DENVER — Colorado has a longstanding and consistent history of wildfires, but the tactics and strategies surrounding how firefighters attack those fires have evolved dramatically over the decades.
Brett Wolk, Colorado State University associate director and co-lead of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, explained that new technology, science and tools have guided fire managers toward better practices when it comes to firefighting after years where full fire suppression was the de-facto response.
In his work at the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, which was created by Congress in 2004 and is housed at CSU, he helps guide other agencies to decide how, when and where to initiate fire mitigation efforts to prevent large, destructive blazes.
“We participate in producing research and helping shape research that is usable in the field,” he said. “But we spend a lot of time working with firefighters, foresters, policymakers, helping them use research on a daily basis. They always have more questions than we can answer, so we go back to the research community and kind of play that back-and-forth role.”…