KINGSTON, R.I. – Jan. 10, 2025 – Although fires are usually thought of as a Western problem, as seen in Los Angeles right now, wildfires do happen in Rhode Island — close to 500 acres burned near the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston Campus two years ago, in nearby Exeter and West Greenwich.

Those fires were also driven by high wind, with added fuel from dead trees and wood in Rhode Island woodlands, according to Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management. And fall 2024 was a historic fall fire season for the state with more than 42 wildfires burning in October and November alone.

Locally, URI faculty members predict the trend toward increased wildfires will continue, with climate change causing more forest insects and diseases to shift into Rhode Island forests, resulting in dead and dying trees and more extreme weather patterns (hotter and dryer) for longer durations.

Laura Meyerson in the department of Natural Resources Science notes that invasive plant species can worsen wildfires. The 2023 fires in Maui were fueled in part by invasive grasses introduced for forage, she said.

“In Rhode Island, we have a heavier fuel load due to the dead standing and fallen trees from the spongy moth (formerly the gypsy moth),” she says. The state’s plentiful stands of the tall reed grass Phragmites australis, found near the coast and around ponds, are a focus of her research. “This species poses a huge fire risk because of the large amount of dead standing biomass that persists.”

She says that Rhode Island also faces increased risk from a newer invasive species outbreak that is rapidly devastating the state — beech leaf disease.

Her colleague Brett Still directs the University’s Master of Environmental Science and Management program (MESM) and frequently welcomes a recent graduate, now working in the field, to speak with undergraduates.

Still discussed the fires in California in an interview.

What is fueling the wildfires in California and is it different from other wildfires that have impacted that part of the country?

Southern California has a Mediterranean climate that is characterized by periods of warm temperature and limited precipitation during the summer and early fall. More consistent rains typically do not arrive until the fall and winter months. Add high winds and dry conditions, which are occurring now, and you end up with high fire risk, where a spark can accelerate through the dry brush and gain intensity very quickly.

Were these fires anticipated? With wildfires recurring, did any prevention efforts help mitigate what is happening now?

Fire season in Southern California typically runs through the fall but has been extending later into the winter season given precipitation patterns. According to CalFire, there were January fires in 2021 and 2022.

In terms of mitigation, areas that have previously burned and have reduced fuel loads, such as through controlled burns, can result in lower intensity fires if the vegetation does not have a chance to get reestablished. However, at the moment it is difficult to know for sure the efficacy of such efforts.

In this part of the country, New Englanders were aware of increased fire risk after the fall drought. Locally, what are we facing for fire threats and what can homeowners, business owners and residents do to mitigate wildfires?

Fire season in southern New England is punctuated with higher risk in the spring prior to leaf out of the tree canopy, and again, after the leaves come down in the fall. If we have prolonged dry conditions, low humidity, and high winds, during these periods of the year, the fuels can dry out and increase the fire risk. We have had increases in the number of brush fires in Rhode Island and southern New England over the past few years, and recently this fall given the very dry conditions.

Our region is predicted to have increased precipitation with the changing climate; however, we are also experiencing and are projected to experience more erratic patterns of precipitation. It is possible the brush fire risk can increase in our region if we continue to see these prolonged periods with little rain and low humidity occurring during periods of the year with elevated fire risk.

What kind of education about wildfires is happening in URI programs like the undergraduate Natural Resources Science major or the online Master of Environmental Science and Management program?

Recent MESM alumni Patrick MacMeekin, an expert in wildland fire, came to our program with extensive experience working in fire-prone landscapes out West before arriving in Rhode Island. Pat was able to gain additional skills and network with individuals across the region, conducting Firewise Community Risk Assessments for a few of our local communities. Now Pat is working with Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management, sharing expertise and insight into the state wildland fire program and risks for Rhode Island communities. He also leads a field trip in my forest science and management class for NRS students to learn about wildland fire in Rhode Island and southern New England.

He can talk to students with firsthand experience about how wildfires happen in Rhode Island or in other parts of the country like California.

At URI, Pat was able to build his wildfire knowledge and bolster his skills in analyzing and communicating about it; our program let him adapt his classes to the topic in a student-centered program that offers flexible curriculum. He created a wildfire evacuation communications plan for a capstone project, analyzed and mapped state ecosystems using GIS technology, and even developed a wildfire mitigation plan for the town of Charlestown.

URI’s Nancy Karraker, another professor in the Natural Resources Science department, also studies the effects of wildfire and prescribed burning on reptiles and amphibians, in Rhode Island and New Mexico. She can discuss fire, both wildfire and prescribed fire used for management purposes, and the impact on wildlife.

To speak to URI faculty about wildfires, please contact the URI Department of Communications.