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International Journal of Wildland Fire

International Journal of Wildland Fire

International Journal of Wildland Fire publishes articles on basic and applied aspects of wildland fire science including, but not confined to, ecological impact, modelling fire and its effects, and management of fire. Read more about the journalMore

Editors-in-Chief: Susan G. Conard, Stefan Doerr and Martin Girardin

Publishing Model: Open Access

Download our Journal Flyer (PDF, 956KB)

Latest

These articles are the latest published in the journal. International Journal of Wildland Fire has moved to a continuous publication model. More information is available on our Continuous Publication page.

Published online 15 August 2024

WF23190Climate and weather drivers in southern California Santa Ana Wind and non-Santa Wind fires

Jon E. Keeley, Michael Flannigan, Tim J. Brown, Tom Rolinski, Daniel Cayan, Alexandra D. Syphard, Janin Guzman-Morales and Alexander Gershunov
 

Fires ignited on Santa Ana Wind days are the largest and most destructive fires but other fires are more numerous and account for greater area burned. Fire indices on days after ignition are important predictors of fire size, but drought and wind speed are most closely tied to fire size.

WF23190 Abstract  |  WF23190 Full Text  | WF23190PDF (2.7 MB)  | WF23190Supplementary Material (708 KB)   Open Access Article

Published online 15 August 2024

WF24006Impact of fire return interval on pyrogenic carbon stocks in a tropical savanna, North Queensland, Australia

Jordahna Haig 0000-0003-1350-522X, Jonathan Sanderman 0000-0002-3215-1706, Costijn Zwart 0000-0002-2450-0531, Colleen Smith 0000-0002-9961-5085 and Michael I. Bird 0000-0003-1801-8703
 

The reimposition of an Indigenous fire regime (frequent, small, cool, early dry season fires) has the potential to sequester significant pyrogenic carbon in northern Australian savanna soils on decadal timescales. We observed an increase of 0.25 MgC ha−1 in transects with ≥5 fires over a 22-year period.

WF24006 Abstract  |  WF24006 Full Text  | WF24006PDF (1.8 MB)  | WF24006Supplementary Material (176 KB)   Open Access Article

Published online 05 August 2024

WF23160Generating fuel consumption maps on prescribed fire experiments from airborne laser scanning

T. Ryan McCarley 0000-0002-4617-2866, Andrew T. Hudak, Benjamin C. Bright, James Cronan, Paige Eagle, Roger D. Ottmar and Adam C. Watts
 

We used airborne laser scanning (ALS) data and ground measurements to create fuel consumption maps for prescribed fires in central Utah. The data, methods, and accuracy assessments we produced are useful for researchers who collected data on fire behaviour, effects, and emissions on the same fires.

WF23160 Abstract  |  WF23160 Full Text  | WF23160PDF (1.8 MB)  | WF23160Supplementary Material (198 KB)   Open Access Article

Published online 30 July 2024

WF23089Optimising disaster response: opportunities and challenges with Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) technology in response to the 2020 Labour Day wildfires in Oregon, USA

Dae Kun Kang, Erica Fischer, Michael J. Olsen, Julie A. Adams and Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne
 

We document how Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) technology was used in the 2020 Labour Day wildfires in Oregon, USA. Information from a literature review, social media, and interviews with disaster responders were compiled. Qalitative analyses on the interview data synthesised typical UAS applications and highlighted challenges.

WF23089 Abstract  |  WF23089 Full Text  | WF23089PDF (1.4 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 29 July 2024

WF23182Characterising ignition precursors associated with high levels of deployment of wildland fire personnel

Alison C. Cullen, Brian R. Goldgeier, Erin Belval and John T. Abatzoglou
 

The intensification of Western US fire seasons has resulted in heightened competition for suppression resources as simultaneous incidents strain capacity. We present statistical models identifying characteristics (including region, fire weather, canopy cover, Wildland–Urban Interface category, and history of past fire) associated with ignitions which evolve to garner high personnel deployment.

