UBC experts available to comment on B.C. wildfires
As the 2026 wildfire season continues, communities are facing ongoing risks from fire, smoke and extreme weather. UBC experts are available to comment on wildfires and related topics.
- Disaster preparedness
- Environmental and ecological impacts
- Health
- Wildfire management, climate change
Disaster preparedness
Dr. Greg Garrard, PhD
(He/Him/His)
Professor, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, UBC Okanagan
Phone: 250-863-2822 (please text first before calling)
Email: greg.garrard@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- wildfire in Canadian culture
- social media effects on wildfire communication and management
- wildfire and crisis communications
- institutional trust during wildfires
- responding to misinformation during wildfires
- factors influencing evacuation behaviour during wildfires
Dr. Amy M. Kim, PhD, PEng
(She/Her/Hers)
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering
Email: amykim@civil.ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- disaster response, including evacuation and infrastructure issues, specifically around transportation systems
*Unavailable Aug. 24-27
Dr. Kathryn McConnell, PhD, MESc
(She/Her/Hers)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Sociology
Email: kathryn.mcconnell@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- social impacts of wildfire
- migration and displacement due to wildfire
- urban wildfires
- rebuilding after wildfire
Dr. Felix Wiesner, MEng, PhD
(He/Him/His)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Wood Science
phone: 604-822-9852
Email: felix.wiesner@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English, German
Expertise:
- fire safety, fire impact on structures
- wildland-urban interface
- fire safety building codes and standards
*Unavailable in September
Environmental and ecological impacts
Dr. Monika Fischer, PhD
(She/Her/Hers)
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Botany, Dept. of Forest Sciences
Email: monika.fischer@botany.ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- biotic response to fire, especially fungi and other soil microbes
- fungal adaptations to fire
Dr. Alesandro Ielpi
Assistant Professor, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, UBC Okanagan
Email: alessandro.ielpi@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English, Italian
Expertise:
- watershed processes
- rivers and floodplains
- post-fire flooding
- stream widening and bank erosion
*Unavailable until Aug. 16
Dr. David Scott
Associate Professor, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences
Email: david.scott@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- fire effects on soils and hydrology (fire–flood–erosion sequences)
Health
Dr. Jennifer Baumbusch, PhD, RN
Professor, School of Nursing
Email: jennifer.baumbusch@nursing.ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- evacuation considerations for older adults and people with disabilities
- impact of wildfire evacuations on staff working in affected long-term care homes
Dr. Michael Brauer, ScD
Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: michael.brauer@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- air quality and health impacts from smoke
- how to minimize exposure to smoke
*Unavailable Aug. 31-Sept. 17
Dr. Christopher Carlsten, MD, MPH
Professor and Head, UBC Respiratory Medicine, Respiratory Division, Dept. of Medicine, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute
phone: 604-875-4122
Email: carlsten@mail.ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- air pollution, environmental health, gene–environment interactions, and public health
- lead investigator of the Lungs on Fire project, studying long-term health effects of wildfire smoke across diverse populations
*Unavailable Aug. 13-24
Dr. Sarah Henderson, BASc, PhD
(She/Her/Hers)
Scientific Director, Environmental Health Services, BC Centre for Disease Control
Professor, School of Population and Public Health
Email: sarah.henderson@bccdc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- wildfire smoke, air pollution and extreme heat as environmental health threats
- public health, epidemiology and the health impacts of climate-related exposures
- health impacts of wildfire smoke and extreme heat and ways to protect health
Wildfire management, climate change
Dr. Jen Baron
(She/Her/Hers)
Assistant Professor, UBC Okanagan and Member, Centre for Wildfire Coexistence
Email: jen.baron@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- fire ecology
- wildfire impacts, wildfire recovery, wildfire management
- prescribed fire
- fire risk, fire behaviour, fuels
- ecosystem restoration
*Generally available Mon-Fri 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Unavailable Aug. 20-27.
Patrick Baylis, PhD
(He/Him/His)
Associate Professor, Vancouver School of Economics
Email: patrick.baylis@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- wildfires and housing policy (e.g., land use, building codes, defensible space programs)
- effects of wildfire smoke
Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais
Assistant Professor and Co-director, Centre for Wildfire Coexistence
Email: mathieu.bourbonnais@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English, French
Expertise:
- fire risk monitoring, fire behaviour, sensors for wildfire detection, and prescribed fire
Dr. Lori Daniels
Professor, Dept. of Forest and Conservation Sciences and Co-Director, Centre for Wildfire Coexistence
Email: lori.daniels@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English, Spanish
Expertise:
- fire weather, behaviour, impacts
- fuel mitigation
- eco-cultural restoration using fire
- fire history in B.C.
*Available through Sept. 30
Dr. Kira Hoffman, PhD
(She/Her/Hers)
NSERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship
Phone: 250-876-8440
Email: kira.hoffman@bvcentre.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- fire behaviour, pyrodiversity and prescribed burning
- proactive wildfire management
*Unavailable Aug. 24-28
Dr. Sarah Dickson-Hoyle, PhD
(She/Her/Hers)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Forest and Conservation Sciences
Email: sarah.dickson-hoyle@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- fire ecology
- community resilience and risk reduction
- proactive wildfire management
- prescribed burning
- wildfire recovery and ecosystem restoration
*Unavailable Aug. 11-25
Dr. José Martí
Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Email: jrms@ece.ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- AI-based digital twin for optimal real-time wildfire response during multiple simultaneous fires
- Wildfire early warning (WEW) for critical infrastructure and communities
- Numerical algorithms for high-spatial-resolution wildfire propagation prediction in seconds
Jane Park, MSc
Prescribed Fire Training Manager, UBCO Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Email: jane.s.park@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- former wildfire incident commander on Parks Canada’s National Incident Management teams
- fire ecology, prescribed fire
- emergency management, incident management
*Limited availability Aug. 25-Sept. 6
Dr. John Thompson
Assistant Professor, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, UBC Okanagan
Email: john.thompson@ubc.ca
Interview languages: English
Expertise:
- statistical fire growth modelling and simulation
- fire image analysis
*Unavailable through Aug. 15
