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Community & Collaboration

Connect with wildland fire science communities, discussion forums, professional networks, and collaborative platforms.

Discussion Forums

Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center - Forum for sharing experiences, lessons learned, and best practices in wildland fire management.

r/Wildfire - Reddit community for wildland firefighters, managers, and researchers. Active discussions on current incidents, careers, and policy.

r/GIS - GIS professionals community with frequent fire-related geospatial discussions and technical support.

r/RemoteSensing - Satellite imagery analysis, Earth observation, and remote sensing science discussions.

r/FireEcology - Academic and scientific discussions on fire ecology, prescribed burning, and fire management.

GIS StackExchange - Q&A site for GIS professionals with excellent technical support for geospatial analysis.

Slack & Discord Communities

QGIS Community - Slack workspace for QGIS users and developers with channels for technical support and plugin development.

Pangeo - Community workspace for big data geoscience, cloud computing, and Python-based Earth science analysis.

Software Underground (SWUNG) - Slack community for geoscientists who code, covering Python, remote sensing, and data science.

Earth Science Discord - Discord server for Earth science discussions, including fire science, meteorology, and geology.

Remote Sensing Community - IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society community channels and working groups.

Open Science Community - Slack workspace focused on open science practices, reproducibility, and FAIR data.

Social Media & Twitter/X

Key Hashtags

  • #FireTwitter - Real-time wildfire updates, incident photos, and community discussion
  • #WildlandFire - Professional fire management and science discussions
  • #GISChat - Geographic information systems and mapping
  • #RemoteSensing - Satellite imagery and Earth observation
  • #FireWeather - Meteorological conditions affecting fire behavior
  • #PrescribedFire - Prescribed burning and cultural fire practices
  • #FireEcology - Ecological research and fire effects

BlueSky Networks

BlueSky Fire Science Community - Growing community of fire scientists, managers, and researchers migrating from Twitter/X.

Key Hashtags:

Organizations on BlueSky:

  • Many fire science organizations and researchers are establishing presence on BlueSky
  • Search for fire-related hashtags and starter packs to find relevant accounts
  • Follow researchers and agencies as they migrate to the platform

Instagram & Visual Storytelling

Instagram - Visual platform featuring fire photography, incident documentation, and behind-the-scenes firefighting stories.

Fire Photographers & Journalists:

@stuartpalley - Award-winning photographer documenting wildfires across the American West, known for long-exposure fire imagery.

Key Hashtags:

Threads by Meta

Threads - Text-based social platform from Meta, integrated with Instagram, featuring real-time fire discussions and updates.

Features:

  • Real-time incident updates from photographers and journalists
  • Integration with Instagram accounts for cross-platform following
  • Growing community of fire professionals and researchers
  • Thread discussions on fire policy, management, and science

Key Topics:

  • Follow Instagram fire photographers and agencies who cross-post to Threads
  • Real-time incident commentary and analysis
  • Fire weather discussions and forecasts
  • Policy and management debates

Conferences & Events

Annual Conferences

International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) - International Wildland Fire Conference held every 4 years, plus regional symposia.

Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) - International Fire Ecology & Management Congress, biennial conference on fire science.

Esri User Conference - Annual conference for GIS professionals with wildland fire application tracks.

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting - Major Earth science conference with fire-related sessions on remote sensing, climate, and ecology.

Ecological Society of America (ESA) - Annual meeting with fire ecology sessions and workshops.

IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) - Premier remote sensing conference with Earth observation applications.

Regional & Specialized Events

National Fire Behavior Analyst Workshop - Annual workshop for fire behavior analysts and incident management teams.

Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference - Long-running conference series focused on fire ecology and management.

Fire Weather Forecast Workshop - National Weather Service workshops on fire weather forecasting.

Professional Organizations

International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF) - Global professional organization advancing wildland fire science and management.

Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) - Promotes use of fire science in management and policy decisions.

Society of American Foresters (SAF) - Professional organization for foresters with fire management working groups.

Ecological Society of America (ESA) - Professional society for ecologists with fire ecology section.

URISA GIS-Pro - Professional organization for GIS practitioners with emergency management focus.

Collaborative Platforms

GitHub - Code collaboration, version control, and open-source project hosting. Explore fire-related repositories.

GitLab - Alternative to GitHub with built-in CI/CD and DevOps tools.

Jupyter Community - Computational notebook community with forums, workshops, and contributor channels.

OpenStreetMap - Collaborative mapping project with humanitarian response teams for disaster mapping.

Zooniverse - Citizen science platform hosting projects like identifying wildlife in post-fire landscapes.

Mailing Lists & Newsletters

FRAMES Mailing Lists - Fire Research and Management Exchange System newsletters and announcements.

NASA ARSET Training Notices - Applied Remote Sensing Training program announcements.

PANGEO Newsletter - Updates on cloud-native geoscience tools and community events.

AGU Eos Newsletter - Earth and space science news and research highlights.

Blogs & Podcasts

InciWeb News - Incident information and updates from all-risk incidents across agencies.

Fire Science Brief - Digestible summaries of fire science research from the Joint Fire Science Program.

Nature Podcast - Science news including occasional fire and climate episodes.

AGU Podcast - Earth and space science storytelling and research highlights.

Working Groups & Committees

NWCG Data Management Committee - National Wildfire Coordinating Group data standards and systems.

GOFC-GOLD Fire Implementation Team - Global fire monitoring and information systems coordination.

CEOS Working Group on Calibration & Validation - Satellite data validation including burned area products.

Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) - Funds and coordinates fire science research across agencies.

Contributing to Open Science

Many fire science tools and datasets are open source and welcome contributions:

  • Report bugs and request features via GitHub Issues
  • Contribute code, documentation, or tutorials
  • Share your datasets and workflows
  • Peer review open manuscripts on platforms like PREreview
  • Participate in hackathons and code sprints
  • Answer questions on forums and StackExchange
  • Organize or present at local user groups and meetups

See Getting Started for pathways to participate in collaborative fire science!