IAWF Honors Mutch with Safety Award

The International Association of Wildland Fire presented Bob Mutch with it's 2008 Wildland Fire Safety Award at the conference “The Fires of '88: Yellowstone and Beyond,” in September. Mutch's career has spanned six decades, and though he has retired, he shows no signs of slowing down.

From his early days at what was then known as the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Forest Fire Laboratory in Missoula, Mont., to his various roles within that agency's fire management program, Mutch's distinguished 38-year Forest Service career continually championed both firefighter and public safety. His involvement in developing the Fire Behavior Service Center concept in the early 1980s further illustrated his active involvement and commitment to wildland firefighter safety. Even his very early work within the Forest Service's wilderness fire program contributed significantly to firefighter and public fire safety, while also helping to change agency policy and return fire use to the agency toolbox. Following his agency retirement, Mutch continued as a wildland fire consultant, promoting wildland fire safety.

Mutch is the author and co-author of numerous wildland-fire publications and is a renowned lecturer and speaker.

The IAWF held its “The Fires of '88: Yellowstone and Beyond” conference in Jackson, Wyo., in September. This event was attended by 450 people from 12 countries who followed the events of that year and what has changed in the wildfire community since.

Also IAWF President Chuck Bushey and board member Gavriil Xanthopoulos represented the association at the recent Aerial Firefighting Conference in Athens, Greece. The program showcased fire aviation products and featured presentations on aerial firefighting topics such as safety, international resource sharing, and aerial drops as support of ground forces in combatting wildland fires.

Prior to the meeting in Greece, Bushey met with the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization Fire Management Action Alliance program in Rome.

Following in the slipstream of the event in Athens, Greece, this conference now comes to North America. It is supported by the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Response, Global Fire Monitoring Network, and the International Association of Wildland Fire and sponsored by Bombardier and a consortium of other international sponsors. Lessons learned will be highlighted from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Europe. More information and registration is available at www.tangentlink.com.

The IAWF, in cooperation with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's Safety and Health Working Team, will hold the 10th Wildland Fire Safety Summit. A variety of topics have been identified, and the summit focus will be on the 10-year anniversary of the Tri-Data survey and changes since its release. Details will be made available at www.iawfonline.org/blog/2008/05/10th-wildland-fire-safety-summit-preliminary-announcement.

The next issue (Volume 17, Number 5) of the International Journal of Wildland Fire published by CSIRO for the International Association of Wildland Fire is available. This issue's papers concentrated on the general topics of fire effects on soils, fire rehabilitation and fire behavior.

The Effect of Ash on Runoff and Erosion After a Severe Forest Wildfire, Montana, USA by Scott W. Woods and Victoria N. Balfour.

Analysis of the Evolution of Soil Erosion Classes Using Multitemporal Landsat Imagery by J. Marquínez, E. Wozniak, S. Fernández and R. Martínez.

Effectiveness of Aerial Seeding and Straw Mulch for Reducing Post-Wildfire Erosion, Northwestern Montana, USA, by Amy H. Groen and Scott W. Woods.

Soil Temperatures During Autumn Prescribed Burning: Implications for the Germination of Fire Responsive Species? by T.D. Penman and A.L. Towerton.

Recurrent Wildfires Constrain Long-Term Reproduction Ability in Pinus Halepensis Mill. by Josep Maria Espelta, Iraima Verkaik, Màrcia Eugenio and Francisco Lloret.

Effects of Fire Frequency and Mowing on a Temperate, Derived Grassland Soil in Southeastern Australia by Suzanne M. Prober, Ian D. Lunt and Kevin R. Thiele.

Physically Motivated Empirical Models for the Spread and Intensity of Grass Fires by Steven I. Higgins, William J. Bond, Winston S.W. Trollope and Richard J. Williams.

Predicting Spatial Patterns of Fire on a Southern California Landscape by Alexandra D. Syphard, Volker C. Radeloff, Nicholas S. Keuler, Robert S. Taylor, Todd J. Hawbaker, Susan I. Stewart and Murray K. Clayton.

Efficient Simulation of Wildfire Spread on an Irregular Grid by Paul Johnston, Joel Kelso and George J. Milne.

Laboratory Determination of Factors Influencing Successful Point Ignition in the Litter Layer of Shrubland Vegetation by Matt P. Plucinski and Wendy R. Anderson.

Quantifying Parametric Uncertainty in the Rothermel Model by Edwin Jimenez, M. Yousuff Hussaini and Scott Goodrick.

Factors Influencing Large Wildland Fire Suppression Expenditures by Jingjing Liang, Dave E. Calkin, Krista M. Gebert, Tyron J. Venn and Robin P. Silverstein.

Manager-Based Valuations of Alternative Fire Management Regimes on Cape York Peninsula, Australia by Adam G. Drucker, Stephen T. Garnett, Marty K. Luckert, Gabriel M. Crowley and Niilo Gobius.

The Relationship Between The Monsoonal Summer Rain and Dry-season Fire Activity of Northern Australia by S. Harris, N. Tapper, D. Packham, B. Orlove and N. Nicholls.

10th Wildland Fire Safety Summit
April 28-30, 2009
Phoenix

For a complete list of events, visit
www.iawfonline.org/conferences