iFireNet

Tirtha Banerjee of Team Fire leads iFireNet, an international network of networks organized around some of the most fundamental issues in wildland fire science.  iFireNet is an international network of networks organized around some of the most fundamental questions in the science of wildfires, funded by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) AccelNet program.

The linking of several multinational networks of wildfire researchers through this project will lead to the co-production of interdisciplinary scientific knowledge, standardized protocols for data gathering, and experimental designs and facilitate the sharing and leveraging of resources and expertise through a diverse portfolio of ideas and personnel.

This network of networks will bring an approach currently missing in the wildfire research community that is needed to advance understanding of wildfire behavior, integrated fire risk management, design of prescribed fires, canopy-to-landscape scale forest disturbance, and fire-weather/climate coupling.

iFireNet will create

• a synergy among complementary experiments in different geographical settings,
• a standardized protocol to collect, interpret, and share data from these experiments,
• the basis of model intercomparisons in the context of multi-fidelity fire modeling,
• a protocol for benchmarking wildfire simulations across multiple scales,
• a unified training module that adapts the best practices of local knowledge, yet can be translated in the international setting.

The iFireNet web portal will host state-of-the-art predictive models, a comprehensive global database of protocols and standards for multiscale fire experiments, a catalog of equipment, infrastructure models, and a knowledge platform to provide mentors and collaborators training tools and opportunities for students and practitioners. iFireNet will train the next generation of wildland fire managers and scientists through the organization of student exchange programs, summer schools, conference chapters, and joint mentoring of graduate and professional students.

It is envisioned that the diversity of expertise and cross-disciplinary collaborations across academic researchers, federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and industries of the participating countries will help solve some of the long-standing questions in the science of wildland fires.