period using historical records and the Poisson probability mass function to pinpoint the most susceptible areas to wildfire; (2) evaluating species exposure by identifying natural land use that aligns with the potential distribution areas of biodiversity; (3) assessing species vulnerability based on the classifications established by the IUCN and CONABIO. Our findings have unveiled three regions exhibiting a concentration of high-risk values. Among these, two are positioned near major urban centers, while the third lies in the southeastern sector of the Nevado de Toluca protection area. Amphibians emerged as the taxonomic group most severely impacted, with a substantial number of species falling within the Critically Endangered and Endangered categories, closely followed by mammals and reptiles. Furthermore, we have identified a correlation between the location of risk zones and agricultural areas. This study revealed hotspots that can offer valuable guidance for strategic initiatives in fire-prone regions associated to the potential distribution of amphibians, mammals, and reptiles. Moreover, future studies should contemplate integrating field data to enhance our comprehension of the actual effects of wildfires on the spatial distribution of these animal groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active vegetation fires in south‐eastern (SE) Europe resulted in a notable increase in the number concentration of aerosols and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) particles at two high latitude locations—the SMEAR IV station in Kuopio, Finland, and the Zeppelin Observatory in Svalbard, high Arctic. During the fire episode aerosol hygroscopicity κ slightly increased at SMEAR IV and at the Zeppelin Observatory κ decreased. Despite increased κ in high CCN conditions at SMEAR IV, the aerosol activation diameter increased due to the decreased supersaturation with an increase in aerosol loading. In addition, at SMEAR IV during the fire episode, in situ measured cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) increased by a factor of ∼7 as compared to non‐fire periods which was in good agreement with the satellite observations (MODIS, Terra). Results from this study show the importance of SE European fires for cloud properties and radiative forcing in high latitudes. Plain Language Summary: Wildfires are large sources of aerosol particles and affect human health and climate. Aerosols from fires are transported long distances in the atmosphere and affect the aerosol and cloud properties at places far from the actual sources. In this study, we measured the long‐range transported (LRT) fire air masses from south‐eastern (SE) Europe at a northern European and a high Arctic site. LRT fire emissions from SE Europe increase the aerosol number and mass loading in Finland and even in the high Arctic. Results show that the effect of fire emissions on aerosol hygroscopicity depends on the properties of both the LRT fires and the background aerosols at a given location. The cloud properties analysis in eastern Finland shows that despite high hygroscopicity and increased CCN activity, the aerosol activation diameter for clouds increased during the fire episode. This is due to the depletion of available water vapor in clouds due to the increased aerosol loading. Satellite observations show an increase in cloud droplet number concentration during the fire episode confirming the effect of LRT fires on cloud properties in eastern Finland. This study can improve the understanding of the effect of LRT fires on aerosol and cloud properties at remote locations. Key Points: Vegetation fires from southern Europe enhance aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations in northern Europe and the high ArcticA contrary trend in aerosol hygroscopicity is observed at these two locations during a strong fire episode as compared to non‐fire periodsCloud droplet number concentrations in liquid clouds show strong response to fire aerosol both in in situ and satellite observations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess fire–atmosphere interactions using the fully coupled Meso-NH–ForeFire system. We focused on the Pedrógão Grande wildfire (28,914 ha), which occurred in June 2017 and was one of the deadliest and most damaging fires in Portugal's history. Two simulations (control and fully coupled fire–atmosphere) were performed for three two-way nested domains configured with horizontal resolutions of 2 km, 0.4 km, and 0.08 km, respectively, in the atmospheric model Meso-NH. Fire propagation was modeled within the innermost domain with ForeFire, which solves the fire front with a 20 m resolution, producing the heat and vapor fluxes which are then injected into the atmospheric model. A simplified homogeneous fuel distribution was used in this case study. The fully coupled experiment helped us to characterize the smoke plume structure and identify two different regimes: (1) a wind-driven regime, with the smoke plume transported horizontally southward and in the lower troposphere, and (2) a plume-dominated regime, in which the simulated smoke plume extended vertically up to upper levels, favoring the formation of a pyro-cloud. The simulations were compared, and the results suggest that the change in the fire regime was caused by an outflow that affected the main fire front. Furthermore, the fully coupled simulation allowed us to explore the change in meteorology caused by an extreme fire, namely through the development of a pyro-cloud that also induced outflows that reached the surface. We show that the Meso-NH–ForeFire system may strongly contribute to an improved understanding of extreme wildfires events and associated