Webinars and Courses
Exploring Fatigue in Wildland Firefighters: Understanding the Links Between Sleep, Shift Length, Stress, and Brain Function
with Jesse Wallace-Webb
May 10, 2024
Time: 9:30 MT/11:30 ET
How can wildfire agencies better address workplace fatigue? Drawing from his master's research, Jesse’s talk will examine the impact of poor sleep and extended work hours, highlighting the importance of individual differences, implications for worker health and safety, and the potential of Fatigue Risk Management Systems. Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights into the complexities of workplace fatigue and strategies for mitigation in wildfire settings. Jesse Wallace-Webb has worked for the B.C Wildfire Service as a unit crew member and initial attack crew leader since 2016. With a recent Master of Science in Kinesiology degree from the University of Victoria, Jesse now works as a Research Analyst for the B.C Wildfire Service Research and Innovation business area, focusing on enhancing firefighter health and well-being through evidence-based approaches.
Fuel types misrepresent forest structure and composition in interior British Columbia: A way forward
with Jen Baron
June 14, 2024
Time: 9:30 MT/11:30 ET
A clear understanding of wildland fuels is essential for effective forest and wildfire management. However, fuel typing and mapping remain challenging owing to the wide diversity and heterogeneity of fuel conditions. Despite widespread usage of Fire Behaviour Prediction System fuel type maps in British Columbia (BC), the accuracy and applicability of these maps has not been formally assessed. To address this knowledge gap, we quantified the agreement between on-site assessments and fuel type maps in interior BC. In this presentation, we share the findings of this assessment and discuss pathways to improve future fuel characterizations across forest types. --- Jen Baron is a PhD Candidate and Lecturer at the University of British Columbia, a research scientist with the Pacific Institute of Climate Solutions, and a Fire Behaviour Analyst and Fire Effects Monitor in-training for prescribed fire operations. Through her research, she aims to understand how the legacies of colonization, fire suppression, and fuel accumulation have shaped fire regimes, and how the strategic application of treatments and management can restore fire-adapted landscapes.
Mapping the distance between fire hazard and disaster for communities in Canadian forests
Dr. Xianli Wang, Tom Swystun, Colin McFayden
Wildfires pose a mounting challenge for communities across Canada. But how close is the risk, and where is it likely to come from? Understanding firesheds – the potential areas where wildfires could originate and spread toward communities – is essential for risk management. This webinar introduces innovative new research that maps firesheds, fire spread timelines, and fire pathways for nearly 2,000 Canadian forest communities. Recorded 2024/04/12
Making “Good Fire”: A behind-the-scenes look at podcasting for science communication
Dr. Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff
Discover the strategies behind a hit podcast with Amy Cardinal Christianson (Parks Canada) and Matthew Kristoff (YourForest podcast). Get tips for: - Turning your wildfire expertise into compelling stories - Reaching a wider audience with your message - Making your podcast a success.
Recorded 2024/03/08
February Flare Up - Health Edition Week 4: Addressing Mental and Physical Health of Wildland Firefighters in Canada
Explore current well-being initiatives for Canadian wildland firefighters with members of the BC Wildfire Service and Canada Wildfire. Learn about efforts in respiratory protection, fatigue, mental health, and so much more. Listen in on the discussions about incorporating these initiatives into practices.
Recorded 2024/02/23
February Flare Up - Health Edition Week 3: Firefighter Occupational Exposures to Combustion-derived Toxicants of Concern
Dr. Paul White and Maria Sharpe
Dr. Paul White, Research Scientist at the Enironmental Health Science & Research Bureau, Health Canada, talks about the carcinogenic hazards of firefighting, firefighters’ occupational exposures to combustion-derived carcinogens, and the efficacy of skin decontamination to mitigate exposure. Maria Sharpe, Fire Science Manager, CIFFC, speaks about the recent Canadian Fire Chiefs Association Workshop on Presumptive Cancer: Exploring the Relationship with Wildland Fires, Results, and Follow-up Measures. Recorded 2024/02/16
February Flare Up - Health Edition Week 2: Resiliency and Residue in Mission Critical Roles
Dr. Preston Cline
Dr. Preston Cline, Director of Research, Co-Founder, and Principal at the Mission Critical Team Institute, discusses the importance of protecting your mental health and building resilience when working in mission critical roles, especially during challenging situations like wildland fires. Recorded 2024/02/09
February Flare Up - Health Edition Week 1: Wildfire Smoke - The Knowns and the Unknowns
Dr. Sarah Henderson and Brian Wiens
Discover the impact of wildfire smoke on health in this webinar featuring Dr. Sarah Henderson, Scientific Director of Environmental Health Services at BCCDC. Explore the contents of wildfire smoke, its effects, and effective health protection strategies. Brian Wiens, Managing Director at Canada Wildfire, will discuss smoke forecast models to help you make informed health decisions. Recorded 2024/02/02
The record-breaking 2023 fire season in Canada
Piyush Jain
