Wildfire Management

Current Project: The Future of North American Wildfire Science

Our lab is currently working on a two-year project funded by the Canadian Wildfire Service to help develop a North American Wildfire Science Strategy for the next decade. With climate change, increased fuel loads, growing community exposure, and other stressors, wildfire science needs to adapt for the next decade.

To support the Canadian, American, and Mexican Forest Services in developing a science strategy, we have been asked to lead the data collection portion of the project. Through 2023 and 2024, we are interviewing and surveying stakeholders from all three countries about their views on the research gaps and needs to meet this growing challenge.

Latest Publication: Barriers to Wildfire Mitigation

While ecological and engineering approaches to residential wildfire mitigation are generally well understood, uptake of these measures is inconsistent and limited. This scoping review appraises literature from the past decade to describe and categorise factors affecting residential adoption of mitigation related practices. A qualitative synthesis approach was applied to extract individual and societal factors from a set of 78 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. This paper provides an overview of common determinants of uptake as described in recent literature and identifies notable trends and gaps to provide relevant insight that can be applied by practitioners to increase community preparedness. The identified factors have been organized into 9 themes: social connection and capital; geospatial and land tenure; risk perception; perceived effectiveness; perceived responsibility; demographics; governing bodies, regulations, and insurance; aesthetics, and education and information. The findings from this study demonstrate the complex nature of mitigation adoption within residential populations, and points to current gaps in the literature such as geographic diversity and participant diversity in our studies.


To read, please visit the Fire Safety Journal or contact Dr. Kennedy.

Research Publications

Goldstein, Dyllan & Eric B. Kennedy. 2022. “Mapping the ethical landscape of wildland fire management: setting an agenda for research and deliberation on the applied ethics of wildland fire.” International Journal of Wildland Fire. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF22020.


Kennedy, Eric B. 2020. “Predictive Rebound & Technologies of Engagement: Science, Technology, and Communities in Wildfire Management.” Journal of Responsible Innovation 7(1): 104-111. https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2020.1844954

Other Articles

Kennedy, Eric B. 2023. Review of Edward Struzik. Dark Days at Noon: The Future of Fire by Edward Stuzik. H-Net. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=58472


Kennedy, Eric B. 2023. “Reviewing Stephen J. Pyne’s To the Last Smoke Series: Putting the People in the Pyrocene.” International Journal of Wildland Fire. Online First. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23010.


Kennedy, Eric B. 2019. “Science for Success: Science at a Crossroads.” Wildfire 28(3):30-34.


Kennedy, Eric B. 2019. “Science for Success.” Wildfire 28(2):35-38.


Kennedy, Eric B. 2019. Values in Science: Lessons from Wildfire. Environmental Communication 13(2), 276-280. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2018.1560965.