Jan 10, 2025 01:00 PM
Webinar: Climate Change and Wildfires – a Hot and Smoky Future?
Speaker: Mike Flannigan, Thompson Rivers University, mflannigan@tru.ca
Wildfires result from interactions between weather, fuels, and people. Human activity has altered the climate and day-to-day weather, with dramatic and unexpected impacts on fire activity. A warmer world means a longer fire season, more lightning, and drier fuels. Drier fuels let fires start and spread more easily, burn more intensely, and more strongly resist suppression. Our fire regime is driven by extremes, leading to greater frequency and intensity of extreme fire weather episodes. We have seen increases in Canadian fire activity. This talk will examine fire trends and options to coexist with fire. Mike Flannigan is the BC Innovation Research Chair for Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science. He received degrees in physics, atmospheric science, and plant sciences at the University of Manitoba, Colorado State University, and Cambridge University. Dr. Flannigan has been studying fire and weather-climate interactions for over 40 years. He has written over 300 journal papers, book chapter, and reports.