Wildfire Community Impact Research (WCIR) Program

Standardizing How We Study Wildfires.

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The Wildfire Community Impact Research (WCIR) Program aims to standardize post-wildfire research to better prepare communities for
the future of wildfires in Canada.

Bigger, hotter and more frequent wildfires are impacting communities, and we need to improve our models, better understand wildfire in the age of climate change and accelerate mitigation efforts, to reduce risks and negative impacts. A new Wildfire Community Impact Research (WCIR) Program aims to standardize post-wildfire research to better prepare communities for the future of wildfires in Canada.

The WCIR Program

01 Response Time
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01 Response Time

Rapid deployment of WCIR teams when wildfire enters a community helps to ensure that time sensitive data are not altered. It also allows for more efficient communication of results, including new data that can be considered in recommended FireSmart practices.

02 Standardization
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02 Standardization

The use of standardized methods:

  • Accelerates data sharing and our ability to build knowledge.
  • Empowers the use of integrated solutions to make communities wildfire resilient.
  • Allows results from different communities impacted by wildfire to be compared.
  • Allows for easier incorporation of new and advanced technologies such as remote sensing.
03 Applicability
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03 Applicability

WCIR seeks to gain a better understanding of the real-world characteristics of homes and other buildings and how these characteristics influence structure survival when exposed to wildfire. Since we are still learning about structure ignition from wildfires, we need data directly from Canadian communities to ensure policies and practices are applicable to conditions in Canada.

Data Driven Results

  • “Wildfire disasters don’t come out of nowhere. They’re the result of observable conditions in the environment, and within communities. When they happen, knowing what led to the disaster allows people and communities to act early and prevent disasters in the future. We know firsthand the value of this kind of rapid community impact research. FPInnovations worked with us after the disaster in Enterprise, NWT to get to root causes. From there, the community — and numerous other communities in the NWT — have benefited from what we learned. Filling this research gap in Canada’s wildfire management sphere will ensure lessons aren’t left behind in the wake of a disaster, and that people and governments have the tools they need to prevent the next one.”

    Mike Westwick

    Manager, Wildfire Prevention, Mitigation and Information

  • “The early deployment of qualified research teams across Canada during wildfires that impact communities, will facilitate how and what data are collected, analyzed and shared. This will further our knowledge and understanding of how wildfires enter communities, and why some homes burn, and others do not.”

    Bruce Mayer

    Retired Assistant Deputy Minister of the Forestry Division, 
Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

  • The West Kelowna Fire Chief highlighted the importance of learning from the 2023 McDougall Creek Wildfire, stating that, “… the scope and scale of the incident was immense. The devastation was hard to comprehend and as the Fire Chief in the community, my immediate thoughts were not on the aftermath or the science behind what was taking place. However, time has shown that the post-fire work that was done in our community will turn out to be one of the long-lasting positives of that horrible event. A better understanding of what happened to us, combined with advancing the science of wildfire preparedness will help us convince the community of the value of taking action under the FireSmart principles.”

    Jason Brolund

    Fire Chief, City of West Kelowna