Understanding wildfires
Stanford-led research shows how wildfire risks are changing, illuminates connections to climate and health, and offers promising solutions.
Wildfires burning across parts of Canada and Minnesota have brought orange skies and unhealthy smoke to large areas of the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability scholars and collaborators are unraveling the factors that contribute to wildfire risk, understanding their impacts, and developing solutions.
Explore wildfire research and insights
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Some wildfire smoke plumes are more toxic than others, depending on the geology where a fire burns. Stanford scientist Scott Fendorf explains why.
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New Stanford research finds California homeowners insurance premiums up 84% since 2020, with FAIR Plan enrollment nearly tripling — from under 2% to 5% of homes — as the insurance crisis spreads beyond fire country into the broader housing market.
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A Stanford-led study based on two decades of satellite data finds California could cut deadly pollution from wildfire smoke by 20% in active fire years by expanding use of prescribed fire in conifer forests each year.
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Why is the cost of electricity going up in U.S. western states? Stanford experts explain how wildfires, AI data centers, extreme weather, and deferred grid maintenance are affecting utility bills, along with strategies that could help lower costs.
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New analysis shows 85% of carbon emissions from the 2025 Dava Moor Fire in Scotland came from peat combustion, signaling a dangerous shift in how wildfires behave in historically boggy landscapes.
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Adam Pellegrini engages in collaborations and field experiments across the globe to examine how ecosystems respond to global change and predict their resilience to major disturbances, such as wildfires, droughts, and disease outbreaks.
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Wildfires are threatening lives, infrastructure, and public health systems across the West. Bay Area fire management officials are implementing effective prevention measures – from prescribed burns to home-hardening rebate programs – yet crucial research gaps remain.
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Wildfire smoke increasingly threatens lives across the country. A new study shows smoke exposure in the coming decades will cause tens of thousands of excess deaths and predicts where exposure will occur so communities and policymakers can prepare for the health burden.
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How can air quality policies adapt to the new world of pollution trends shaped by wildfire smoke? Learn about the growing problem of air polluted by wildfire smoke, and what the data show about policies that can make a difference.
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With support from the TomKat Center’s Graduate Fellowship in Translational Research, PhD student Daniel Neamati is modeling prescribed burns to better manage wildfires.
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A new Stanford-led study finds that controlled, low-intensity fires known as prescribed burns can slash wildfire intensity and dangerous smoke pollution across the western United States.
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Many U.S. utilities lag in implementing fundamental mitigation steps despite facing considerable wildfire risk, according to a new Stanford white paper. Failing to prepare endangers communities as well as future development of the energy system, according to the researchers.
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Tribal, local, and private firefighters are often undercounted, despite their growing role in fire response. This makes it harder for planners to know how many firefighters are actually available and can lead to unfair pay, protections, and benefits.
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A SIEPR Policy Forum examined how government, business, and academia can best address the rising economic costs of wildfires.
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A wildfire policy expert explains how California’s ongoing fire crisis is being driven by climate change and poor urban planning. “Whole-of-society” approaches are needed, he says.
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Developed out of a collaboration between Stanford Radio Club students and researchers at the Woods Institute's Climate and Energy Policy Program and the Law School's Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program, low-cost sensors provide air quality data to monitor the effects of prescribed burns on local communities.
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Scientists estimate that reducing harmful chemical emissions could cut cancer risks from smoke exposure by over 50%.
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A new study underscores the importance of transformative adaptation to create a more sustainable future for tribal nations.
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Debbie Sivas discusses California's fire crisis and examines how climate change and urban development are making residents more susceptible to the dangers of fires.
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In light of the Los Angeles-area wildfires, Stanford experts spanning the fields of environmental science, medicine, and public health discuss what we know about wildfires’ health impacts, what remains a mystery, and how communities can better protect themselves from the increasingly common threat.
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Stanford-led sustainability research offers tangible benefits for human health. Scientists are developing new techniques to enhance air and water quality, improve disease monitoring, mitigate risks from extreme weather and severe storms, and more.
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Stanford researchers examined how often Californians visit emergency departments and found that people tend to avoid the hospital on the smokiest days.
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Stanford researchers have developed an AI model for predicting dangerous particle pollution to help track the American West’s rapidly worsening wildfire smoke. The detailed results show millions of Americans are routinely exposed to pollution at levels rarely seen just a decade ago.
