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In this episode, we had a chance to sit down with author John Vaillant, who recently published a new book about the 2016 Fort McMurray fires in Northern Alberta. The book, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, is an in-depth exploration of the fires, which released in June 2023. We not only spoke about his reporting process in the aftermath of a catastrophic wildfire, but we also touched on some of the book’s major themes and how these were, in many cases, paralleled by the 2023 fire season in Canada. 



We even did some deep diving into the oil and gas industry’s role in increasingly catastrophic fire seasons, about climate change and how we keep having unprecedented fire seasons—but our processes and protocols aren’t catching up with how extreme conditions and fire behavior have become in some cases.&nbsp;



We also highly recommend &nbsp;Fire Weather&nbsp;for those who haven’t read it yet. You can pick it up from Amanda’s favorite local bookstore, Village Books,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.villagebooks.com/book/9781524732851">here</a>.&nbsp;



Timestamps:&nbsp;



06:00 – Introduction



08:14 – 2016’s Alberta Fire Warning of the Future



09:42 – John’s Thoughts on the 2023 Fire Season



12:28 – The Shifting Baseline for Fire Fighting Efforts



16:55 – Weather Conditions Affect How Fire Behaves



19:26 – People’s Humanity Makes Evacuation Efforts Possible



23:40 – Humanizing the Evacuation Process



25:01 – Interviewing Evacuees



28:18 – This Evacuation Changed Everyone’s Lives Forever



29:34 – The Oil and Gas Industry Connection to Wildfire



31:56 – Humans are a Fire Species



35:32 – Society’s Wealth Comes From Fire



37:38 – Gaps in Conversation Surrounding Wildfires



40:11 – We Have to Rethink Our Relationship With Fire



42:39 – John’s Lessons Learned



44:12 – Houses Are Made From Petroleum Products



46:49 – Firefighting 90s Style Will Not Help Us



48:40 – No Precedent for Recent Fire Events



51:40 – This Requires a Nuanced Conversation



53:45 – Outro

The Changing Fire Environment and Shifting Baseline Syndrome with “Fire Weather” Author John Vaillant

In this episode, we spoke with Dr. Jessica McCarty—the branch chief for the Biospheric Sciences branch at NASA—about her career, her work on fire in boreal and arctic ecosystems (within the context of the Canadian wildfires last summer), her perspectives on fire technology (spoiler: she’s a big fan of predictive modeling) and so many other topics that we couldn’t possibly list them all here.&nbsp;



Here’s her NASA bio, which explains her background better than we ever possibly could: Dr. McCarty has more than 15 years’ experience in applications of Earth observations and geospatial and data science to accurately quantify wildland and human-caused fire management and emissions, agriculture and food security, climate change impacts and adaptation, and land-cover/land-use change.&nbsp;



Quick note that this episode was recorded in August 2023, so there are a few things we spoke about that are maybe not exactly timely right now, but are nonetheless relevant to the ongoing conversation about wildfire resilience (for example, the tragedy in Lahaina and the, at that time, still ongoing fire season in Canada).



To learn more about Dr. McCarty’s background and research,<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/people/jessica-l-mccarty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;check out her full NASA bio page.&nbsp;</a>



07:42 – Wildfire and Different Plant Species



09:05 – What Satellites Can and Cannot Tell Us



10:49 – The Lahaina Tragedy—Response, Fire/Management History on Maui



13:41 – Preparing To Deal With Fire and Building Resilience At Scale



17:06 – Invest In Being Good Neighbors



19:22 – Landscaping Choices as They Relate To Wildfire



20:43 – How We Can Thrive With Fire



22:41 – Why We Need More Prescribed Fire



24:49 – The Energy Grid As A Fire Risk



25:44 – New Emergency Notification System/Emergency Management Perspectives



27:59 – Agency Scientists Are Underutilized



30:12 – Emergency Management/Response and How It Can Save Lives



31:45 – Fire: Everybody’s Problem, Everybody’s Solution



33:08 – Fire Regimes in Boreal Forests



36:33 – Extreme Fire Year In Canada



38:28 -The Realities of Wildfire Evacuations



40:25 – The Arctic Council



44:43 – Closing

Fire Technology, Emergency Management and Building Resilience at Scale With Dr. Jessica McCarty

