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International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire

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. ConardStefan Doerr and Martin Girardin

Publishing Model: Open Access

Download our Journal Metrics (PDF, 719KB)

Latest

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

Published online 30 January 2025

WF24113Sub-hourly forecasting of fire potential using machine learning on time series of surface weather variables

Alberto Ardid, Andres Valencia, Anthony Power, Matthias M. Boer, Marwan Katurji, Shana Gross and David Dempsey
 

This study introduces a machine learning model to forecast fire potential using weather data from the Sunshine Coast, Australia. The model, which updates every 30 min, significantly improves fire prediction accuracy, helping to provide timely warnings and enhance fire management strategies.

Rural communities are increasingly impacted by smoke from wildfire and forest management. We conducted 46 semi-structured interviews with 56 residents and professionals in Parks, Arizona, USA, to determine the role of local social context in rural smoke adaptation and gauge interest in adaptation strategies that reduce exposure.

Published online 23 January 2025

WF24161Assessing wildland fire suppression effectiveness with infrared imaging on experimental fires

Melanie Wheatley, Joshua M. Johnston, B. Mike Wotton, Douglas G. Woolford and David L. Martell
 

We suppressed a series of small-scale burns while actively monitoring fire behaviour with overhead infrared imagery to quantify the impact of suppression on fire behaviour and energy released from flaming fires. Infrared imaging can capture the changes in energy released from a fire due to known aspects of water application.

Published online 23 January 2025

WF24027An offline coupling of fire spread models to simulate the 2021 Marshall Fire

Fernando Szasdi-Bardales 0000-0002-9643-5919, Kasra Shamsaei 0000-0003-3396-7683, Timothy W. Juliano, Branko Kosovic, Hamed Ebrahimian 0000-0003-1992-6033 and Negar Elhami-Khorasani
 

Map showing vegetation, built structures, impact of fire and fire perimeter for the 2021 Marshall Fire

Predictive models for wildfire spread can provide valuable information for risk mitigation. Current models focus only on wildland or community simulations. This paper integrates two models to simulate the 2021 Marshall Fire. The most accurate results are obtained using a high-resolution wind input and when incorporating different building types.

A Duff Moisture Code value of 20 is operationally used to indicate the threshold below which lightning fires will not ignite and duff consumption will not occur. Through an analysis of historical lightning and fire data across Canada, we do not find strong evidence to support this threshold.

Published online 22 January 2025

WF24117Simplifying emissions modelling from wildland fires: laboratory-scale emission factors are independent of fine woody debris fuel load

Élise-Andrée Guérette 0000-0002-8774-7179, Clare Paton-Walsh 0000-0003-1156-4138, Maximilien Desservettaz, Fabienne Reisen, Nicholas C. Surawski, C. P. (Mick) Meyer, Christopher T. Roulston 0000-0003-1888-4206, Andrew Sullivan 0000-0002-8038-8724, Christopher J. Weston and Liubov Volkova 0000-0002-4556-3478
 

Emissions of most pollutants from laboratory-based experimental wildland fires are shown to be independent of the fraction of fine woody debris in the fuel load and to closely track the emissions of carbon monoxide in time, thereby simplifying modelling. Approximately half the emissions occur during the flaming stage of combustion.

Published online 16 January 2025

WF24114Towards a wildfire vulnerability index using expert judgement

M. Papathoma-Köhle 0000-0002-7878-1340, D. Hausharter, M. Schlögl 0000-0002-4357-523X and S. Fuchs
 

This paper describes a wildfire vulnerability index for buildings in Austria based on the characteristics of buildings and their surroundings, expert judgement and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results can be used for emergency management and disaster risk reduction strategies in the wildland–urban interface.

Published online 16 January 2025

WF24130Simulating wildfire spread based on continuous time series remote sensing images and cellular automata

Huajian Zhuang, Naian Liu, Xiaodong Xie, Xuan Xu, Mengmeng Li, Yang Zhang and Rui Wang
 

The simulation of wildfire propagation presents a complex system engineering challenge. The adaptive simulation method enables acquisition of highly precise results. The TCA model demonstrated its capability to achieve localised and gradual propagation. The created simulation software can serve as a powerful tool for wildland surface fire prevention and control.

