AWARD RECIPIENTS HONORED
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
As a past president (2018-2019) and board member, Alen Slijepcevic continues to work tirelessly for the IAWF, contributing to board meetings, committees, position papers, and conference planning and management. Slijepcevic was a core member of the steering committee for the Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference in Canberra.
As a wildland fire professional, Slijepcevic is a highly regarded powerhouse. With strong foundations in science and operations, as well as experience across multiple continents and countries, Slijepcevic works at the senior level in Australia and provides excellent leadership as well as technical and strategic input to so many state and national issues and initiatives.
Slijepcevic is deputy chief officer, fire risk, research and community preparedness, Country Fire Authority.
WILDLAND FIRE SAFETY AWARD
Ben Strahan has been a wildland firefighter working with the U.S. Forest Service working out of northern California since 2001, first on engine crews and later as an interagency hotshot crew member.
Strahan has been superintendent of the Eldorado Hotshots since 2020.
Strahan’s nominator for the safety award said: “Being a good firefighter and a good leader are requirements of the job. But here is the thing about Ben that sets him apart: On the one hand he has been relentlessly dedicated to self-betterment, physical performance, and mental health, and on the other hand he has gone above and beyond to understand, embody, and lobby for a safer working environment for all wildland firefighters.”
Strahan has operated as a hotshot leader on many large wildfires in the western United States.
He has advocated for reforms to health and wellness of firefighters and issues such as pay, access to mental health programs, and better working conditions.
EARLY CAREER AWARD IN FIRE SCIENCE
Dr. Erin Belval is a research forester with the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Since joining the Forest Service in 2021, Belval’s work builds on projects with which she engaged while earning her PhD at Colorado State University, with new energy and attention to critical research needed to support pressing data compilation, complex analytics, and strategic science delivery related to key fire management issues.
Belval is establishing herself as the go to researcher for rigorous science applied to firefighting personal usage and safety. She has led studies related to the wildland fire dispatching system structure and performance and worked to improve the data used to compare fires and the visual delivery of the metrics to decision makers to improve interpretation. Belval’s research focuses on barriers to change and opportunities for the future, with regard to risk-informed decision making at the regional and national level in wildland fire. She has worked directly with the U.S. National MultiAgency Coordination Center to improve intelligence processes that directly impact dispatch allocation.
Belval has also led research designed to quantify the impact of pay on wildland firefighter retention and was invited to participate in forecasting wildland fire suppression costs while explicitly accounting for increased fire activity due to climate change.
Belval has also led research designed to quantify the impact of pay on wildland firefighter retention and was invited to participate in forecasting wildland fire suppression costs while explicitly accounting for increased fire activity due to climate change.
Dr. José Manuel Fernández-Guisuraga is a postdoctoral researcher at CITAB, Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, in Portugal.
Fernández-Guisuraga masters several tools at state-of the-art level, including remote sensing techniques and innovative data analysis tools.
Fernández-Guisuraga published four papers (20202022) in the most prestigious journals of the JCR remote sensing category, including ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing of the Environment.
As a result of his postdoctoral collaboration in an international project of the United States Department of Agriculture and several U.S. universities, Fernández Guisuraga published in 2023 a paper as leading author in which a fundamental driver of the prevailing fire regime in the western United States, the litter accumulation of exotic herbaceous species, was assessed using physically based remote sensing techniques for the first time.
Fernández-Guisuraga was the principal investigator in the British Ecological Society International Research Project Exploring the effects of fire severity on ecosystem multifunctionality in fire-prone landscapes (SR22-100154).
The project produced new knowledge about the functions and services of Mediterranean ecosystems that may be more affected by extreme wildfire events. This novel approach is expected to foster substantial advances in the field of functional and applied ecology.
FIREBREAK AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT
Russell Myers Ross is the program lead, Yunesit’in Qwen (fire) Stewardship, Yunesit’in, British Columbia. Yunesit’in, is one of the six communities within the Tsilhoquot’in Nation.
Myers Ross completed a master’s degree in Indigenous governance at the University of Victoria before returning home to Tsilhqot’in territory, where he was elected chief of Yunesit’in government before the age of 30, serving two terms (2012-2020).
Myers Ross has exercised compassionate and effective leadership through many triumphs and challenges, including the 2017 wildfires that surrounded his Yunesit’in community and devastated much of their territory (totalling 545,151 hectares, the largest fire recorded in British Columbia to that point). As chief, Myers Ross led, managed and supported his community through evacuation and emergency management.
Subsequently, his response and pro-active initiatives included analyzing lessons learned (The Fires Awakened Us, 2018), and taking action to manage wildfire risk while building community response capacity. Most significantly, Myers Ross responded to the wildfires with long-term vision – initiating a program to revitalize Indigenous fire stewardship (cultural burning) practices as a way of healing people and restoring the land, together.
EARLY CAREER AWARD IN FIRE OPERATIONS
Natasha Broznitsky is acting senior research officer for the BC Wildfire Service.
Broznitsky’s leadership in research integration has been instrumental in fostering collaboration between researchers and operational personnel within the BC Wildfire Service. She has facilitated the integration and investigation of research findings by providing valuable information, acting as a point of contact, acting as a field guide, and facilitating introductions to other functional areas.
Broznitsky has been an active member of CIFFC’s national Research and Innovation Integration Committee. Her insights and expertise have contributed significantly to advancing wildfire research and innovation on a national level as she also provides valuable input to Canada Wildfire and FPInnovations Wildfire.
Broznitsky brings a wealth of practical expertise including on-the-ground firefighting in initial attack and fulfilling the critical information officer role as well as numerous other functions during response operations. Her involvement in health research projects covering various aspects of wildland fire personnel health underscores her commitment to enhancing firefighter safety and well-being – a mission critical for the sustainability of firefighting efforts into the future.
Oscar Jared Diaz Carrillo is head of the experimental forestry areas of Universidad Autonoma Chapingo, in Mexico.
Diaz Carrillo has dedicated his career to the promotion of academic excellence and the practical application of knowledge acquired at the Autonomous University of Chapingo. His trajectory in fire management began with a firm commitment to conservation and has been an active advocate for the protection of forest cover, contributing significantly to the conservation of approximately 470 hectares of forest and leading reforestation efforts that have resulted in the establishment of more than 36,000 trees.
Diaz Carrillo specialized in fire management science at various national and international institutions, including a professional internship at the National Fire Management of the National Forestry Commission, where he innovatively used specialized software for the study of fire behavior.
As a firefighter and leader in his community, Diaz Carrillo has been part of both local and university fire departments, has implemented advanced fire behavior analysis techniques and participated in prescribed burns for forest fire prevention.
