The state of wildfire and bushfire science: Temporal trends, research divisions and knowledge gaps

• Published in: Safety science 2022-09, Vol.153, p.105797, Article 105797
• Main Authors: Haghani, Milad, Kuligowski, Erica, Rajabifard, Abbas, Kolden, Crystal A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atmospheric sciences; Biomass burning; Bushfire; Climate change; Clusters; Domains; Ecology; Fire detection; Fire hazards; Fire management; Forest & brush fires; Forest fire; Forest management; Mapping; Meta-analysis; Modelling; Multidisciplinary research; Natural disasters; Organic matter; Public health; Reviews; Risk factors; Risk perception; Risk reduction; Safety management; Soil ecology; Soil water; Synthesis; Trends; Wildfire; Wildfires
• ISSN: 0925-7535; 1879-1042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105797

•The state of wildfire science is analysed from a bird’s-eye view and at macroscopic scale.•Divisions of the field are identified based on objective metrics and at multiple levels of aggregation.•Temporal patterns of the field are determined based on patterns of document co-citation.•All reviews and meta-analyses of the field are reviewed, and underrepresented areas identified.•Interactive maps and supplementary material can be used to obtain additional insights. Along with the increase in the frequency of disastrous wildfires and bushfires around the world during the recent decades, scholarly research efforts have also intensified in this domain. This work investigates divisions and trends of the domain of wildfire/bushfire research. Results show that this research domain has been growing exponentially. It is estimated that the field, as of 2021, it has grown to larger than 13,000 research items, with an excess of 1,200 new articles appearing every year. It also exhibits distinct characteristics of a multidisciplinary research domain. Analyses of the underlying studies reveal that the field is made up of five major divisions. These divisions embody research activities around (i) forest ecology and climate, (ii) fire detection and mapping technologies, (iii) community risk mitigation and planning, (iv) soil and water ecology, and (v) atmospheric science. Research into the sub-topics of reciprocal effects between climate change and fire activities, fire risk modelling/mapping (including burned area modelling), wildfire impact on organic matter, biomass burning, and human health impacts currently constitute trending areas of this field. Amongst these, the climate cluster showed an explosion of activities in 2020 while the human health cluster is identified as the most recent emerging topic of this domain. On the other hand, dimensions of wildfire research related to human behaviour—particularly issues of emergency training, risk perception and wildfire hazard education—seem to be notably underdeveloped in this field, making this one of its most apparent knowledge gaps. A scoping review of all reviews and meta-analysis of this field demonstrates that this sub-topic is also virtually non-existent on the research synthesis front. This meta-synthesis further reveals how a western, deductive view excludes socioecological and traditional knowledge of fire.