ES-04. The Wicked Wildfire Problem and Solution Space: Detecting and Tracking the Fires that Matter

Abstract
In the last decade, record-breaking fires, unprecedented losses, and escalating suppression costs have raised concern over the onset of a new era of megafires, which ‘have joined the forlorn polar bear as an emblem of a climate crisis’ (Pyne, 2020. Earth’s Future). This is a critical moment to redefine our nation’s relationship with fire and build resilience in fire-prone social-environmental systems. Our biggest challenge is the wicked nature of the problem with many organizations working on different “solutions”, all slightly different, but with the same common challenges. The Keck Institute for Space Sciences recently held a working meeting with leading change agents from Federal and State agencies, academia, non-profits, and private ventures with expertise and authority in policy, economics, front-line operations, science, and technology. The objective of this meeting was to scope and define the fires that matter, the current state of the solution space, and identify what’s needed to advance that state. The findings of this study provide a set of recommendations for a coordinated research and technology agenda. The motivation was to unify the fire research, operations, technologies, and governance communities to enable hundreds of innovators to focus their efforts. We include a short introduction to frame the wicked wildfire problem and solution space and the objectives of the study. We then briefly provide context on the study design including our focus on co-production. Next we will focus on the findings from the study for converging as a group and refining the problem definition and solution space. We then discuss the value of the co-production process used in the study and the limitations of our findings. Finally, we conclude with a set of recommendations as next steps for the research and development communities collectively.