In our second<a href="https://www.mysteryranch.com/backbone-series">&nbsp;Backbone Scholarship</a>&nbsp;episode—sponsored by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.avantlink.com/click.php?tt=cl&amp;merchant_id=dd2bb191-351c-479c-9877-7efa128a6335&amp;website_id=d8132395-0578-4694-9ba8-65dc5a6ef74a&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysteryranch.com%2Fwomens-hotshot-wildland-fire-pack" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mystery Ranch</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://wildfire-experience.org/">American Wildfire Experience</a>—we chatted with Nez Perce wildland firefighter Riston Bullock, who spoke about his experiences working in fire over the last decade, about the challenges that have come up as he has gotten older and become a father, as well as the challenges of the Nez Perce Reservation to have more authority over their own fire management. Riston also spoke about his experience of seeing a fatality on a wildfire last summer, as well as the processing he’s had to do in the aftermath of this incident.&nbsp;



As we wrap up this year of Life with Fire, we want to thank Mystery Ranch Backpacks for the ongoing support not only of this podcast, but of storytelling in the wildland fire space more generally. For one stellar example, we cannot recommend their series on Sasha Berleman (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev-QLb43Wvw">“The Fire Poppy”</a>) enough. Go check it out if you’re looking for something to do in these wierd days between Christmas and New Years.&nbsp;

Rapid Fire Episode with Mystery Ranch Backbone Scholarship Winner Riston Bullock

Life with Fire Podcast, <a href="https://www.mysteryranch.com/holiday-gift-guide?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=1630236368&amp;utm_content=64710295800&amp;utm_term=mystery%20ranch%20backpacks&amp;gadid=683198887643&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAg9urBhB_EiwAgw88mU6aF_2-vql0yjlFYSxNM7nLjuMx2GmiOttvzAupnSAeRNK6TorQYxoCmZIQAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mystery Ranch Backpacks</a> and the <a href="https://wildfire-experience.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">American Wildfire Experience (AWE)</a> have joined forces to bring you this episode with Junior Lazaro—a wildland firefighter who received a Backbone Scholarship from AWE to share his experiences of fire through the <a href="https://www.mysteryranch.com/backbone-series">Mystery Ranch Backbone Series</a> and Life with Fire Podcast. 



Junior is a young wildland firefighter who shared his experiences of working in fire in his third season on a BLM handcrew out of eastern Oregon. In this episode, he spoke to some of his challenges and triumphs in pursuing wildland firefighting, and spoke especially to the role his father had in inspiring him to pursue this job.&nbsp;



We appreciate both AWE’s and Mystery Ranch’s commitment to sharing the experiences of those working on the fireline, especially those from communities often underrepresented in content/media around wildland fire. This episode is the first of two that center the operational experiences of folks whose perspectives are not well represented in wildfire media.

Rapid Fire Episode with Mystery Ranch Backbone Scholarship Winner Junior Lazaro

Well&nbsp;we finally got a chance to speak with Marek Smith, who is the North American Fire Director for the Nature Conservancy and the co-director of the Fire Networks, which houses the Fire Adapted Learning Network, the Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) and the Fire Learning Networks. Before I get too far into this intro, I do want to note that the Fire Network has a new website that is a veritable clearinghouse of good fire resources, knowledge and anecdotes—I highly recommend you go check it out!



<a href="https://firenetworks.org/fire-networks-resources/">New Fire Networks Website!!</a>



Marek has quite a background of working in good fire implementation and policy, and recently represented 501 c3 organizations with expertise in forest management and environmental conservation on the Wildfire Commission which released its report and recommendations back in September.



