Fifty years of wildland fire science in Canada

Sean C.P Coogan,Jane S Park,Sylvie Gauthier,Mike D Flannigan,B Mike Wotton,Den Boychuk,Victor Kafka,Philip J Burton,Lori D Daniels

doi:10.1139/cjfr-2020-0314

Abstract

We celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research by reflecting on the considerable progress accomplished in select areas of Canadian wildland fire science over the past half century. Specifically, we discuss key developments and contributions in the creation of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System; the relationships between wildland fire and weather, climate, and climate change; fire ecology; operational decision support; and wildland fire management. We also discuss the evolution of wildland fire management in Banff National Park as a case study. We conclude by discussing some possible directions in future Canadian wildland fire research including the further evaluation of fire severity measurements and effects; the efficacy of fuel management treatments; climate change effects and mitigation; further refinement of models pertaining to fire risk analysis, fire behaviour, and fire weather; and the integration of forest management and ecological restoration with wildland fire risk reduction. Throughout the paper, we reference many contributions published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, which has been at the forefront of international wildland fire science.

Highlights

Much has changed in the Canadian wildland fire management community since the last edition of this glossary, published in 2002
In order to reflect the changing nature of fire management and the acknowledgement that fire is not restricted to only our forested lands, the title of this document, previously the Glossary of Forest Fire Management Terms, has been changed to the Canadian Wildland Fire Management Glossary
Fire Danger A general term used to express an assessment of both fixed and variable factors of the fire environment that determine the ease of ignition, rate of spread, difficulty of control, and fire impact

Summary

Introduction

Much has changed in the Canadian wildland fire management community since the last edition of this glossary, published in 2002. Fire Danger Index A quantitative indicator of one of more facets of fire danger, expressed either in a relative sense or as an absolute measure; often used as a guide in a variety of fire management activities (e.g. to judge day-to-day preparedness and suppression requirements, as a basis for providing information on fire danger to the general public in fire prevention, as an aid to prescribed burning).

Results

Conclusion