In this webinar, Piyush Jain, a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, discusses the record-breaking 2023 Canadian fire season. The season witnessed the largest area burned in modern history, impacting communities with unprecendent evacuations, prolonged smoke, and strained firefighting resources. Piyush emphasizes the key drivers, attributing the exceptional fires to extreme weather and drought conditions during the spring. Recorded 2024/01/12
BurnP3+: A new multi-model burn probability simulator based on Burn-P3
Chris Stockdale
During our December webinar we heard all about the latest and greatest updates in BurnP3+. Chris and Leo discuss basic concepts of burn probability modelling, talk about SynchroSim, show demonstrations of the new BurnP3+ software, and explain the differences between BurnP3+ and the original version. Set yourself up with the information you need to get started using the software! Recorded 2023/12/08
Modelling 100: An introduction to modelling ranging from slide rules to super computers
Brian Wiens
In this interactive webinar, Brian explores modelling basics including scale analysis, assumptions, unknowns, how to find meaning from model outputs, and the art of communication. This seminar was interactive with several online whiteboard exercises, chat-facilitated sharing, and live discussion from a diverse group- from beginner to expert modellers and model users. Recorded 2023/11/10
Epic adventure 2023: Measuring fuels coincident with airborne and drone lidar at sites across western Canada
Laura Chasmer
Dr. Chasmer discusses the 2023 field season. From planning and installation of NG-CFFDRS fuel plots, to the use of airborne lidar to determine how fuels vary across the landscape, 2023 marked the third year of fuel plot installation following >20yrs forest mensuration plots. Benefits, challenges, considerations, and next steps for creating operational field to lidar-based tools for fire fuel assessment and management are also discussed. Recorded 2023/10/13
Grassland Fire Research Database: Analysis of the Impact of Fire on Grassland Productivity and Diversity
Dinyar Minocher and Roy Vera-Velez
In this webinar recording, join Dinyar and Roy as they dive into the Canadian Prairies Prescribed Fire Exchange (CPPFE) and its role in promoting effective fire practices among various stakeholders. Explore the CPPFE's grassland fire research database, a vital resource for fire practitioners, and gain insights from their quantitative analysis, revealing the impact of fire on grassland productivity and diversity. Recorded 2023/09/08
Simulating fire regimes in SpaDES: parameter estimation for landscape fire models
Steven Cumming
Learn about the use of percolation theory in modelling wildland fire! Professor Cumming talks about a current study introducing the SpaDES platform for ecological modelling and its automatic parameter estimation. Potential applications to other systems and complex fire regime characterizations are also explored. Recorded 2023/08/11
Far Out: An overview of BC Wildfire Service’s Seasonal Outlooks
Matt McDonald
In this webinar recording, delve into wildfire weather forecasting with Matt MacDonald, the Lead Fire Weather Forecaster for the BC Wildfire Service's Predictive Services Unit (PSU). Gain insights into the production of monthly seasonal outlooks and updates, and discover their critical role in informing agencies, staff, and the media. Matt MacDonald shares his expertise and insights. Recorded 2023/06/09
Airtanker management analytics
Dave Martell
Learn about airtanker management analytics from Dave Martell, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, and research lead with the Canada Wildfire NSERC Strategic Network. Dr. Martell describes how he and some of his colleagues have exploited analytics to develop decision support systems designed to inform airtanker management. He also discusses some perceived successes and important emerging needs. Recorded 2023/04/14
Increasing Bolivian fire management capacity through Canadian technical assistance
Jane Park and Mike May
Jane and Mike talk about the effects of wildfires on Bolivian communities and ecosystems, the current realities of fire management in Bolivia, and how the Technical Assistance Partnership is assisting various Bolivian agencies in dealing with wildfires and mitigating negative effects on communities and ecosystems. Recorded 2023/03/01
February Flare Up - Climate change and climate adaptation edition: Week 4 - Onward
Jesse Ellis and Nick Nauslar
The final session of February Flare Up 2023 discusses the use of climate data in fire operations, the US National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook, and the drivers of seasonal and long-term forecasts. Moderated by Mike Flannigan, Professor and Research Chair for Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science, Thompson Rivers University. Recorded 2023/02/24
February Flare Up - Climate change and climate adaptation edition: Week 3 - Applications & Tools
Ian Mauro, Christey Allen, Matt Loxley, Jeremy Fyke, Andreas Hamann, and Tongli Wang
Learn about data sets and products, including: ClimateAtlas, ClimateNA, and FWI Climate Change Projections. Listen as our speakers cover topics such as available datasets, examples of scenario selection, best practices, appropriate use, limitations, and the possibility of using recent climate trends in addition to climate change scenarios. Moderated by Brian Wiens, Managing Director of Canada Wildfire. Recorded 2023/02/17
February Flare Up - Climate change and climate adaptation edition: Week 2 - Historical
Trisha Hook, and Kendrick Brown
Historical climate and fire regime perspectives, data sets, and benefits discussed by Trisha Hook, and Kendrick Brown. Moderated by Dr. Jill Harvey, Canada Research Chair in Fire Ecology & Assistant Professor, Thompson Rivers University. Recorded 2023/02/10