Published online 10 January 2025

WF24137Modelling and mapping burn severity of prescribed and wildfires across the southeastern United States (2000–2022)

Melanie K. Vanderhoof 0000-0002-0101-5533, Casey E. Menick, Joshua J. Picotte, Kevin M. Robertson, Holly K. Nowell, Chris Matechik and Todd J. Hawbaker
 

This effort produced novel burn severity data for many small and prescribed fires on both public and private lands across the Southeast. We evaluated spatial and temporal patterns in regional burn severity by vegetation type, as well as for fires attributed as prescribed or wildfire.

Published online 10 January 2025

WF23175Using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy to produce high-resolution centennial records of past high-intensity fires from organic-rich sediment deposits

Rebecca Ryan 0000-0001-6148-2208, Anthony Dosseto, Pavel Dlapa 0000-0002-3530-7403, Zoë Thomas, Ivan Simkovic, Scott Mooney 0000-0003-4449-5060 and Ross Bradstock
 

Fourier Transform Infrared spectra are presented for swamp sediments in the Blue Mountains, Australia. Fire-affected sediments show an increase in the aromatic/aliphatic ratio. C and N content show no consistent trend with hypothesised fire layers. Existing fire record was extended by several decades to centuries.

This study utilises a neural network model to analyse historical land management data in Colorado’s national forests. It incorporates environmental variables to understand factors influencing past fuel treatment decisions. This method offers insights for improving future forest management and wildfire prevention strategies.

Published online 08 January 2025

WF24135An exploratory analysis of forest fine fuel consumption and accumulation using forest inventory data and fire history

Trung H. Nguyen 0000-0002-6426-8909, Simon Jones, Karin J. Reinke and Mariela Soto-Berelov
 

This study presents a proof-of-concept for estimating fine fuel consumption and accumulation by integrating forest inventory and fire records, aiming to refine fuel dynamics estimates and enhance current practices. We estimated FFL changes across different vertical strata in southeast Australian eucalypt forests, considering burn severity, fire type and forest cover.

Published online 07 January 2025

WF24136Methods to assess fire-induced tree mortality: review of fire behaviour proxy and real fire experiments

Alistair M. S. Smith, Raquel Partelli-Feltrin 0000-0002-5076-8515, Aaron M. Sparks, James G. Moberly, Henry D. Adams, Dylan W. Schwilk, Wade T. Tinkham 0000-0002-4668-7624, John R. Kok, David R. Wilson, Alex Thompson, Andrew T. Hudak, Chad M. Hoffman, James A. Lutz, Alexander S. Blanco, Mark A. Cochrane, Robert L. Kremens, Joseph Dahlen, Grant L. Harley, Scott W. Rainsford, Li Huang, Douglas D. Hardman, Luigi Boschetti and Daniel M. Johnson
 

We conduct a review of different fire behaviour proxies and real fire methods that have been used to assess the mechanisms of fire-induced mortality. We conclude that further research should assess mechanisms of fire-induced tree mortality using live plants in paired combustion laboratory and landscape fire experiments.

Published online 02 January 2025

WF23196Evaluating a simulation-based wildfire burn probability map for the conterminous US

Amanda R. Carlson 0000-0002-0450-2636, Todd J. Hawbaker, Lucas S. Bair, Chad M. Hoffman, James R. Meldrum 0000-0001-5250-3759, L. Scott Baggett and Paul F. Steblein
 

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.

Just Accepted

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.

Most Read

The Most Read ranking is based on the number of downloads in the last 60 days from papers published on the CSIRO PUBLISHING website within the last 12 months. Usage statistics are updated daily.

  1. 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

As demonstrated in Australian savannas, reducing carbon emissions through active fire management can generate tradable carbon credits providing income and employment opportunities for Indigenous and remote communities, and support biodiversity conservation. The success of this management approach has led to suggestions that it can be extended to other continents, for notable example in southern Africa and South America. This special issue of the International Journal of Wildland Fire aims to explore the status of technical challenges, opportunities and potential livelihood and ecological benefits, associated with applying market-based fire management approaches in severely fire-impacted tropical savanna systems.

Last Updated: 15 Jan 2025

This Special Collection on “Fire and Climate” showcases papers from and inspired by the eponymous conferences hosted by the International Association of Wildland Fire. The collection explores the way that climate change is affecting wildfire around the world – and the ways that changes in societal, legal, and political climate changes interact with these geophysical processes.

Guest Editor
Eric B. Kenedy (York University, Canada)

Last Updated: 15 Oct 2024

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

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

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

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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