weather phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection and mapping of burned areas from wildland fires is one of the most important approaches for evaluating the impacts of fire events. In this study, a novel burned area detection algorithm for rapid response applications using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 500 m surface reflectance data was developed. Spectra from bands 5 and 6, the composite indices of the Normalized Burn Ratio, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index were employed as indicators to discover burned pixels. Historical statistical data were used to provide pre-fire baseline information. Differences in the current (post-fire) and historical (pre-fire) data were input into a support vector machine classifier, and the fire-affected pixels were detected and mapped by the support vector machine classification process. Compared with the existing MODIS level 3 monthly burned area product MCD45, the new algorithm is able to generate burned area maps on a daily basis when new data become available, which is more applicable to rapid response scenarios when major fire incidents occur. The algorithm was tested in three mega-fire cases that occurred in the continental USA. The experimental results were validated against the fire perimeter database generated by the Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination Group and were compared with the MCD45 product. The validation results indicated that the algorithm was effective in detecting burned areas caused by mega-fires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Post-fire recovery under different fire regime scenarios was modeled with WorldView-2. • Image texture provides accurate predictions under high spatial heterogeneity. • Pine modeling requires a high seedling contribution on the overall plot reflectance. • Modeling of vegetation structure was accurate for each recurrence-severity scenario. • High spatial resolution satellite imagery represents an effective management tool. In the Mediterranean Basin, wildland fires are major drivers of forest ecosystem dynamics. In the current context of global change, these fires are becoming more severe and recurrent because of climatic conditions, land use changes and invasive species. In areas affected by mega-fires (burned area > 10,000 ha), the patterns of regeneration may be heterogeneous due to local variations in fire regime, community composition and environmental features. The goal of this study was to analyze the post-fire structure of both Pinus pinaster Aiton. seedlings population and understory community in a Mediterranean fire-prone ecosystem at short-term by means of high spatial resolution satellite imagery within the perimeter of a full stand replacing mega-fire that burned around 12,000 ha of a Pinus pinaster forest in NW Spain. We established 234 field plots of 2 × 2 meters to cover four recurrence-severity scenarios. In each plot, we sampled 15 vegetation structural variables at both pine seedlings population and understory community levels. From the WorldView-2 satellite imagery, we obtained three sets of spectral variables (reflectance, spectral indices and image textures) that were used as predictors of vegetation recovery in generalized linear models. At population level, the number and cover of pine seedlings were successfully modeled with spectral indices and textural information (normalized root mean square error of 16% and 17%, respectively). At understory community level, woody species cover was correlated with first order textures (normalized root mean square error of 9%). Other understory structure variables (height and richness of woody species, percentage of bare soil, necromass and leaves) were predicted with an error lower than 20%. The predictive capacity of the models was similar for all recurrence-severity scenarios. Our results highlight the usefulness of spectral indices and textural data at high spatial resolution in the analysis of post-fire recovery in large and heterogeneous burnt areas. Given the accuracy and predictive capacity of the models obtained in this study, high spatial resolution satellite imagery together with field data provide useful information in post-fire decision making in fire prone ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) has generated significant insights and advancements across various fields of study. Environmental, agriculture, and social sciences have played prominent roles in understanding the impacts of fires in the environment, in protecting communities, and addressing management challenges. This study aimed to create a database using a text mining technique for global researchers interested in WUI-projects and highlighting the interest of countries in this field. Author’s-Keywords analysis emphasized the dominance of fire science-related terms, especially related to WUI, and identified keyword clusters related to the WUI fire-risk-assessment-system—“exposure”, “danger”, and “vulnerability” within wildfire research. Trends over the past decade showcase shifting research interests with a growing focus on WUI fires, while regional variations highlighted that the “exposure” keyword cluster received greater attention in the southern Europe and South America. However, vulnerability keywords have relatively a lower representation across all regions. The analysis underscores the interdisciplinary nature of WUI research and emphasizes the need for targeted approaches to address the unique challenges of the wildland-urban interface. Overall, this study provides valuable insights for researchers and serves as a foundation for further collaboration in this field through the understanding of the trends