In this episode we spoke with Zeke Lunder, a pyrogeographer with a background in GIS and mapping on wildfires, and more recently with helping out on prescribed burns all over the West. We spoke about how the advancement of mapping and technology for use in fire suppression is misguided—and how those tech solutions would be better used as a way to get more prescribed fire on the ground. Zeke is from Chico, California, so we also spoke about the impacts of the Camp Fire and the North Complex/Bear ...
Jun 21, 2021•49 min•Ep. 14
In this episode, we spoke with wildfire research extraordinaire Crystal Kolden, who is an assistant professor at UC-Merced. Crystal has a breadth of interests and areas of expertise, and is probably one of our favorite follows on "Wildfire" Twitter. We discussed her humanities background and what led her to an interest in wildfire, the wildfire misconceptions that most irk her and how we can better talk about wildfire impacts and wildfire topics in general. For more information on Crystal and he...
Jun 02, 2021•51 min•Ep. 13
In this episode we spoke with Will Harling about his work with the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, as well as his experiences of growing up in Northern California on the banks of the Salmon and Klamath Rivers. Will had some fantastic insights on how prescribed fires are burdened with immense liability, restrictions and permitting, while wildfires are not treated the same—despite that modern wildfires are more severe because of human behaviors like full suppression firefighting and climate change....
May 14, 2021•29 min•Ep. 12
In this episode, we speak with anthropologist Dr. Lindsey Raisa Feldman about her research on incarcerated fire crews in Arizona. Lindsey actually worked on the ground with these crews—and despite her assertion that she wasn't a very good firefighter, she did come away with some important insights about the nature of incarcerated firefighting, as well as a few profound experiences of her own. Lindsey's work can be found on her website: https://www.lindseyraisa.com/ Follow Life with Fire! Find us...
Apr 28, 2021•55 min•Ep. 11
Wildland firefighters are disproportionately affected by depression, anxiety, PTSD, suicide and other mental health struggles. There are a number of reasons for this, but the biggest are quite simple: wildland firefighting is a high-stress job that takes firefighters away from their families for months at a time and often doesn't come with appropriate pay or benefits given the sacrifices that these folks make every summer. With that lack of benefits comes a severe lack of mental health resources...
Jan 27, 2021•40 min•Ep. 10
Mando Perez spent around six years fighting fire while incarcerated as a young man. Upon his release in 2010, he began the arduous transition into a position with a federal firefighting agency, and now works as a senior firefighter for the El Dorado Hotshots. In this episode, he shares his experiences of working on an inmate fire crew and details how he transitioned to a full-time fire career after his release. He also talks about why he continues to pursue fire as a career, what he loves about ...
Nov 17, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 9
The practice of cultural burning hinges on one critical truth: healthy land means healthy people. Margo Robbins, who is a Yurok tribal member, basket weaver and the executive director of the Cultural Fire Management Council, explains the importance of cultural burning on Yurok tribal lands—located in Northern California— as well as why she has a vested interest in reintegrating cultural burns on her ancestral lands. Listen in to learn more about indigenous burning, the ecological and cultural be...
Nov 09, 2020•21 min•Ep. 8
In this episode, we talk to Annie Schmidt, who works for the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network. Through her position at the Fire Adapted network, Annie has committed herself to helping communities build their fire-resiliency and, quite literally, learn to better live with fire. Annie offers some great perspective on how and why fire prevention work should be prioritized just as much as fire suppression, while also providing a few suggestions for other people who want to improve fire resi...
Oct 14, 2020•28 min•Ep. 7
On this episode, guest Nick Nauslar—a fire meteorologist at the National Interagency Fire Center—explains what contributed to the so-called "Labor Day Firestorm," that devastated the Northwest and Northern California on the week of September 6. Nick discussed all the factors that made this conflagration so historic, and also discussed how climate change—which took a lot of the blame in national media—played only a small part in what became one of the worst weeks of fire in US history.
Sep 22, 2020•23 min•Ep. 5
In this episode, we talk with renowned author John Maclean about the decades he's spent investigating and writing about fatality wildfires in the West, as well as his latest project, a book about hotshot history and the Yarnell Hill Fire. We also touched on the influence his father—Norman Maclean, the preeminent voice of wildfire fatalities with his book Young Men and Fire—had on his early writing career, and even got a short cameo from the squirrel who lives in John's attic/workspace.
Sep 13, 2020•45 min•Ep. 4
If you’ve ever worked in fire, there’s a good chance a few of Stephen Pyne’s fire books were laying around the station or office where you worked. Pyne is without a doubt the foremost expert of fire history in the US—in this episode we spoke about his concept of a “pyrocene,” about the evolution of fire management in the US since the Big Burns of 1910, and about how we can prepare to live in landscapes where fires—not humans—set the terms.
Aug 16, 2020•38 min•Ep. 3
Lenya Quinn-Davidson has committed her career to changing the ways we think about prescribed fire. She also started the Women in Prescribed Fire Training Exchange program, or WTREX, which empowers women and people of color to gain experience as firefighters, mentors and leaders in fire management through the use of prescribed fire. We spoke about the importance of diversity in the fire world, and about how we can do better in mentoring, empowering and retaining women and BIPOC in positions in wi...
Aug 15, 2020•26 min•Ep. 2
Jeremy Bailey is a prescribed fire manager with the Nature Conservancy, and the brains behind the Prescribed Fire Training Exchange or TREX. On this episode, we talk about his inspiration for starting the TREX program, about how firefighters, homeowners, Indigenous peoples and communities have used prescribed fire to manage the landscapes around them, and about how prescribed fire is a critical tool for adapting ourselves to wildfire.
Aug 15, 2020•23 min•Ep. 1
