Lou Gritzo’s Post

In his latest article, FM's CSO, Lou Gritzo, dives deep into the evolving nature of wildfires. While wildfires are a natural part of our ecosystem, their impact on communities has grown. With expanding development and extended wildfire seasons, we're facing events that are no longer just "wildland fires" but massive conflagrations threatening lives, homes, and businesses. Current policies and mitigation strategies aren't enough to protect the vast regions now considered high fire risk. To effectively manage this challenge, we need better tools for critical decision-makers — land use planners, building code officials, and wildland managers — who are crucial in mitigating this growing risk. Dr. Gritzo advocates for a well-designed public-private partnership, with the combustion research community playing a central role in developing innovative solutions. 👉 Read his article to learn more about protecting our communities from the increasing wildfire threat. http://ms.spr.ly/6046mKVmK

Recent trends show a clear need to reduce the social and economic consequences of wildfires around the world. Read more below on mitigating the impact of wildfires.

Recent trends show a clear need to reduce the social and economic consequences of wildfires around the world. Read more below on mitigating the impact of wildfires.

How are wildfires impacting California, and how are those impacts evolving? This question is central to our societal response to wildfire. Yet, a variety of wildfire impacts are either not tracked or not reported, limiting our ability to make informed decisions in wildfire mitigation and recovery efforts. That’s the gap we aimed to fill with California’s Year in Fire project, in collaboration with the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which advances a framework to better understand annual wildfire impacts. Join CWI’s Board President Ken Alex for an upcoming presentation – “Understanding Wildfire Impacts in California – Far More Than Acres Burned” – on Wednesday, April 17th at 12pm PT. The talk will take place at the UC Center Sacramento (1115 11th Street) and will also be live streamed via Zoom. RSVP by April 10th to secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/dM5hjqHf #climateandwildfire #californiafire #yearinfire #wildfiremitigation #wildfireawareness #wildfireimpacts #wildfiredata #wildfireresponse #climatechange #ucevents #sacramentoevents

We should have had an adult conversation about Alberta's wildfire plans after Slave Lake. We should have had it after Fort McMurray. We should have had it after Waterton. We should have had it after the wildfire seasons of all the years after. Will 2024 be the year we finally do it? It's simultaneously heartbreaking and angering it's taking the loss of a national treasure for us to finally (maybe) have these conversations. And they need to be framed around two things: 1. What are we doing to avoid these kinds of fires? 2. What are we doing to mitigate risk? From there, we can talk about the climate crisis and what we are doing for our part. We can also talk about forest management, firefighting budgets and all other pieces to this massive puzzle. Anyone who thinks it is one issue or another is being overly simple about it. Anyone who is trying to throw shade at any one level of government or the other, based solely on ideology, is also being overly simplistic about it. This mismanagement doesn't happen in one or two election cycles. This has been ongoing for years. However, what we can do is judge the current governments on what they have done during their terms. Whether it's cutting funding for wildfire-fighting or forest management or communications or monitoring, we should be able to hold that power to account and ask pointed questions. Now, more than ever, we need nuanced and contextual conversations and action so we can stop seeing our beautiful communities and people put at risk (or burned to the ground) because of ideology and mismanagement. We need collaboration and cooperation to plan for the future. #ABleg #Alberta #Politics #ABwildfire

This week in NYPIRG Executive Director Blair Horner's Capitol Perspective blog: Protecting New York's Wetlands "The rationale for state protection of wetlands, which include swamps, marshes, bogs, fens, and wet clay meadows, is that these areas provide critical ecosystem services for communities across the state. Wetlands protect drinking water by naturally filtering out heavy metals, toxic contaminants, and other pollutants. Additionally, wetlands offer flood protection, with one million gallons of water being stored for every one acre of wetland, while also mitigating shoreline erosion." https://lnkd.in/ewUkEXvC

