36 A firefighter-turned-researcher is helping pioneer data-driven solutions to tackle today’s unprecedented wildfires. Chris Dunn, assistant professor at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry, spent seven years fighting fires in Oregon and has seen the challenges firsthand. Firefighters must make urgent decisions with limited information. Often, they can only understand situations by physically entering dangerous scenarios. The New Wildfire Reality: Mapping a Response As a firefighter, Dunn was full of questions. What if firefighters could already know the location and condition of all possible fire control points? What if they could predict the best places to catch each blaze? What if responses were already planned for most scenarios? What if mitigation efforts had already happened in the right places to ensure their success? What if they knew exactly when and where fires could be beneficial? Using input from the field helps inform when the best ridge is not necessarily the right ridge to stop the advancement of a wildfire.
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