Wildfire seasons are longer and more intense due to climate change. Those charged with fighting and managing these fires are forced to adapt to extended work periods and more extreme fire behaviors like faster-spreading, difficult to control fires, often in what were formerly less fire-prone areas, increasing risks to their safety. Prolonged drought, rising temperatures, shifting wind patterns, coupled with decades of fire suppression that led to an increased buildup of flammable vegetation that fuels wildfires, have caused hotter and more destructive wildfires in the past five years including the recent fires in L.A. Climate change and the changing wildfire season not only affect those living near wildfires, but also those charged with fighting fires and managing the lands on fire. These conditions can have significant mental health consequences for firefighters.
On Fiat Lux Redux, February 18, at 9AM, a panel discusses The Labor of Fire: Wildlands Firefighting and Incarceration in California, including Brandon Smith, Co-founder and Chief Director of the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, Jameson Karns, a former firefighter from Southern California who is currently a PhD Candidate in History at UC Berkeley, Lindsey Raisa Feldman, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Memphis, and moderator John Radke, faculty member in the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley. Part of the California Spotlight Event Series sponsored by the UC Berkeley Social Science Matrix, this event took place November 10, 2021.
Fiat Lux Redux presents previously aired lectures, conversations, and podcasts originating on the campus of UC Berkeley every other Tuesday from 9am to 9:30am. These often-lengthy original programs have been edited to a 30-minute format by experienced KALX producers. The show’s name, Latin for “Let there be light”, is a reference to the University of California’s motto, which is also Fiat Lux. The show’s goal is to provide listeners with a window into the intellectual and cultural life of UC Berkeley and to showcase the wide range of subjects and diversity of thought and ideas that are present at UC Berkeley.