WF23182 Abstract  |  WF23182 Full Text  | WF23182PDF (1.7 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 29 July 2024

WF24031From flexibility to feasibility: identifying the policy conditions that support the management of wildfire for objectives other than full suppression

Scott T. Franz 0009-0002-2720-7186, Melanie M. Colavito 0000-0003-2089-5158 and Catrin M. Edgeley
 

This research used social science methods to investigate the influential factors on the translation of flexible wildfire policy governing natural ignitions into practice. We found that alignment of organisational capacity, collaborative management planning, and mechanisms to monitor and evaluate progress help facilitate successful reintroduction of wildfire to fire-adapted ecosystems.

WF24031 Abstract  |  WF24031 Full Text  | WF24031PDF (529 KB)   Open Access Article

Published online 29 July 2024

WF24029Compiling historical descriptions of past Indigenous cultural burning: a dataset for the eastern United States

Stephen J. Tulowiecki 0000-0002-6787-0962
 

This study creates a dataset of historical descriptions of Indigenous wildland burning from digitised historical texts in the eastern US. The current version of the dataset contains >250 descriptions in the northeastern US, mainly from 19th century historians. Descriptions correspond with geographic patterns in past fire-adapted vegetation.

WF24029 Abstract  |  WF24029 Full Text  | WF24029PDF (1.2 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 26 July 2024

WF24053Seasonal litter decomposition and accumulation in north Australian savanna

Cameron Yates, Jay Evans and Jeremy Russell-Smith
 

Savanna fire models rely on seasonal measures of available fine fuels. This study investigates monthly rates of fine fuel decomposition and accumulation in typical eucalypts-dominated savanna woodland in north Australia over an annual cycle. Whereas decomposition is shown to occur most rapidly in the wet season, accumulated fine fuels were greater late in the dry season.

This article belongs to the Collection Savanna Burning.

WF24053 Abstract  |  WF24053 Full Text  | WF24053PDF (1.8 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 19 July 2024

WF24008Individual tree detection and classification from RGB satellite imagery with applications to wildfire fuel mapping and exposure assessments

L. Bennett 0009-0002-2196-9702, Z. Yu, R. Wasowski, S. Selland, S. Otway and J. Boisvert
 

High-resolution satellite imagery is collected around various communities in Alberta, Canada. Machine learning algorithms are used to detect and classify individual trees from collected imagery in an automated fashion. Use of the algorithm in fuel mapping and community wildfire exposure assessments is explored.

WF24008 Abstract  |  WF24008 Full Text  | WF24008PDF (6.1 MB)  | WF24008Supplementary Material (796 KB)   Open Access Article

Published online 16 July 2024

WF23165The distributed strategy for asynchronous observations in data-driven wildland fire spread prediction

Mengxia Zha 0000-0003-0627-2683, Zheng Wang 0000-0002-2391-5372, Jie Ji and Jiping Zhu
 

Observation composed of data from multiple moments is asynchronous observation, which will bring errors when performing data assimilation. This paper proposes a distributed strategy combined with the Ensemble Transform Kalman filter for asynchronous observation. It could conduct the analysis step immediately by a new matching scheme between prediction and observation.

WF23165 Abstract  |  WF23165 Full Text  | WF23165PDF (4 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 02 July 2024

WF23164A comment on the use of visually assessed fuel hazard ratings and scores for Australian fire management and research

Miguel G. Cruz 0000-0003-3311-7582
 

The validity of fuel hazard rating for assessment of fuels in Australian forests was reviewed. The principles underpinning the rating method were shown to be unfounded, with ratings found to be neither related to physical fuel characteristics nor fire behaviour potential. Their application in Australian fire management and research is unwarranted.

WF23164 Abstract  |  WF23164 Full Text  | WF23164PDF (1.2 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 28 June 2024

WF23207Spot ignition of a wildland fire and its transition to propagation

Supan Wang, Maria Thomsen, Xinyan Huang 0000-0002-0584-8452 and Carlos Fernandez-Pello
 

Photographs showing wildfire propagation from a spot ignition (left) to a wildfire (right).