over recent years and in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study evaluated the ECMWF model ability in forecasting lightning in Portugal during four fire seasons (2019–2022). The evaluation was made based on lightning data from the national lightning detector network, which was aggregated into resolutions of 0.5° and 1° over 3 h periods and analyzed from statistical indices using two contingency tables. The results showed that the model overestimates the lightning occurrence, with a BIAS greater than 1, with a success rate of 57.7% (49%) for a horizontal resolution of 1° (0.5°). The objective analysis was complemented by the spatial lightning distribution analysis, which indicated a time lag between the two data, i.e., the model started predicting lightning before its occurrence and finished the prediction earlier. Furthermore, such analysis revealed the lightning distribution being consistent with some weather patterns. The findings of this study provide insights into the applicability of the ECMWF lightning forecast data in the context of forecasting natural forest fires in Portugal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A string of fierce fires broke out in Chile in the austral summer 2023, just six years after the record-breaking 2017 fire season. Favored by extreme weather conditions, fire activity has dramatically risen in recent years in this Andean country. A total of 1.7 million ha. burned during the last decade, tripling figures of the prior decade. Six of the seven most destructive fire seasons on record occurred since 2014. Here, we analyze the progression during the last two decades of the weather conditions associated with increased fire risk in Central Chile (30°–39° S). Fire weather conditions (including high temperatures, low humidity, dryness, and strong winds) increase the potential for wildfires, once ignited, to rapidly spread. We show that the concurrence of El Niño and climate-fueled droughts and heatwaves boost the local fire risk and have decisively contributed to the intense fire activity recently seen in Central Chile. Our results also suggest that the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean variability modulates the seasonal fire weather in the country, driving in turn the interannual fire activity. The signature of the warm anomalies in the Niño 1 + 2 region (0°–10° S, 90° W–80° W) is apparent on the burned area records seen in Central Chile in 2017 and 2023. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Social science that seeks to advance wildfire adaptation in the southwestern US states of Arizona and New Mexico remains underdeveloped in comparison with other regions in the USA. Aim. To identify key themes in the existing social science literature on wildfire in the Southwest and to determine future research needs that can inform more strategic adaptation across scales and contexts. Methods. This article presents an in-depth literature review, organising findings using the Fire Adapted Communities Framework. Key results. Research on social aspects of wildfire in the southwestern USA has continued to diversify and broaden in scope over time, but some foundational lines of inquiry (such as public support for prescribed fire) have become outdated while other areas of study (such as fire prevention) have not been explored at all. Conclusions. Opportunities to advance wildfire social science efforts in the Southwest are abundant and well positioned to inform social understandings in other regions and countries. Implications. Researchers wishing to conduct social science research related to wildfire in the Southwest should seek to update and diversify knowledge in this field both through strategic selection of study sites and populations and via intentional, rigorous research design that acknowledges and elevates the nuances of social interactions with wildfire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensity and frequency of wildfires in California (CA) have increased in recent years, causing significant damage to human health and property. In October 2007, a number of small fire events, collectively referred to as the Witch Creek Fire or Witch Fire started in Southern CA and intensified under strong Santa Ana winds. As a test of current mesoscale modeling capabilities, we use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate the 2007 wildfire event in terms of meteorological conditions. The main objectives of the present study are to investigate the impact of horizontal grid resolution and planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme on the model simulation of meteorological conditions associated with a Mega fire. We evaluate the predictive capability of the WRF model to simulate key meteorological and fire-weather forecast parameters such as wind, moisture, and temperature. Results of this study suggest that more accurate predictions of temperature and wind speed relevant for better prediction of wildfire spread can be achieved by downscaling regional numerical weather prediction products to 1 km resolution. Furthermore, accurate prediction of near-surface conditions depends on the choice of the planetary boundary layer parameterization. The MYNN parameterization yields more accurate prediction as compared to the YSU parameterization. WRF simulations at 1 km resolution result in better predictions of temperature and wind speed than relative humidity during the 2007 Witch Fire. In summary, the MYNN PBL parameterization scheme with finer grid resolution simulations improves the prediction of near-surface meteorological conditions during a wildfire event.

