News

Oct 25, 2022

Fire Chasers Present at 5th Annual National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop

The 5th Annual National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop will be held November 14-18, 2022 in Asheville, NC. Event #1: Current Trends in the US Wildland Fire Management System – Is it Keeping Pace? Monday, November 14, 10:45am – 12:15pm The wildland fire management system needs are complex involving response, mitigation, fuels management, prevention,… 

May 25, 2021

Presenting at the Human Dimensions of Wildfire Conference

Dr. Branda Nowell will be presenting research titled “Co-Management: What is it?” at the Human Dimensions of Wildfire Conference on Tuesday, May 25th at 10:00 am – 10:30 am EST! 

Nov 18, 2019

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.… 

Nov 4, 2019

Fire Chasers Present at 3rd Annual National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop

The 3rd Annual National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop was held in Plymouth, MA October 21-24, 2019. The Fire Chasers Team delivered three presentations at this workshop. Presentation #1: “Not Your Father or Mother’s Fire Organization: Jurisdictional Complexity in the New Era of Wildfire” By Dr. Branda Nowell, North Carolina State University This 5 minute… 

Aug 14, 2019

Methodological Considerations in Pre- and Post- Emergency Network Identification and Data Collection for Disaster Risk Reduction: Lessons from Wildfire Response Networks in the American Northwest (2019)

Methodological Considerations in Pre- and Post- Emergency Network Identification and Data Collection for Disaster Risk Reduction: Lessons from Wildfire Response Networks in the American Northwest (In Press 2019)  While social network analysis continues to enjoy considerable attention, literature on social network data collection often lacks explicit attention to methods. This presents special challenges to approaching… 

Jun 26, 2019

The New Normal of Jurisdictional Complexity in Wildfire Incidents

Fire Chasers team members presented new research and findings on the new normal of jurisdictional complexity in wildfire incidents at the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration Emergency Management Education Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico June 3-4, 2019. Team members had the opportunity to tour the areas of Puerto Rico hit… 

Jun 6, 2019

Disaster Governance in an Era of Climate Change: Is Public Management Up to the Challenge?

Disaster Governance in an Era of Climate Change: Is Public Management Up to the Challenge? Fire Chasers team members have convened a panel and will be presenting new research at the Public Management Research Conference in Chapel Hill, NC from June 11 to 14. Abstracts for papers are below and presentation slides will be uploaded… 

Nov 29, 2018

New webinar: Co-Managing Wildfire-Conversations You Need to Have Right Now

In part 1 of this FAC Net webinar panel on wildfire response, Branda Nowell, Ph.D. dives into her research on the co-management of wildfire. This presentation is based on the blog “Co-Managing Wildfire: Conversations You Need to Have Right Now”, written by Branda Nowell, Ph.D, Anne-Lise Velez, Ph.D. and Toddi Steelman, Ph.D. 

Oct 31, 2018

New tool available: Performance measures for complex incidents

The Performance Scales were developed to help improve feedback to Incident Management Teams and Agency Administrators involved in complex, inter-jurisdictional wildfires with the aim of contributing to learning for more safe and effective wildfire response. Three sets of performance measures are available to you. These are: OVERALL PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR COMPLEX, INTERJURISDICTIONAL WILDFIRES– these are… 

Oct 11, 2018

Recorded panel: Fire Management Under Climate Change

A panel discussion on fire and its effects on human and ecological communities in a changing world View the panel recording here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CGqN-KFLIhdQ_zIGnRzcem971sLY1u8j/view?usp=sharing At its most beneficial, fire is an essential component of numerous ecological communities. At its most damaging, fire can pose a threat to human communities and health. Climate change is altering fire regimes,… 

Jul 12, 2018

Co-Managing Wildfire: Conversations You Need to Have Right Now

2017 saw numerous wildfires move cross across the American landscape, many traversing three or more jurisdictions. Co-management has been proposed as a guiding concept for operating effectively in what appears to be a new interjurisdictional wildfire-world order. Sounds great, right? But how do we get there? Learn more in our recent blog post at the… 