Privileged to co-author this Prop 4 op-ed with Laura Engeman. California has made significant strides and meaningful investments to reduce wildfire impacts. Now is not the time to reduce funding for community risk reduction activities like home hardening and defensible space; fuels mitigation work around at-risk communities; forest health treatments like prescribed fire to create fire adapted landscapes; and new technologies to help us move further faster. The long-term economic impacts of wildfire to small and large businesses, local communities, and state and federal budgets can easily exceed this downpayment if investments in wildfire resiliency are not continued. https://lnkd.in/gpRG7ckJ Anukool Lakhina Matt Weiner Dr. Waleed S, "Lee" Haddad. Bill Clerico, George Whitesides, Jason Brooks, Maxwell Brodie, Don Moore, Seth Schalet, Wade Crowfoot, Tony Andersen Daniel Berlant, Joe Tyler, Anale Burlew, Ilkay Altintas, Ph.D. J. Lopez, Frank Frievalt, Genevieve Biggs, Brian Fennessy, Marion W. Michael Wara, Molly Hausmann, Dan Munsey, MPA, EFO, CFO David Saah, Bethany Hannah, Caroline Godkin, Marissa Christiansen Kathleen McIntyre, Nick Schuler, CFO, PIO Kate Dargan Marquis, Ken Pimlott, Amy Berry, Jason Weber, Christine McMorrow, Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Yana Valachovic, Jacy Hyde, PhD, George Morris III, Bruce Saito

Join SBC in voting Yes on Prop 4. This important bond will help prevent wildfire, provide clean drinking water, and protect California. With the election already underway (check the mailbox for your ballot!), now is the time to vote YES on Proposition 4 to prevent wildfires and protect California’s unique natural lands and water sources. For more than two years, SBC’s Government Affairs team and our partners have worked with the drafters of this ballot initiative to ensure that it delivers on the priorities and needs of the Sierra Nevada region. Prop 4 would make investments now to stave off disaster in the years ahead. It would front-load projects such as brush-clearing, forest restoration, and controlled burns that can help contain future wildfires before they explode into uncontrolled disasters. Prop 4 also contains funding to protect natural lands, build clean energy infrastructure, create parks & green space, and help small and medium farms conserve water and improve soil health. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g4Zkt2qq

The 2024 Greater Hobart Bushfire Exposure Index is now LIVE! We are excited to announce that the Greater Hobart Bushfire Exposure Index, a critical tool for bushfire preparedness and risk mitigation, is now available to the public. This year’s platform assesses 94,000+ buildings across 132 suburbs, with expanded coverage to Clarence, Sorell, and Brighton council areas. With the ability to visualise bushfire severity and exposure, the platform offers key insights to help local governments, emergency services, and the public make informed decisions and take proactive steps. 🔗 Explore the platform here: https://hubs.ly/Q02VfxhW0 📄 Download the 2024 report here: https://hubs.ly/Q02Vfzgf0 We’d like to thank National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and our partners for supporting this vital initiative as we work together to strengthen Tasmania’s bushfire resilience. #Bushfire #Geospatial #Climate #Tasmania #Geoneon #Community #EmergencyManagement

Fire is now a fact of life for those living in the Western United States, with impacts that can be felt across the entire country. With many more people experiencing the effects of wildfire and smoke in their own backyard, there is a rising interest in large-scale solutions that can help achieve sustainable, long-term defense against wildfire challenges. Supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Wildfire Resilience Initiative, the Tahoe Sierra Regional Wildfire Resilience Collaborative - a partnership between the Climate & Wildfire Institute, University of Montana, Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative, and The Stewardship Network - is working to develop tools and strategies to increase wildfire resilience across 2.4 million acres of Sierra Nevada forests and watersheds. “Wildfire is in the social consciousness in a way that it never has been before,” according to Chris Anthony, former Chief Deputy Director at CAL FIRE. Anthony is supporting this and other projects which advance landscape-scale resilience across the West. Based on firsthand experience with the 2021 Caldor Fire, he cites the critical function that millions of dollars invested - to support fuels reduction, community preparedness, and mitigation work - provided in preventing devastating damage to the Tahoe Basin. He is now working to replicate the success of these efforts in other areas across the state. Visit our website to learn more about the Wildfire Resilience Initiative Planning & Learning Exchange: https://lnkd.in/gX6bk8aK #climateandwildfire #wildfirechallenge #wildfireresilience #climateresilience #fuelsreduction #communitypreparedness #wildfiremitigation #wildfirecollaboration #wildfirelearning #knowledgeexchange