In the spring and summer of 2019–2020, the 'Black Summer' bushfires burned more than 97 000 km2 of predominantly Eucalyptus dominated forest habitat in eastern Australia. The Black Summer bushfires prompted great concern that many species had been imperilled by the fires. Here, we investigate the effects that fire severity had on the habitat and abundance of a cool climate lizard Eulamprus tympanum that was identified as a species of concern because 37% of its habitat was burnt in the Black Summer bushfires. We quantified habitat structure and the abundance of E. tympanum at sites which were unburnt, burnt at low severity and at high severity 10, 15 and 23 months after the fires. Our classification of fire severity based on scorch height and canopy status corresponded well with the Australian Government Google Earth Engine Burnt Area Map (AUS GEEBAM) fire severity layer. Ten months after the fires, sites burnt at high severity had less canopy cover, more bare ground and less fine fuel than sites burnt at low severity or unburnt sites. The abundance of E. tympanum varied with survey occasion and was greatest during the warmest sampling period and lowest during the coolest sampling period. The abundance of E. tympanum was consistently lower on sites burnt at high severity than sites burnt at low severity or unburnt sites. Our findings show that higher severity fires had a greater effect on E. tympanum than low severity fires. Our results suggest that E. tympanum were likely to have persisted in burnt sites, with populations in low severity and unburnt sites facilitating population recovery in areas burnt at high severity. Our results also suggest that wildfire impacts on E. tympanum populations will increase because the frequency and extent of severe fires are expected to increase due to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Portugal, high levels of diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DSTs) originating from Dinophysis spp. are accumulated in bivalves, mainly on the northwest coast (NWC). The occurrence of DSTs in spring and early summer is positively related to precipitation. A decrease in average precipitation after 2003 led to a reduction in DSTs after 2008. However, the accumulation of DSTs in the NWC increased in the period 2020–2022. The hydrological year of 2022 was marked by extreme drought. In cockles from the endemic area of Ria de Aveiro, 37.3% of the weeks tested presented samples above the regulatory limit (RL). The previous record was 31.9% in 2005, also an extremely dry year. The average percentage of weeks above the RL in severe drought years surpassed both the low and high precipitation years. In severe dry years, toxicity was dominated mainly by D. acuta toxins. While D. acuminata grows after the abundant river discharges in spring, D. acuta is capable of growing in summer during upwelling favourable conditions. In the last two decades, extensive forest wildfires were recurrent, but the area burnt reduced sharply after 2017 following tighter fire control measures. Low levels of DSTs or low percentage of weeks with cockles above the RL were related to high burnt areas in the previous year. The recent increase in 2020–2022 of DSTs, a planktonic biomarker in bivalves, was also coincident with the similar temporal increase in either the recruitment or the biomass of Sardina pilchardus, a planktivorous fish in decline after 2005/2006. Both low sardine recruitment and biomass were coincident with low precipitation or high burnt areas. Wildfires degrade coastal water quality, as seems reflected both in the cockle's DST and the sardine stock time series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a crucial driver of fire weather in Australia, with the correlation between ENSO and Australian fire weather having intensified over the past 2 decades. However, the underlying causes for this change have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we utilize reanalysis datasets and numerical model simulations to demonstrate that the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) could potentially modulate the ENSO–Australian fire weather relationship. The correlation between ENSO and the Australian Fire Weather Index (FWI) increases from 0.17 to 0.70 as the AMO transitions from its negative to positive phase. This strengthening effect can be attributed to atmospheric teleconnection mechanisms. Specifically, the positive AMO phase, characterized by warming in the northern and tropical Atlantic, generates Rossby wave trains, leading to high-pressure systems over Australia. Consequently, local temperature and wind speed increase, while precipitation decreases. This signal, superimposed on ENSO, serves to amplify the ENSO effect on Australian fire weather. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the larch range, warming leads to frequent fires and an increase in burned areas. We test the hypothesis that fires are an essential natural factor that reset larch regeneration and support the existence of larch forests. The study area included Larix sibirica and L. gmelinii ranges within the permafrost zone. We used satellite-derived and field data, dendrochronology, and climate variables analysis. We found that warming led to an increase in fire frequency and intensity, mean, and extreme (>10,000 ha) burned areas. The burned area is increasing in the northward direction, while fire frequency is decreasing. The fire rate exponentially increases with decreasing soil moisture and increasing air temperature and air drought. We found a contrasting effect of wildfire on regeneration within continuous permafrost and within the southern lowland boundary of the larch range. In the first case, burnt areas regenerated via abounded larch seedlings (up to 500,000+ per ha), whereas