Wildfire research and mental health: impacts, reflections, and a call to action

Background

In response to record-breaking wildfire seasons worldwide, wildfire researchers are increasingly called upon to conduct research to better understand the drivers and impacts of “megafires.” However, there is limited attention to the mental health risks and potentially traumatizing experiences of working in these disaster-affected social-ecological landscapes, or the implications of this on our ability to conduct collaborative and trauma-informed research. In this forum, we seek to raise awareness and catalyze action within the wildfire community to sustain the mental health and research capacity of wildfire researchers.

Results

We highlight the mental health risks of conducting wildfire research, in which both direct and secondary traumatic experiences can often be compounded by feelings of climate anxiety and ecological grief. We then reflect on our own experiences conducting interdisciplinary and community-engaged research in western North America during and after recent wildfire seasons, including the challenges of recognizing and addressing the psychological impacts of this work. Finally, we synthesize actionable recommendations, and share practical frameworks and tools, for individual researchers, supervisors, and institutions to support researcher mental health and wellbeing in wildfire-related research.

Conclusions

We present tangible actions that individual researchers, supervisors, and institutions can take to support the mental health and wellbeing of wildfire researchers, and call on the wildfire research community to advocate for and implement these within our respective institutions. We argue that concerted action, and cultivating communities of care, is necessary to ensure the quality and sustainability of wildfire research.