What will California's fire season look like in 2025?
A panel of UC Merced experts, joined by the founder of a public safety information nonprofit organization, will conduct an in-depth discussion of the risks, repercussions and forecasts, and what communities can do to be prepared.
The Fire Resilience Seminar and 2025 Wildfire Outlook will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. April 17 in the UC Merced Conference Center. It is free and open to the public.
John Clarke Mills, founder of Watch Duty, will be the guest speaker. According to its website, Watch Duty is a nonprofit organization focused on disseminating public safety information in real time from verified sources. It is staffed by active and retired firefighters, dispatchers and first responders who monitor radio scanners and share information.
The seminar will open with introductions by Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development Gillian Wilson and Management of Complex Systems Professor Crystal Kolden, director of UC Merced's Fire Resilience Center.
Mills will then discuss Watch Duty and its role in emergency communications. Mills, an entrepreneur, engineer and wildfire safety advocate, also co-founded restaurant operations platform Zenput and leads Sherwood Forestry Service, which focuses on wildfire prevention.
Management of complex systems Professor John Abatzoglou, whose lab researches the science of climate, will provide an overview of the 2025 fire season outlook for California and the Western United States.
Public health Professor Sandie Ha of the university's Health Sciences Research Institute will discuss the health hazards of smoke and what can be done to mitigate them during a wildfire.
The event will end with a panel discussion and Q&A with all of the researchers and Mills.
For those unable to attend in person, the seminar will be livestreamed. For more information or to register, go to the event's website.
Public Information Officer
