In February this year, Kishugu NPC’s Val Charlton and Tessa Oliver visited the United States of America to participate in the International Liaison Committee (ILC) meeting of the International Wildfire Conference, hosted by the US Forestry Service (USFS).

The next country to host the International Wildfire Conference in 2019 is Brazil, and they presented their ideas for the first South American Wildfire Conference. “This will include a big component on communities and Integrated Fire Management. As a member of the Programme Committee since 2010, I provided guidance on how to set up a programme of international calibre,” says Tessa Oliver.

Each past host country has a representative on the ILC and so members from the USA, Canada, Germany, Australia, Spain, South Korea and South Africa participated in this year’s meeting, which was held at the offices of the US Forestry Services in Washington DC.

“Our workshop was concluded with a visit to the USFS’s Early Warning Division, to see how they disseminate weather warnings and FDIs, as well as to observe how they work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during disaster fires,” said Val Charlton.

The International Wildfire Conference is held every four years in a different country. South Africa had the privilege of hosting the event in Sun City in 2011.

Members of the Wildfire conference’s International Liaison Committee at the USFS in Washington DC.