Celebrating 2025, 2026 Smokey Bear Award winners
The 2026 Smokey Bear Gold Award winners. (Left to Right): Sarah Lawrence, graphic designer; Shardul Raval, Geographic Area director, Southern Area Fire and Aviation Management; EJ Bunzendahl, Southern Area Cooperative Fire and Prevention program manager; Monica Neal, chief of staff, Southern…
#Fire, #Education, #SmokeyBearAwards
Unique opportunities for international firefighters
Members of the Hoosier type 6 engine strike team assigned to the Grasshopper Fire in Oregon. (Forest Service photo by Logan Scherschel)
The 2026 wildfire year has been intense, requiring an all-hands-on-deck approach when it comes to resources—both people and equipment. These circumstances…
#International, #Fire, #Wildfire, #Firefighters
Wildfire and shared stewardship: Before and after
A firefighter observes distant smoke from the Cottonwood Fire. (Forest Service photo by Mike McMillan)
Editor’s note: Formal agreements between states and the Forest Service are essential for landscape scale work, and even more so in times of crisis. In Utah two wildfires and a commitment to…
#SharedStewardship, #Fire, #Wildfire
Where emergency response runs deep
For most of the year, Lynne Chastain-Carpenter, MaryGrace Bedwell and Tray Hall work in different parts of the Forest Service with responsibilities that typically have little connection to fire suppression.But when called, they leave their day jobs behind to head to a wildfire where their specialized emergency response skills are needed. They are among the 10,000 Forest Service employees who are…
#FirePreparedness, #Fire, #Wildfire, #Firefighters
High Glade Lookout rebuilt and ready for fire duty
“Temperature is 69 degrees. Relative humidity is 48%. Winds from the south, 2-3 miles per hour. High Glade,” said Annelle Durham as she lowered the radio, a callout eight years in the making.In 2018, the 85-year-old High Glade fire lookout tower burned to the ground in the Ranch Fire. Today, it's back in business, thanks to disaster funding provided to the Forest Service…
#FirePrevention, #FireLookout, #Fire
Fire Toolbox: Reducing Wildfire Severity With Prescribed Fire and Thinning
This Natural Inquirer monograph—the first in the Fire series—discusses research on prescribed fire and thinning and how those treatments impact wildfire severity and behavior. As with all Natural Inquirer monographs, the article is written for middle school students and covers subject matter from published, peer-reviewed Forest Service science.