138 - Getting ready for the Wildfires in Northern Europe with Nieves Fernandez-Anez

Fire Science Show

It is interesting to see changes in our profession that happen directly in front of our lives. Climate change and in consequence the changes in the wildfire patterns are one such obvious shift. In Poland, we do not ever have a ‘wildfire’ season, and I was kind of surprised when I discovered this is a thing in the South or in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, we do not have it *yet*. Some years ago devastating wildfire season happened in Sweden. There has been an emergency in northern parts of Russia as well. The summers are more dry – I thought that this is the driver of challenge, however, as with almost everything in fire science, the answer is more complicated.

I have invited Nieves Fernandez-Anez from Western Norway University of Applied Sciences to discuss what is the ‘north’ doing to get ready for the coming threat. Nieves told me we do not need to reinvent the wheel – a lot of solutions, methods, approaches and policies do already exist. However, the wheel has also not been tested on all roads… Some things that can work in Spain or Greece won’t ever be feasible in the Scandinavia. Cultural and societal differences must be understood and accounted for when transposing solutions. The same comes to our models – they need to account for local vegetation, and its growth patterns. A challenge in itself, as we need a rapid increase in the amount and quality of information we have at hand.

I was a bit naïve coming to the episode, and the issue seems significantly more complicated. This is obviously an issue that a single researcher won’t handle. But here, another reason why I have invited Nieves. She is one of researchers who really get a lot out of collaborations in the COST network. Previously in COST Action Fire Links and now in the COST action on extreme wildfires. These networks connect scientists from different backgrounds and different regions, to create a thriving environment for knowledge exchange and crafting new ideas that respond to the new problems.
If you would like to learn more about changes in wildfires in Europe, refer to this paper.

COST Action Fire Links

COST Action european Network on Extreme fiRe behaviOr (NERO) (just started and open!)
Cover image - picture of wildfires near Ljusdal in Sweden, 2018, NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin and Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response and the Level 1; after Wikipedia: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po%C5%BCary_las%C3%B3w_w_Szwecji_(2018)

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Chapitres

1. Challenges of Wildfires in Northern Europe (00:00:00)

2. Improving Wildfire Records and Models (00:12:48)

3. Challenges and Solutions for Northern Wildfires (00:20:23)

4. Wildfires' Impact on Vegetation and Safety (00:28:53)

5. Transposing Wildfire Solutions to Different Cultures (00:32:57)

6. Transposing Knowledge for Fire Safety (00:44:55)