February Flare Up - Climate change and climate adaptation edition: Week 1 - Fundamentals
Jeremy Fyke
What is climate, and why is understanding climate important? What physical processes influence global climate? What is the difference between weather and climate? ... and so much more! Featuring Jeremy Fyke, Coordinator, Canadian Centre for Climate Services, ECCC, and moderated by Brian Wiens, Managing Director of Canada Wildfire. Recorded 2023/02/03
Canada Wildfire: to infinity and beyond
Brian Wiens, Mike Flannigan, and Bruce Mayer
In 2022, Canada Wildfire members worked collaboratively to generate an updated strategic plan to guide Canada Wildfire's trajectory. Strategic Plan 2022-2027 was developed to reflect the changes of the broader fire community, where we are all learning to accommodate a changing fire climate (both politically and physically). Recorded 2023/01/13
Use of RPAS (aka drones) for wildfire mitigation, operations, modeling, and research directions
Jeff Boisvert and Liam Bennett
Learn about collecting data with drones and how data can be turned into useful information and meaningful decision support tools. Dr. Boisvert and Liam Bennett discuss drone selection, typical uses for drones in wildfire mitigation and operations, current research, and difficulties. Recorded 2022/12/09
Wildfire Intelligence Simulation Engine (WISE) and the future of Canadian fire growth modelling software
Franco Norgarin, Neal McLoughlin, and Brett Moore
Learn about the core ambitions of the WISE development team, how you can engage with and support the project, and see examples of how this technology is already being implemented in Canada and abroad. Recorded 2022/11/18
From laser points to information: Using lidar to quantify pre- and post-fire vegetation structure
Laura Chasmer & Chris Hopkinson
Dr. Chasmer and Dr. Hopkinson introduce the physics and technology of lidar remote sensing and discuss how lidar technology can be used at multiple spatial scales. They demonstrate how lidar can be used to quantify spatial and temporal variations in pre-fire fuels, and post-fire impacts to ecosystems. Recorded 2022/10/14
Insects and wildfire in the boreal forest
Patrick James
In this talk, Dr. James presents the current framework for thinking about insect-fire interactions. He shares ongoing work in his lab examining how outbreaks of forest insect pests such as the spruce budworm and jack pine budworm affect fuel abundance and connectivity and what this means for current and future wildfire hazard. Recorded 2022/09/09
Wildfires and climate change – the new reality
Mike Flannigan
A warmer world means longer fire seasons, more lightning activity, and most importantly drier fuels. Our fire regime is driven by extremes, and we expect an increase in frequency and intensity of extreme fire weather episodes. Climate change will likely mean more wildfire in the future for many regions of the world including Canada. Recorded 2022/08/12
Lightning fire occurrence prediction - modelling for operational use
Mike Wotton
This presentation is for both academic and operational audience in Canada's wildfire community. You will learn about lightning fire ignition and the important processes that determine the day to day variation of this important source of summertime fire activity in Canada. Recorded 2022/07/08
Mission Critical Teams: reflection, reset, and residue in wildland fire management
Preston B. Cline
Dr. Preston Cline presents Mission Critical Team training, a way to resolve complex adaptive problems in an immersive, but constrained (five minutes or less) temporal environments, where the consequence of failure can be critical. Recorded 2022/06/13
Our future with fire: barriers and opportunities for the revitalization of fire stewardship
Kira Hoffman
In this webinar, Dr. Hoffman describes some of the factors that have contributed to the recent impactful wildfire seasons experienced in British Columbia in the last five years. She discusses some of the barriers to applying controlled fire to the broader landbase and the importance of supporting Indigenous-led fire stewardship. Recorded 2022/05/13
More fire, more people, less water: exploring wildfire risks to water security in a changing world
François-Nicolas Robinne
Learn about: how forests contribute to water security; how fire, forests, and humans interact to impact water security; what is the state of wildfire-watershed risk research in Canada; and what are the tools, methods, and data available to advance research and management of wildfire risks to water security. Recorded 2022/04/08
Wildfire perimeter mapping from Landsat satellite imagery
Rob Skakun
Introduction to the fundamentals of post-fire mapping using Landsat satellite imagery. This presentation highlights how fire perimeters derived from Landsat have improved estimations of burned area over conventional mapping methods and, as an application example, demonstrate the use of these perimeters to assess undisturbed woodland caribou habitat in a northern boreal forest. Recorded 2022/02/18
Accessing and processing spatial data in Google Earth Engine for fire applications
Ellen Whitman
This presentation highlights some examples of recent wildfire research developed using Google Earth Engine. The audience will be introduced to the Earth Engine data catalog and will be shown demonstrations of publicly available code and Earth Engine applications. Recorded 2022/02/18
Remote sensing basics for wildland fire applications
Ron Goodson
This presentation overviews remote sensing fundamentals from a wildland fire perspective. Topics include satellite orbits, resolution, channels, radiation, basic feature recognition, and an introduction to satellite products. Recorded 2022/02/11