Background

Wildfire activity continues at elevated levels across the United States and Canada, part of a decades-long trend of increasing intensity and scope [e.g., Collins 2014]. The average annual acreage burned in the U.S. is nearly 6.9 million over the past ten years, but in 2020, wildfires burned more than 8.5 million acres. Wildfires often threaten communities, displacing people and destroying buildings and infrastructure with greater impacts on socially vulnerable communities. About 4.5 million U.S. homes were identified at high or extreme risk of wildfires, with more than 2 million in California alone. Losses from wildfires added up to $75.88 billion over the past 10 years (National Centers for Environmental Information, Summary Statistics 2011) with an additional $2.3 billion/year (5-year average) in fire suppression costs (National Interagency Fire Center). In addition to the local impacts of wildfires on the forests, grasslands, and communities, there are regional and national impacts due to advection of smoke and wildfire emissions on air quality, health, and climate effects.

In order to reduce the devastating impacts of future wildfires on communities, immediate and swift attention on research for the total fire environment, both short-term and long-term efforts, and the delivery of that research to operational platforms and applications is crucial. The testbed proposed here would accelerate the delivery of critical products and technologies to those users that need them now.