the south burns regenerated mostly via broadleaf species or turned into grass communities. After the fire, vegetation GPP was restored to pre-fire levels within 3–15 years, which may indicate that larch forests continue to serve as carbon stock. At the southern edge of the larch range, an amplified fire rate led to the transformation of larch forests into grass and shrub communities. We suggested that the thawing of continuous permafrost would lead to shrinking larch-dominance in the south. Data obtained indicated that recurrent fires are a prerequisite for larch forests' successful regeneration and resilience within continuous permafrost. It is therefore not necessary to suppress all fires within the zone of larch dominance. Instead, we must focus fire suppression on areas of high natural, social, and economic importance, permitting fires to burn in vast, larch-dominant permafrost landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-demographic changes in recent decades and fire policies centered on fire suppression have substantially diminished the ability to maintain low fuel loads at the landscape scale in marginal lands. Currently, shepherds face many barriers to the use of fire for restoring pastures in shrub-encroached communities. The restrictions imposed are based on the lack of knowledge of their impacts on the landscape. We aim to contribute to this clarification. Therefore, we used a dataset of burned areas in the Alto Minho region for seasonal and unseasonal (pastoral) fires. We conducted statistical and spatial analyses to characterize the fire regime (2001–2018), the distribution of fuel types and their dynamics, and the effects of fire on such changes. Unseasonal fires are smaller and spread in different spatial contexts. Fuel types characteristic of maritime pine and eucalypts are selected by seasonal fires and avoided by unseasonal fires which, in turn, showed high preference for heterogeneous mosaics of herbaceous and shrub vegetation. The area covered by fuel types of broadleaved and eucalypt forest stands increased between 2000 and 2018 at the expense of the fuel type corresponding to maritime pine stands. Results emphasize the role of seasonal fires and fire recurrence in these changes, and the weak effect of unseasonal fires. An increase in the maritime pine fuel type was observed only in areas burned by unseasonal fires, after excluding the areas overlapping with seasonal fires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wildfire, an unplanned fire that is mainly uncontrolled and originates in combustible vegetation in rural or urban settings, is one of the most pervasive natural catastrophes in some areas, such as Siberia, California and Australia. Many studies, such as standard reviews, have been undertaken to look into the works of literature on wildfires or forest fires and their effects on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Regrettably, conventional literature reviews failed to identify the important researchers, evolving complexities, emerging research hotspots, trends and opportunities for further research on the ground of wildfire study. The present study employs bibliometric analysis to investigate this study area qualitatively and quantitatively. The Scopus database systems and Web of Science Core Collection yielded 78 qualifying papers, which were then evaluated using Biblioshiny (A bibliometrix tool of R-studio). According to the statistics, the discipline is expanding at a pace that is 13.68% faster than average. So far, three key periods of transformation have been documented: preliminary evolution (8 articles; 1999–2005), gentle evolution (14 articles; 2006–2013) and quick evolution (56 articles; 2014 to 2021). Forest Ecology and Management and Science journals have the highest number of publications, accounting for 7.70% of total wildfire-related articles published from 1999 to 2021. However, recent data indicate that investigators are shifting their focus to wildfires, with the term 'Australia' having the highest frequency (91) and 'wildfire' having the second highest (58) as the most appeared keywords. The present study will provide a foundation for future research on wildfire incidence and management by receiving information by synthesising previously published literature in Australia and around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019–2020 Kangaroo Island bushfires in South Australia burned almost half of the island. To understand how to avoid future severe 'mega-fires' and how vegetation may recover from 2019–2020, we can utilize information from the bulk of historical fires in an area. Landsat time-series of vegetation change provide this opportunity, but there has been little analysis of large numbers of fires to build a landscape-level understanding and quantify drivers in an Australian context. In this study, we built a yearly cloud-free surface reflectance normalized burn ratio (NBR) time-series (1988–2020) using all available summer Landsat images over Kangaroo Island. Data were collected in Google Earth Engine and fitted with LandTrendr. Burn severity and post-fire recovery were quantified for 47 fires, with a new recovery metric facilitating comparison where fire frequency is high. Variables representing the current burn, fire history, vegetation structure, and topography were related to severity and yearly recovery with random forest and bivariate analysis. Results show that the 2019–2020 bushfires were the most widespread and severe, followed by 2007–2008. Vegetation recovers quickly, with NBR stabilizing ten years post-fire on average. Severity is most influenced by fire frequency, vegetation capacity and land use with more severe burns