May 21, 2018

Fire Continuum Presentation: Risk Co-Management on Interjurisdictional Lands

Team members Branda Nowell, Toddi Steelman, and Anne-Lise Velez presented at the Fire Continuum Conference in Missoula, Montana this May. The conference focused on the science and management of wildland fires that are made up of many multifaceted continuums. A clear understanding of these continuums and their relationship to planning, preparation, learning, response, implementation, and evaluation… 

Mar 30, 2018

Cohesive Strategy Workshop Presentation: Risk Co-Management

New research and findings were presented at the 2nd Annual National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop in Reno, NV in March 2018. Team members Branda, Toddi, and Anne-Lise shared insights from multiple 2017 wildfire incidents. The research focuses on how to reconcile differing and sometimes competing missions/needs that may also include competing values, interests,… 

Feb 20, 2018

Presentation at AAAS: Contingency models of effective network structures

Fire Chasers presented new research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, TX in February 2018. Meeting with the theme of the conference – “Advancing Science: Discovery to Application” – Branda Nowell and Toddi Steelman addressed the important issue of effective governance structures for managing complex disasters. The challenges of managing… 

Feb 1, 2018

Fire Chasers Upcoming Conferences

We are excited to share that the team will be presenting research at several theory and practice oriented conferences coming soon. Events and presentations are listed below. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Austin, TX taking place from February 15-18, 2018. Fire Chasers has organized a panel on Using Social Networks to Improve Response… 

Jun 5, 2017

Fire Chasers to present at PMRC 2017

PMRC (Public Management Research Conference) 2017 takes place in Washington, DC this year from June 8-10 at American University’s campus. Fire Chasers team presentations include “Building a Resilient Disaster Response Network: A Multi-Level Investigation of Trust between Local Communities and Federal Agencies” and “Understanding Engagement in Disaster Planning in Relation to County Officials’ Individual-Level Psychological… 

Apr 2, 2017

Fire Chasers present at UNC Asheville Greenfest

UNC Asheville Spring Greenfest this year featured a panel focused on the topic of “After the Wildfires.” Anne-Lise Velez and Mary Clare Hano presented “Human dimensions: Wildfire response and preparation.” In light of recent wildfires in western North Carolina, the presentation noted that North Carolina has more WUI (wildland-urban interface) acres than any other state… 

Mar 22, 2017

Evidence of Effectiveness in the Cohesive Strategy: Measuring and Improving Wildfire Response

Toddi Steelman will be presenting “Evidence of Effectiveness in the Cohesive Strategy:  Measuring and Improving Wildfire Response” (Steelman and Nowell, 2017) at the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy Workshop this year. The workshop will take place in Reno, Nevada from April 25-27. The strategy workshop objectives include: Provide clear understanding of the importance and… 

Oct 27, 2016

Communications Under Fire upcoming webinar

November 18, 2016 – 11:00am to 12:00pm Read the research brief here: http://www.nwfirescience.org/biblio/nwfsc-research-brief-7-communication-under-fire-communication-efficacy-during-wildfire Register for the webinar here: http://www.nwfirescience.org/events/communications-under-fire-understanding-capacity-effective-communication-during-large-scale What will you learn? Communication networks are critical to effective coordination on complex wildfire incidents.  This presentation will present research findings examining communication effectiveness in wildfire disaster response networks. Discussion will highlight the role of pre-existing… 

Aug 4, 2015

Transboundary disasters and network governance

The theme for this year’s Academy of Management (AOM) conference on August 7-11 is “Opening Governance.” Branda Nowell will present on the critical dimensions of this question and how to structurally organize complex networks. Large, transboundary disasters are one problem domain that involve a networked response due to the complex array of participants that must… 

Jun 28, 2015

Operationally Engaged Landowners’ Evolving Roles

Mary Clare Hano, Clare Fitzgerald, Branda Nowell, Toddi Steelman, presented at the Society for Community Research and Action Conference June 25-28, 2015. Their presentation about operationally engaged citizens was part of the Community Psychology Applications in Disaster and Climate Change Research – Part 1. Read more ->