Pyrosketchology

Pyrosketchology is an approach for building awareness of the fire environment through observations, sketching and nature journaling practices. The book is intended as a guide to create deeper awareness and educational support for fire-adapted living. If you are an educator looking for creative outdoor exercises, a nature enthusiast looking for interesting information about the fire environment, a property owner looking for ways to understand and evaluate your fire environment or a firefighter/practitioner looking to enhance your observation skill this book is for you.

Each chapter of the book is available in a free PDF format that can be printed only for individual educational use.

Book illustrations may be licensed, with a small fee, for limited educational and not-for-profit purposes. Use the contact form to discuss and request use.

Pyrosketchology Program: Image

Thank You

I am so grateful for the support and assistance with developing this book. Thank you Marian Kile for your editing support. Thank you Coleen Haskell and others for your fire and weather technical review. Thank you John Muir Laws and others for your review and support on the nature journaling and visual elements.

Pyrosketchology Program: Text

Fire Environment

I define the fire environment as the mix of elements that influence fire combustion and behavior in the “natural” landscape. Weather, topography and fuels (vegetation) are the primary elements of the fire behavior triangle which is a large focus of this book, but I also include the broader topics of fire seasons, fire ignitions, fire mitigation, fire effects and fire regimes as a means to unfold the complexities and deeper understanding of fire.

Pyrosketchology Program: Text

Nature Journaling

Nature journaling is the personal practice of documenting nature observations. This is not a new approach but something that has been used by many scientists, explorers, naturalists and artists throughout time. We may have new technologies that allow us to document observations and track information but the science has shown that in-nature and hands-on practices are a better learning approach.

I learned about nature journaling from John Muir Laws, an artists, educator and naturalist that has written several books. He also leads a number of annual conferences and monthly workshops, along with social media sites to support educators and nature journalers. He has developed simple approaches to build curiosity and connections with nature, integrating deeper learning practices. He recommends using a mix of pictures, numbers and words to describe your observations. He also includes key observation prompts such as “I notice…”, “I wonder…”, and “It reminds me of…”

Pyrosketchology Program: Text

Sensemaking & Situational Awareness

One of the goals of pyrosketchology is to help develop a better sense of place, which includes fire. Sensemaking is something we develop naturally as we interact with the places where we live, work and play. Our sense of place is usually framed around our values, experiences and education. Thus, our sense of place can be biased and lacking in ecological connections and the context of fire. Nature journaling is a helpful tool in expanding our sense of place through curiosity, questions and detailed observations.

Another focus of the book is on developing situational awareness (SA). SA is most often associated with the observations and activities that can inform us about some level of threat, hazard and or risk. People working in science laboratories, zoos, fishing boats or fire management have specific situational awareness considerations for their activities. Consider how someone that is knowledgeable about wolf behavior will know that when the ears are pinned back against the head, there is a higher level of threat. By learning these cues they can decide what to do next. By learning about the observations and cues pertaining to fire hazards and risks we can develop ways to adapt to fire as a natural part of the landscape.

SA is developed through keen awareness and the ongoing attention to environmental cues that can help us predict and respond to threats. A part of this process is to compare past and present observations and to analyze trends that can help you predict how situations may unfold over time. In the fire environment we can use some of the fire behavior principles and environmental indicators as a baseline to help us make general estimates for potential fire behaviors and hazard levels. The foundational observations occur before a fire event, with the during and after fire observations used to compare with the baseline indicators. In the following chart, I have summarized the fire sensemaking and situational awareness elements.

Pyrosketchology Program: Text