in nature conservation areas with dense vegetation and a history of frequent fires. Influence on recovery varied with time since fire, with initial (year 1–3) faster recovery observed in areas with less surviving vegetation. Later (year 6–10) recovery was most influenced by a variable representing burn year and further investigation indicates that precipitation increases in later post-fire years likely facilitated faster recovery. The relative abundance of eucalypt woodlands also has a positive influence on recovery in middle and later years. These results provide valuable information to land managers on Kangaroo Island and in similar environments, who should consider adjusting practices to limit future mega-fire risk and potential ecosystem shifts if severe fires become more frequent with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest managers rely on accurate burn severity estimates to evaluate post-fire damage and to establish revegetation policies. Burn severity estimates based on reflective data acquired from sensors onboard satellites are increasingly complementing field-based ones. However, fire not only induces changes in reflected and emitted radiation measured by the sensor, but also on energy balance. Evapotranspiration (ET), land surface temperature (LST) and land surface albedo (LSA) are greatly affected by wildfires. In this study, we examine the usefulness of these elements of energy balance as indicators of burn severity and compare the accuracy of burn severity estimates based on them to the accuracy of widely used approaches based on spectral indexes. We studied a mega-fire (more than 450 km2 burned) in Central Portugal, which occurred from 17 to 24 June 2017. The official burn severity map acted as a ground reference. Variations induced by fire during the first year following the fire event were evaluated through changes in ET, LST and LSA derived from Landsat data and related to burn severity. Fisher's least significant difference test (ANOVA) revealed that ET and LST images could discriminate three burn severity levels with statistical significance (uni-temporal and multi-temporal approaches). Burn severity was estimated from ET, LST and LSA using thresholding. Accuracy of ET and LST based on burn severity estimates was adequate (κ = 0.63 and 0.57, respectively), similar to the accuracy of the estimate based on dNBR (κ = 0.66). We conclude that Landsat-derived surface energy balance variables, in particular ET and LST, in addition to acting as useful indicators of burn severity for mega-fires in Mediterranean ecosystems, may provide critical information about how energy balance changes due to fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfire is a natural disturbance in boreal forest systems that has been predicted to increase in frequency, intensity, and extent due to climate change. Most studies tend to assess the recovery of one component of the community at a time but here we use DNA metabarcoding to simultaneously monitor soil bacteria, fungi, and arthropods along an 85-year chronosequence following wildfire in jack pine-dominated ecosites. We describe soil successional and community assembly processes to better inform sustainable forest management practices. Soil taxa showed different recovery trajectories following wildfire. Bacteria shared a large core community across stand development stages (~ 95–97% of their unique sequences) and appeared to recover relatively quickly by crown closure. By comparison fungi and arthropods shared smaller core communities (64–77% and 68–69%, respectively) and each stage appeared to support unique biodiversity. We show the importance of maintaining a mosaic ecosystem that represents each stand development stage to maintain the full suite of biodiversity in soils following wildfire, especially for fungi and arthropods. These results will provide a useful baseline for comparison when assessing the effects of human disturbance such as harvest or for assessing the effects of more frequent wildfire events due to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unprecedented bushfire activity is increasing around the world. A catastrophic bushfire event in the Australian summer of 2019–2020 burned over 18 million hectares. The Australian bushfires were just one set of events among many across the globe. Cumulatively, the losses are extraordinary: from losing over a quarter of the Pantanal wetland in South America to California's Sierra Nevada and losses in the Amazon Forest. Bushfire destruction means a concomitant loss of biological diversity. Increased fire activity and frequency can adversely affect adaptive capacities of flora and fauna. Accordingly, across the globe, fire management practices and mitigation strategies are under increased scrutiny. In this article, we consider the extent to which one fire suppression strategy, prescribed burning, takes account of non‐human considerations. Our examination of policy settings provides policymakers with a way to account for non‐human interests. Our focus is Australia, specifically relating to one national park within New South Wales. Across the world, fire containment strategies must be reassessed to decipher how well non‐human considerations are placed to withstand changing fire regimes. With likely increases in bush and wildfire activity across the globe, associated with Anthropocentric climate change, there is an urgent need to account for non‐human interests in prescribed burning policies and regulations. With likely increases in bush and wildfire activity across the globe, associated with Anthropocentric climate change, there is an urgent need to account for non‐human interests in prescribed burning policies and regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore differences in the perceptions of professional and voluntary firefighters regarding the extreme wildfire events that occurred in Portugal in 2017. We collected a sample of 185 participants, professional and voluntary firefighters, who directly participated in suppression activities for the Pedrógão Grande and October 2017 wildfires in Portugal. They were on duty in 149 fire stations in the Central Region of Portugal. A questionnaire was sent via Google Form to participants, based mainly on close-ended and two open-ended questions. It was structured into topics concerning the characteristics of wildfire events, the problems that occurred during the suppression activity, the emotional response of participants to the events, the lessons learned, and the consequences. We found significant differences between the two groups in their perception of wildfire characteristics and their perception of the worst fires they had ever experienced. Some differences were found in their discussion of the suppression phase and their emotional response to fires. On the contrary, the two groups appear to be homogeneous when it comes to no significant changes after the deadly 2017 experience in terms of the fight against rural fires, organization, training, prevention, and careers. The results underline the inadequacy of the suppression model vs. extreme wildfire events, and also its limits from the point of view of psychological reactions and the perception of management problems occurring in extreme and complex events. There is a research gap and no examples in Portugal about the perception of firefighters of the complex flow of activities that characterize the suppression operation of extreme wildfire events. Our research fills this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather-related events like wildfires have been increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change. Public online conversations that reflect on these events as climate emergencies can create awareness and build support for climate action but are also used to spread misinformation and climate change denial. To what extent automated social media accounts—"social bots"—amplify different perspectives of such events and influence climate change discourses, remains unknown, however. We use Twitter and the 2019/2020 Australia bushfires as a case study to explore this issue. Utilizing more than 1 million Tweets, we identify how climate change is framed in the context of those fires, and to what extent social bots affect specific climate change frames, including the spread of misinformation. Our results show that climate change represents a substantial part of online conversations about fires. The bushfires are primarily framed as a climate change issue including its measurable impacts and political perspectives. Climate denial represents a small share of this conversation and receives limited amplification. Social bots seemingly contribute to the climate change conversation, both through frames that support and oppose climate action, and amplify to larger degree frames appealing to emotions, such as sympathy or humor. We also find that Twitter discussions about the role of social bots in spreading climate denial are amplified more than actual climate-critical frames propagated by bots. A complex interplay between social bots, Twitter conversations, and online news media is emerging, which shapes discussions about climate change and wildfires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wildfires increase globally in frequency and extent as a consequence of climate change. These wildfires may have negative effects on insect populations.Macaronesia is a global biodiversity hotspot with wildfires occurring annually, but the consequences of these wildfires on endemic insects are poorly understood.Using bioacoustics monitoring, we studied the consequences of recent wildfires on two endemic silvicolous Macaronesian Bush‐Cricket species, which are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.Our results show that wildfires had strong negative effects on populations of both species. However, when analysing the effects of fire history and size, we found that one of the species was found on older burnt sites, suggesting a capacity to recolonise smaller burnt areas from adjacent non‐burnt areas.Reducing wildfire frequency and size will be crucial to conserving the two species. Additionally, restoring native laurel forest vegetation will support the recovery of both species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscape patterns and composition were identified as key drivers of fire risk and fire regimes. However, few studies have focused on effective policymaking aimed at encouraging landowners to diversify the landscape and make it more fire-resilient. We propose a new framework to support the design of wildfire mitigation policies aimed at promoting low-risk fire regimes based on land use/land cover choices by landowners. Using the parishes of a fire-prone region in central Portugal as analysis units, a two-step modelling approach is proposed, coupling an agent-based model that simulates land use/land cover choice and a logistic model that predicts fire regimes from a set of biophysical variables reported as important fire regime drivers in the literature. The cost-effectiveness of different policy options aimed at promoting low-risk fire regimes at the parish level is assessed. Our results are in line with those of previous studies defending the importance of promoting landscape heterogeneity by reducing forest concentration and increasing agricultural or shrubland areas as a measure to reduce the risk