Wildfire Magazine

I followed through on Bill Gabbert's comment to my blog earlier this week and have checked out Wildfire Magazine. As you may recall, it is the official publication of the International Association of Wildland Fire. A big plus is that at least some articles from issues dating back approximately six years are freely available. This is a big plus because I don't seem to able to have electronic access to the publication through my local library. I have downloaded a few articles, and have enjoyed what I have read.

For example, one of the nagging questions that I have had in some of my reading is wondering about some of the engines that are used in wildland fires. One example being that I had read about type 6 engines, wondering what they might be, and I found an answer in an article in the Sept. 2008 edition of Wildfire Magazine, Match Maker, where they describe seven types of engines as defined by the incident command system. Now, I was not necessarily planning on writing in my blog about engines used in wildland fire fighting, at least not now. But as I continue with my reading and my research on wildland fire fighting, I am slightly more familiar with some of the terminology in regards to engines. And that is always a good thing.

Fire Management Today

In my wonderings on the internet looking at the webpages of various federal agencies with wildland fire fighting arms (forest service, bureau of land management to name but two), I came upon a periodical called Fire Management Today, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Under various names, this periodical has been in existence since 1936, with a break in publication during WW II.

It has gone under three different names, first as Fire Control Notes through 1961, then as Fire Management Notes through 2000, and now as Fire Management Today. In addition to containing a wealth of information about the world of wildland fire fighting, it is freely available on the web. You may go here, and use the drop down boxes to select the issue you want to download. It is a pdf file so you will need adobe acrobat or another pdf viewer (e.g. Preview on the Mac) to view the files.

A hint to finding articles, the first issue of each volume contains the index for the preceding volume. Volume 60, issue 1 has a 30 year index.

While many of the articles are written for the wildland fire fighting community in mind, I have used this periodical to learn about specific issues important to the world of wildland fire fighting. For example, I have spent the last few days reading several articles involving the use of airsupport in wildland fire fighting. While some articles have more technical information geared to professionals involved in air support, the fact that I am not familiar with this form technospeak does not hinder me.

I am certain that there are other periodicals devoted to wildland firefighting that I am unaware of. For example there was a periodical called wildland firefighter. As I understand it, the final issue of Wildland Firefighter was the May 2008 issue. Starting with the June 2008 issue, wildland firefighter is incorporated into the wildland/urban interface section of Fire Rescue Magazine, go here for more details. I suspect, but am not certain that internet access requires a subscription to the Fire Rescue Magazine. Alternatively, it might be available through periodical databases available at public libraries or University libraries. All I know is that I have not been able to find this periodical freely available on the internet and it does not seem to be listed in the periodical databases available to users of my public library.