Jane Park

Spent the last couple days restoring grasslands with #wildlandfire in the BanffNP backcountry 🔥 Some amazing fire behaviour to maintain habitat for #bison #grizzlybears and other wildlife #prescribedfire

The role of fuel treatments during incident management - Fire Ecology Background Forest fuel reduction treatments are intended to mitigate negative impacts from wildland fires, protect communities, and support firefighting. Understanding fuel treatment use is important for evaluating treatment effectiveness, which, in turn, can inform the strategic planning and design of treatments. A relatively understudied aspect of fuel treatments is how existing fuel treatments are incorporated into firefighting (i.e., incident management). In this paper, we explore how fuel treatments are used by firefighters and Incident Management Teams during fires to inform the broader conversation of designing fuel treatments and assessing fuel treatment effectiveness. Results Through interviews with wildland fire and forest managers (e.g., Incident Commanders, Agency Administrators, Fire Management Officers, and Fuels Planners) on seven western wildfire incidents during 2020 and 2021, we investigated how forest fuel treatments were utilized during firefighting. We found that treatments were considered and used during incidents in various ways, including to conduct burnouts, for direct modification of fire behavior, as access points for firefighters or equipment, or as components of contingency plans. Most interviewees said treatments provided additional options and flexibility in decision-making, enhancing both firefighter and community safety. For instance, treatments were used to reduce overhead hazards to firefighters and, in some cases, were prepared to serve as safety zones. Conclusions The decision to use a fuel treatment was based on several conditions, including the time since the treatment was implemented or maintained, treatment location, incident conditions, and personnel dynamics within the Incident Management Team or local forest unit. We explain what these findings mean in the context of wildland fire decision-making literature. We also provide recommendations for using fuel treatments to support wildfire incident management.

Learn how fuel management units support #wildfire management 🔥🪵

As an incident commander, I can attest to the value of fuel management units for strategic ignition, holding and containment lines that enhance firefighter safety and aerial suppression effectiveness
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Great to see so many residents from Bragg Creek engaged in #wildfireriskmitigation Thanks to Sarah Elmeligi for the invite and Greg Van Tighem from Jasper who shared valuable insights from the Jasper #wildfire about how residents can create more defensible spaces using #FireSmart principles 🔥

Keep reading 👇🏽

Keep reading 👇🏽

Been busy here working on projects that contribute to landscape #resilience to #wildlandfire and protecting the community🔥 From #wildfireriskreduction projects to reduce fuel through logging and #prescribedfire, collaborating with research agencies to model #wildfire risk

As a side note, would there be interest in a peer support group of fire people that got together on occasion virtually or in person, perhaps with mental health professionals familiar with our work? Respond in the comments or DM me.

Processing Grief through a Burned Bear - Issuu According to Psychology Today, “grief is the normal human response that accompanies loss and can be complex, unpredictable and painful.”

This is a poignant article for anyone feeling compounding grief from the fireline. As I prepare for the upcoming fire season, I am taking a lot of solace in my extended fire family 🔥 in addition to professionals, friends and family.
issuu.com/wildfiremaga...

First post over here!! Join me and other governmental partners on Feb 25, 2025 as we discuss ongoing #wildfire mitigations in the Bow Valley