of wildfire. Results also suggest the usefulness of the framework as a policy simulation tool, allowing policymakers to investigate how annual payments supporting agricultural or shrubland areas, depending on the policy mix, can be very cost-effective in removing a substantial number of parishes from high-risk fire regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a dataset mined from the public archive (1999–2020) of the US National Incident Management System Incident Status Summary (ICS-209) forms (a total of 187,160 reports for 35,170 incidents, including 34,478 wildland fires). This system captures detailed daily/regular information on incident development and response, including social and economic impacts. Most (98.4%) reports are wildland fire-related, with other incident types including hurricane, hazardous materials, flood, tornado, search and rescue, civil unrest, and winter storms. The archive, although publicly available, has been difficult to use for research due to multiple record formats, inconsistent data entry, and no clean pathway from individual reports to high-level incident analysis. Here, we describe the open-source, reproducible methods used to produce a science-grade version of the data, including formal connections made to other published wildland fire data products. Among other applications, this integrated and spatially augmented dataset enables exploration of the daily progression of the most costly, damaging, and deadly environmental-hazard events in recent US history. Measurement(s) wildfire Technology Type(s) NIMS/ICS Reporting Sample Characteristic - Environment wildfire Sample Characteristic - Location United States [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest plantations can substantially contribute to carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation at the country and global scales. Forest fires (especially when combined with droughts) may remarkably reduce such carbon sequestration capability. The IPCC has global-scale estimates for such losses, but they can vary widely depending on crops, climate, topography, and management, among other factors. The IPCC defines a factor for biomass loss as a consequence of forest fires, expressed as a fraction of total biomass. This methodology implies using aggregated data and the default emission factor, which are only recommended for countries where wildfires are not a key category. In Chile, over the last decade, there have been between 5000 and 8000 wildfires annually (an average of 6398 for the period 2011–2020), burning an average of 122,328 hectares each year. Countries may progress in the refinement of such factors depending on the availability and reliability of local values. This paper aims at estimating C f values for the main forest plantation species in Chile, Pinus radiata, Eucalyptus nitens, and Eucalyptus globulus, across different age-classes and forest fire severity. To achieve this aim, we assessed the biomass loss after forest fires for a stratified sample of forest plots for the season 2018–2019. We fitted a model to predict the amount of biomass loss during fires, and in this way, predict the emissions associated with wildfires. The model employs very simple predictive variables, age and species, because statistics for burnt areas in plantations are only provided by age-classes and species, without details about productivity or management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mineral dust emissions mainly depend on soil erodibility and near‐surface wind speeds. During biomass burning episodes, pyroconvection locally generates high surface wind speed and non‐desert surfaces (such as forest and shrubs) are partially replaced by barren soil. These effects may induce additional mineral dust emission. However, they are generally not taken into account in chemistry‐transport models since the biomass burning and mineral dust emissions are usually considered as independent processes. This may lead to an underestimation of the mineral dust emissions and therefore of the transported concentrations. In this study, this link is added in the CHIMERE chemistry‐transport model. The summer of 2021 is modeled over Europe using the coupled WRF‐CHIMERE system. Simulations with and without the link between emission processes are performed. Results are compared to observations such as surface measurements of ozone and particulate matter by EEA and aerosol optical depth by AERONET. With more emitted mineral dust, an effect is found on the whole meteorological and chemical system: wind, temperature, cloud, gas (such as ozone with a few ppb changes) and aerosol concentrations are changed. The effect does not appear to be very important but significant enough to have to be taken into account in future modeling. Plain Language Summary: Biomass burning inject pollutants into the atmosphere but also change meteorological and surface characteristics. During the fire, forced convection can drive mineral aerosols aloft. After the fire, the burned surface becomes more erodible. To account for these interactions between fire and mineral dust emissions, we have developed a new parameterization in the coupled WRF‐CHIMERE model. We quantify the impact of this interaction and show the regions in Europe where it adds erodible surfaces. Key Points: Wildfires emissions create erodible surfaces and enhanced mineral dust emissionsAdditional mineral dust emissions are modeled over western Europe with the WRF‐CHIMERE online regional modelingThe impact of these additional emission have an impact on meteorology and other gas and aerosol concentrations via the direct and indirect aerosol effect [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]