Fire Chasers Presenting at the Association for Fire Ecology in Tucson, AZ

The Fire Chasers presented at the Association for Fire Ecology Conference in Tucson, AZ on November 18-22, 2019.

1. “Governing Firesheds: Co-Managing the New Era of Wildfire in the US“

Presented by Dr. Branda Nowell

As wildfires increase in size and complexity, the nature of fire organizations required to govern these incidents likewise must adjust. This begs the question, “are we managing today’s fires with yesterday’s fire organizations?” For the past three years, our Fire Chasers team has been studying jurisdictionally complex wildfires to gain an understanding about the challenges and innovations that are emerging to respond to the changing face of wildfire response. Drawing insights from this research, we introduce the concept of firesheds as useful framework for considering critical interdependence that span across jurisdictional lines. We presented findings on current innovations being utilized nationally to improve co-management among jurisdictions within firesheds. Last, we pose a challenge for the fire community to move beyond managing incidents and toward building capacity for fireshed level systems of governance.

2. “Complex Multi-Jurisdictional Fires: Understanding and Mitigating Perceptions of Risk Transfer”

Presented by Dr. Branda Nowell

As fire grows larger and spans more jurisdictions, the management challenges can become more complex. If not managed effectively, these challenges can strain relations between agencies sharing a contiguous boundary. Over the past three years, our Fire Chasers team has been studying jurisdictionally complex wildfires to better understand the issues that arise and the innovations that mitigate the potential for inter-jurisdictional conflict. In this presentation, we share the findings of our research, focusing particular attention on perceptions of risk transfer. Specifically, we investigate what conditions contribute to perceptions of unnecessary risk transfer across jurisdictions and what network governance actions can mitigate these perceptions.