Southern California Wildfire Institute
March 2- 8, 2025
California
Sunday, March 2
5:30 p.m. - Wildfire 101: An Overview of Southern California's Unique Relationship with Fire (Opening Dinner)
Luca Carmignani
Central and Southern California Co-Lead, California Fire Science Consortium; Asst Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University
Jeff Heys
Southern California Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape Manager, U.S. Forest Service
Overnight in San Diego
Monday, March 3
5:30 a.m. - Breakfast at hotel
6 a.m. - Bus departs for Irvine
8:30 - 9:45 a.m. - Eyes in the Sky: An Aerial View of Recent Burn Scars
Tim Perkins
Director of Operations, Orange County Fire Authority
Brian Fennessy
Fire Chief, Orange County Fire Authority
10 a.m. - Bus departs for Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center
11 a.m. - 2 p.m. - Fighting Unfightable Fires: How Agencies are Addressing Logistical, Workforce and Mental Health Issues (Lunch session)
Brian Anderson
Superintendent, Bear Divide Hotshots, U.S. Forest Service
Matt Ahearn
Operations Southern California, Fire & Aviation Management, Pacific Southwest Region, U.S. Forest Service
Nick Schuler
Deputy Director, Communications/Incident Awareness, CalFire
3 p.m. - Burn Scars: A Conversation with the Unsung Organizations Critical to Community Response and Resilience
Debra Williams
Founding CEO/Building Resilient Communities
5:30 p.m. - Dinner
Overnight in Temecula
Tuesday, March 4
6 - 8 a.m. - Breakfast at hotel
8 a.m. - Bus departs for La Jolla Band reservation
9 - 11:30 a.m. - Rekindling an Ancient Relationship: the La Jolla Band Brings Fire Back to Their Lands
Wesley Ruise, Jr.
Fire Advisor, Indigenous Fires, Forests and Fuels Crew, Climate Science Alliance; member Luiseño, Digueño, Mojave
Joelene Tamm
Natural Resources Director, La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians; graduate student, Entomology Department, UC Riverside
Oak Trees and Invasive Beetles: A Lesson in Fire Ecology
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. - Community lunch
1 - 3 p.m. - Travel to Irvine Ranch Conservancy
3 p.m. - Before the Fire: Ignition Prevention and Landscape Mitigation Measures in the Wildland/Urban Interface
Michael O’Connell
CEO, Irvine Ranch Conservancy
Oscar Hood
Government Relations and External Affairs Coordinator, Irvine Ranch Conservancy
Blair Crossman
Project Development Specialist, Rivers and Mountains Conservancy
6:30 p.m. - Telling Fire Stories Better: A Conversation with Veteran Wildfire Reporters (Dinner session)
Joseph Serna
Deputy editor, Fast Break Team, The Los Angeles Times
Lauren Sommer
Climate desk reporter, NPR
Overnight in Los Angeles
Wednesday, March 5
6:30 - 7:30 a.m. - Breakfast at hotel
7:30 a.m. - Bus departs for Altadena
8:30 - 11:30 a.m. - From the Ashes: How Altadena Hopes to Preserve Community Character and Build Back Equitably
Loretta Williams
Journalist, Altadena resident
Steven Lewis
Principal, Urban Design, ZGF Architects
Veronica Jones
Altadena Historical Society President, former Town Council member
Silvera Grant
Past President of the Altadena Community Garden
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Lunch
1 - 2:30 p.m. - Vivir Latino: Exploring the Public Health and Workforce Impacts of LA Fires on Its Latino Community
Silvia González
Director of research, Latino Policy & Politics Institute, UCLA
Mike Méndez
Assistant Professor, Environmental Policy & Planning, UC Irvine; Faculty affiliate, Latino Policy & Politics Institute, UCLA
Maegan Ortiz
Executive director, Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California (IDEPSCA)
3 p.m. - Power and Water: The Relationship Between Fire and California's Largest Utilities
Greg Pierce
Director, Human Right to Water Solutions Lab & UCLA Water Resources Group; Research and Co-Executive Director, Luskin Center for Innovation, UCLA
Stephanie Pincetl
Founding Director and Professor, California Center for Sustainable Communities,UCLA; Chair, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
6 p.m. - Dinner
Overnight in San Diego
Thursday, March 6
6 - 8 a.m. - Breakfast at hotel
8:30 a.m. - Bus departs
9 - 11 a.m. - Risk Management: Can the California Insurance Industry Save Itself - and the Homes It Covers?
Steven Hawks
Senior Director for Wildfire, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
Janet Ruiz
Strategic Communications Director, Insurance Information Institute (III)
Seren Taylor
Vice president, Personal Insurance Federation of California
11 a.m. - Bus departs; lunch on bus
12:30 p.m. - Holding the Line: How Landscape-Level Wildfire Work Protects Communities in San Diego County
Jeff Heys
Southern California Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape Manager, U.S. Forest Service
Alexandra Syphard
Senior research scientist, Conservation Biology Institute
6 p.m. - Dinner
Overnight in San Diego
Friday March 7
6 - 8 a.m. - Breakfast at hotel
8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Door to Door: How San Diego Manages Wildfire Risk with Defensible Space and FireWise Neighborhoods
Alex Kane
Assistant Fire Marshal, City of San Diego
J. Lopez
Executive Director, California Wildfire Mitigation Program
Karen Austin
Alvarado Estates Fire Safe Council
12:30 p.m. - Bus departs for UCSD
1 - 3 p.m. - Lights, Cameras, Action: ALERTCalifornia's Massive Network Helps Protect Public Safety and Inform Fire Response
Falko Kuester
Co-principal Investigator, ALERTCalifornia; Professor, Structural Engineering and Computer Science, UC San Diego
3 - 5 p.m. - WIFIRE and "All-Hazards Knowledge:" Can Big Data, Computer Modeling and AI Help Fight Fire?
Ilkay Altintas
Founder and Director, WIFIRE Lab; Chief data science officer, San Diego Supercomputer Center
6 p.m. - Closing night dinner
Overnight in San Diego