Developing wildfire and prescribed fire training in the United Kingdom

About the Speaker

Rob Gazzard – Forestry Commission’s Advisor on Contingency Planning and Wildfire in the Policy Advice Team.

Since 1999 Rob has attended over 10 large wildfire incidents in the South of England, undertaking training and operational responses globally, including North America (Oregon and California) and Europe (Spain and Portugal), as well as a sabbatical to Australia. He was one of only two UK members in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism as Technical Advisor and Operations Commander. Rob was also Team Leader of the UK’s first official international wildfire deployment using a bilateral agreement to Greece in 2018. He is a founding member of the England and Wales Wildfire Forum, and joint-coordinator of the UK Wildfire Research Group, an Advisor to Central Government and official SAGE member.

Rob’s talk focuses on the development, engagement, implementation and future of accredited vegetation fire training for land managers, forester and researchers in the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Fire in Practice seminars

The Fire in Practice – Conversations with Wildfire Practitioners seminar series, organised by the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society, aims to explore the developments and challenges in the ‘real world’ of landscape fire, reflecting on the role and opportunities of research in addressing the issues. The seminars will be held every two months (usually the last Tuesday of the month), and are free and open to all interested audiences. Each seminar involves 30-40min of a guest speaker presentation, followed by opportunity for Q&A and discussion.

Once you have registered, you will receive a joining link closer to the event.

The Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society is a collaboration between Imperial College London, King’s College London, Royal Holloway, and the University of Reading.

Any queries, please contact wildfire@imperial.ac.uk