In his role with the Nature Conservancy, Marek works to, quite simply, bring fire to the people while leading an organization that prioritizes our collective relationship with fire. All of TNC’s programming through the Fire Networks is focused on developing more avenues for people to connect with fire, whether by exchanging knowledge/training,&nbsp; sharing resources or empowering individuals and communities to build resilience to or change their relationships with fire.



We covered some ground with this one—not only about his role in the Wildfire Commission, but also his work with the Fire Networks, Amanda’s experience at her first TREX back in October, and the future of the Fire Networks. This was such a fun conversation that was a long time coming, and we were left feeling like we could have talked to Marek for much, much longer than we did! Maybe a part two is in order….



Don’t forget to check out the<a href="https://firenetworks.org/fire-networks-resources/">&nbsp;Fire Networks’</a>&nbsp;new website!



You can also learn more about the new partnership between the Nature Conservancy and the Forest Service&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/newsroom/tnc-usda-rx-fire-expand-workforce-partnership/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.&nbsp;



Looking for Christmas gifts for the outdoorsperson/backpacker/firefighter/hunter/skier in your life? Well boy howdy you should probably check out Mystery Ranch’s selection of packs, made for every hobby you could possibly need a pack for.



I’m a huge fan of Mystery Ranch packs and am an especially big fan of their<a href="https://www.avantlink.com/click.php?tt=cl&amp;merchant_id=dd2bb191-351c-479c-9877-7efa128a6335&amp;website_id=d8132395-0578-4694-9ba8-65dc5a6ef74a&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysteryranch.com%2Fsaddle-peak-pack%3Fquantity%3D1%26color%3DBlack">&nbsp;Saddle Peak ski pack</a>&nbsp;and their<a href="https://www.avantlink.com/click.php?tt=cl&amp;merchant_id=dd2bb191-351c-479c-9877-7efa128a6335&amp;website_id=d8132395-0578-4694-9ba8-65dc5a6ef74a&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mysteryranch.com%2Fhip-monkey">&nbsp;Hip Monkey pack</a>, which is a glorified fanny pack that is durable as hell and has SO MUCH SPACE. I use it for long days on my mountain bike, and also recently used it basically as a purse during a three-week trip backpacking around Italy.&nbsp;



Timestamps:



03:55 – Episode Introduction



05:57 – Process For The Wildfire Commission



08:02 – Themes In Marek’s Work



09:29 – Work Groups Within The Commission&nbsp;



10:02 – Marek’s Current Action Items



10:52 – Collaborative Approach To Recommendations&nbsp;



12:11 – An All-Society Approach



13:02 – Multi-Year Funding



13:58 – Community Wildfire Defense Grants



15:21 – Wildfire Adaptation PODs



17:13 – Focus On What Is In Reach



18:14 – Community Level Practitioners



19:00 – The Fire Networks Partnership



21:24 – The Indigenous Peoples Burning Network



22:37 – Proactive Community Building



23:47 – Amanda’s Experience On TREX



24:56 – The PIO Position



25:48 – Current Happenings At Nature Conservancy



27:21 – Indigenous TREX Experiences



28:41 – Women In Prescribed Fire Training



30:09 – How To Get Involved



31:04 – Ongoing Efforts

Fire For The People with the Nature Conservancy’s Marek Smith

Life with Fire Podcast

Life with Fire Podcast

Episodes

Ep. 61—The Changing Fire Environment and Shifting Baseline Syndrome with “Fire Weather” Author John Vaillant

Ep. 60—Fire Technology, Emergency Management and Building Resilience at Scale With Dr. Jessica McCarty

Ep. 59—Rapid Fire Episode with Mystery Ranch Backbone Scholarship Winner Riston Bullock

Ep. 58—Rapid Fire Episode with Mystery Ranch Backbone Scholarship Winner Junior Lazaro

Ep. 57—Fire For The People with the Nature Conservancy’s Marek Smith

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