Comment: Wildfire season is underway
Canadian government modelling predicts that most regions can expect at least a 2-fold increase in yearly area burned and 1.5-fold rise in the incidence of significant fires by the end of the 21st century, which would mostly cause a rise in wildfires during June, July and August, in particular during the 2041–2070 and 2071–2100 periods. This would, of course, have significant impacts on the landscape and communities. By Laura Aiken

Wildfire fighting: Outside the realm of traditional
Most urban and rural fire departments have some capacity to tackle wildfires, seeing as even the most urbanized stations have some green spaces that require protection, but few have any advance capacity. A prime candidate for improving wildfire capability lays with the development of select features in apparatus. Newer trucks coming into service, some customized to specifically address the wildfire threat, include some interesting features that are a direct result of innovation and lessons learned. By Kirk Hughes

NIST offers first-of-a-kind guidance for holistic home and community wildfire protection
Once they have a foothold, severe wildfires can quickly overwhelm a community, particularly one that is densely packed. To shield houses against such a fierce threat, a thorough defense is key. Establishing a deep and multifaceted defense in and around homes is the basis of a new report that offers direction for safeguarding residences from external fire threats. By Jonathan Griffin

Global warming and extreme forest fires
Wildfires are the biggest emerging threat to our communities and ecosystems in North America and around the world. Wildfire seasons are burning longer and hotter, affecting more and more people while interface fires are becoming common, and more homes are located in remote areas. It’s a new reality and the situation is going to get a lot worse as large fires will continue to rip landscapes apart. Are wildland firefighters ready and equipped to handle new monster fires? By WATERAX