Rhode Island was the site of two major wildfires in 2023, and the state saw over 40 forest fires this past fall alone. According to Brett Still, director of the Master of Environmental Science and Management program at the University of Rhode Island, wildfires may become more prevalent in Rhode Island as we continue to experience the effects of climate change. Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with Still about what the state and residents can do to prepare.
Interview highlights
On whether major wildfires similar to what we’re seeing in California could happen in Rhode Island
Brett Still: We have had really pretty significant forest fires in Rhode Island in the past that have burned tens of thousands of acres and have been really pretty severe. We have not had fires of that severity in recent times, but we have had some atmospheric conditions and dryness within our forest environment that have prompted some pretty good size fires for us here locally. So it’s not extremely likely for us to have a fire of that magnitude, but certainly it is possible.
On how climate change is impacting the frequency of wildfires in Rhode Island
Still: In the latest national climate assessments, if you look at some of the projections for the New England region, our region is forecast to have increased precipitation, which is a good thing in the context of wildland fire, but we have long periods of relatively little or no precipitation in between periods of high precipitation. This may be a factor leading to some of the conditions that we’ve seen in relatively recent years that have led to a greater fire risk happening.
On how the state can better prepare for a potential increase in wildfires
Still: In general, increasing the capacity of our state agencies to manage the state forest lands is a good thing. We have a number of municipal land trusts that are also primarily volunteer-based that have open land and forest land within their local communities. There is a need to understand and study the condition of some of these forests, as well. The more that we can support the existing programs and support the state’s capacity to help municipalities and help private landowners try to understand the health of the forests on their property, the better we can sort of understand what the risk and potential is in some of these areas for future wildfire.
On what Rhode Island residents can do to prepare for more wildfires
Still: There are a number of programs that the division of forest environment and DEM have in place for our forest landowners within the state. I would encourage folks to reach out to DEM, go to the division of forest environment website, and look at some of the materials that they have available. There are also really great programs that DEM has in coordination with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and USDA where monies can be available for landowners to get forest management plans completed and to think about proactive forest management.
