Wildfires

Increasing urbanization and development are bringing more people in areas where fire is a natural and essential part of the ecosystem. So communities are having to learn how to balance the environmental need for fire against the needs of the human population.

Event Pages

Browse Wildfire Teaching Activities

Learn about some Ideas for Teaching Wildfires

Visualization Collections

Sources of Data and Information

Wildland fires in Yellowstone (more info) This Yellowstone National Park website is the home page for wildland fire information. Fire information is presented as links, a map, and a table. Links include information to fire ecology, the 1988 fires, the wildland fire management plan, and numerous other topics. The table provides yearly information on each fire's cause, start date, status, and acres burned. Important fires have links to additional information.

Natural Hazards: Wildfires (more info) This portal provides access to information on the threats and impacts of wildfires in the United States. There is a link to a fact sheet that describes the impacts of wildfires and the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) science priorities in researching them, and a link to a map that shows locations of wildfires larger than 250 acres occurring from 1980 to 2003. There are also links to news articles and to selected additional resources from the USGS and other government agencies.

Fire Events (more info) This webpage includes satellite imagery of significant wildfires and controlled burn efforts in both color and greyscale. Images of wildfires around the world are featured on the site, and new images are featured as they are added. The images are presented as false-color and black and white JPEGs.

International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) (more info) This non-profit, professional association represents members of the global wildland fire community. The purpose of the association is to facilitate communication and provide leadership for the wildland fire community. The site provides information about membership, periodicals (Wildfire Magazine and the Journal of Wildland Fire), documents and reports from safety and fire summit meetings, upcoming events, and a comprehensive list of related links.

Active Fire Mapping Program ( This site may be offline. ) This site includes a number of maps displaying active fires in the United States and Canada. Aside from a straightforward and informative fire map on the main page, there are also regional maps, web-GIS maps, downloadable GIS data, up-to-date satellite imagery, and maps of ground cover, forecasted fire danger, and much more.

California Burning: A multimedia project (more info) This multimedia resource provides an overview of wildfire risk and response to the risk in California. Text, video, images, and data are used to discuss how drought and overgrowth of forests play a role in megafires and provide a glimpse into fire policy and fire supression efforts from the past, to current, and looking to the future. The resource also touches on technology and other preparations that are being used to reduce the risk for megafire occurrence and to minimize, to the extent possible, damage from megafires.


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