Experts on wildfires

The wildfire season is heating up quickly in western Canada. The following University of Victoria researchers are available to media on the following topics: 

David Atkinson (Dept. of Geography) is an expert in weather and climate particularly along coastal regions and in the marine environment. His research also examines how weather and climate patterns affect wildfires. (Office: 250-721-7332 or datkinso@uvic.ca) 

Chris Bone (Dept. of Geography) is an expert on the role of climate change and forest policies in driving large-scale forest disturbances ranging from wildfires to forest insect outbreaks. He can discuss the role that forest policies play and about how technologies such as drones, mobile apps and mapping can be used to respond to wildfires, as well as the types of data that are critically needed for reducing the risk of wildfires in the future. (Office: 250-472-5620 or chrisbone@uvic.ca) 

Johan Feddema (Dept. of Geography) is an expert in understanding the consequences of human actions on the environment and the effects of climate change on society. He has assessed the impacts of fires on local climate and hydrology and of climate conditions and severe crown fires—the very dangerous and most intense type of wildfires that burn up the entire length of a tree and spread from treetop to treetop—on ponderosa pine forest regeneration. (Office: 250-721-7325 or feddema@uvic.ca)