Wildland fires are often initiated by small spot ignition sources. Their transition into wildfire spread has an initial acceleration phase, and the growth of a burned area of the fuel bed follows a power law dependence in time. Such a trend is almost independent of the ignition source and can be extended over relatively long times.

WF23207 Abstract  |  WF23207 Full Text  | WF23207PDF (7.4 MB)  | WF23207Supplementary Material (20.6 MB)   Open Access Article

Published online 26 June 2024

WF23167Effect of live/dead condition, moisture content and particle size on flammability of gorse (Ulex europaeus) measured with a cone calorimeter

Katharine O. Melnik 0000-0002-0258-4965, Andres Valencia 0000-0002-3588-5270, Marwan Katurji 0000-0002-3368-1469, Daniel Nilsson 0000-0003-3127-7152, Greg Baker 0000-0001-8676-0139, Oleg M. Melnik 0000-0003-3238-9623, H. Grant Pearce 0000-0002-4876-2683 and Tara M. Strand
 

This study compares the flammability of live and dead vegetation at a range of moisture contents and particle sizes. Live fuel took longer to ignite but burned faster and more intensely than dead fuel of the same moisture content, emphasising the importance of live fuel flammability in fire prediction models.

WF23167 Abstract  |  WF23167 Full Text  | WF23167PDF (3.6 MB)   Open Access Article

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These articles have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication. They are still in production and have not been edited, so may differ from the final published form.

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  2. Wildland fire evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021

    International Journal of Wildland Fire 33 (7)
    Amy Cardinal Christianson, Lynn M. Johnston, Jacqueline A. Oliver, David Watson, David Young, Heather MacDonald, John Little, Bruce Macnab, Noemie Gonzalez Bautista

Collections

Collections are a curation of articles relevant to a topical research area

Australian Fire Danger Rating System

This Collection in International Journal of Wildland Fire presents a series of papers that describe the development of the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS). This new system was conceived following a review of existing Australian fire danger rating systems and associated danger categories in 2014. It was implemented in 2022 and has since been modified to improve performance, accuracy, and public-facing requirements.

Guest Editor
Paulo Fernandez (Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal)

Last Updated: 04 Jul 2024

Celebrating 30 Years of Wildland Fire Science Publication

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of International Journal of Wildland Fire (IJWF), the official journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF), we have put together this Collection that includes a selection of review papers published in IJWF over the past 12 years, a compilation that highlights the wide range of disciplines in wildland fire research. In line with our commitment to diversity, authors and co-authors come from at least seven countries, and the corresponding authors on six of the 15 papers are female. We invite you to explore the full breadth of topics included in this Collection.

Collection Editors
Susan G. Conard, Stefan Doerr, and Jenny Foster

Last Updated: 27 May 2021

25 Years of International Journal of Wildland Fire

To celebrate 25 years of publication of International Journal of Wildland Fire, we present this Collection that includes some of the most-cited Research Papers we have published over the years. This Collection includes two papers from each five-year period, starting in 1991. One of these is the paper from each period that has received the most citations to date. To highlight the geographic scope of IJWF publications, the second paper is the most-cited paper where the lead author is from a different country than the highest-cited one.

Last Updated: 05 Dec 2016

Atmospheric Research

This Collection of International Journal of Wildland Fire covers the theme of Atmospheric Research, and was launched to coincide with the 2016 International Smoke Symposium (Long Beach, California) and the AGU Fall Meeting (San Francisco, California). This collection showcases a diverse array of topics from a variety of geographical areas, including methods for tracking, modelling and inventory, social implications, climate implications, current and future research needs, and practical field management techniques for smoke.

Last Updated: 27 Oct 2016

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IJWF Content Free to IAWF Members

All non-OA journal content published prior to 2024 can be accessed by IAWF members through the IAWF Members-Only site.

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