We cannot eliminate fire, nor do we want to.
Wildland fires are natural and essential
part of ecosystems on our landscape.
In 2023, the National Interagency Fire Center
reported responding to 56,580 fires,
which amounts to about 2.7 million acres burned in the United States.
And this impacts communities,
public health and air quality and ecosystems.
Surprisingly, one effective method to mitigate future severe fires
is to use fire to combat fires.
Both prescription burning and unplanned fire ignitions,
like lightning caused fires, under the right fire weather conditions
reduce fuels for future fires that might burn more intensely
under hotter and dry conditions that we cannot control.
Fires clear understory growth, the grasses and the fuels in the brush,
and this promotes new plant growth, benefiting
both the ecosystems and wildlife.
Change, including fire, is vital
for forest health, and many species depend on it.
It's crucial for us to further our understanding of fire.
At the Rocky Mountain Research Station,
we use the latest technologies to study fire.
Using the latest data sets from partners like NASA to map vegetation, fuels
and past fires helps researchers to model
fire spread risk and severity.
Building tools, models and applications that fire managers can use
to make decisions, often under rapidly changing conditions, that restore fire
to the landscape in the appropriate ways, times, and places
reduces the risk and severity of future fires.
At NASA, we employ various methods to collect near real-time fire data.
This includes aircraft and ground based campaigns.
One distinct approach is by using satellites.
We have a global view of fire with this perspective from space
scientists can accurately locate thermal anomalies, or fires,
their spread over time and monitor vegetation conditions.
Fire managers have to make complex decisions.
These data sets and scientific approaches help teams predict
how Fire will evolve over various different scenarios,
and foster collaboration within fire affected communities.
Satellite observations give us an eye in the sky
during an active blaze, and also allow us
to track fire behavior trends over time.
Providing those on the ground with the data they need to make complex
decisions, and bringing fire safely back to our landscapes.
Forest service research and NASA data sets help us to move to more proactive
fire management that promotes healthy forests and watersheds
while simultaneously reducing the risk and severity of future fires.