In January 2023, Cal Poly’s WUI FIRE Institute and the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis (NLCFA) at the University of Montana, in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) received $2.38 M in funding from the Forest Service to launch the California-Montana Fire Partnership. The overall partnership goals are workforce development, community resilience at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), technology for safety and efficiency, fire prediction, and to improve management practices for prescribed fires. Cal Poly’s portion of this funding, $1.19 M, will support work on development of a “living laboratory” for fuel treatments in the WUI, a roadside fire ignition prevention study, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for wildfire and WUI fire planning, mitigation, response, and recovery, and fire-related curriculum, including a minor in fire science.
For more information, please contact Dr. Jim Prince at jpprince@calpoly.edu.
