Wildfire personnel health as fire management infrastructure: readiness, response, recovery

Starting my role as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Wildland Fire (IJWF), I’m struck by how quickly wildfire-associated health has moved from the margins to mainstream fire research. This shift is evident in the growing number of high-profile conference sessions and presentations across International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF)-associated and related meetings, including the 4th International Smoke Symposium in Tallahassee this year. It is also reflected in expanding global funding pathways for wildfire-health research, spanning agencies and schemes such as the US National Science Foundation, EU Horizon, UK Wellcome Trust, and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding bodies, among others. IJWF has long helped our community understand the drivers and consequences of fire fuels, fire behaviour, suppression, and social-ecological impacts. Yet the people who plan for, respond to, and recover from wildfire, the workforce itself, are increasingly exposed to conditions that test physical and mental health over weeks, seasons, and entire careers. In that context, bringing a medical and health-focused lens into IJWF feels less like adding a new topic area and more like extending how we understand wildfire systems.