What Our Newsroom Fellow is Learning about Fire
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Dear Reader,
Earlier this month, I attended a two-day virtual workshop on wildfires by the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources. The workshop covered all facets of wildfires, from the science to Indigenous practices to insurance. I studied earth sciences as an undergraduate and did my senior thesis on the relationship between wildfires and droughts across North America. I felt pretty confident in my ability to report on fires.
But being in this workshop taught me that reporting on fires isn't just about knowing the science or being accurate –– it is about the narratives we choose to talk about this topic. One of the main points that all of the speakers really drove home for me was that fire is not our enemy. All cultures across the world that have retained their indigenous value systems, whether in North America, Africa, or Europe, have a sense of camaraderie with fire, a connection that was developed across millennia when we first lived in landscapes shaped by fire and later learned to use fire to shape landscapes ourselves.
Simply put, nature cannot exist without fire. Yet, when we talk about it, especially here in the West where homes are regularly ravaged by flames, we feel a sense of fear. We fear the very thing that makes the existence of nature possible, and thus, the very thing that makes our existence possible. And so, the question is: how do we share stories about these very real losses brought on by fire, but in a way that doesn't make it the ultimate villain?
There are no easy answers, but after this workshop, I have become more mindful of the narratives that I choose to tell stories about fire. IJNR presented a wide variety of speakers including scientists, insurance representatives, and firefighters. All of them brought in different perspectives, but they all agreed on one thing: our relationship with fire needs to change.
I am using what I learned at this workshop to report stories from communities that are trying to build a better relationship with fire and the challenges that come with it, especially when trying to protect your own home. So, stay tuned during the new year (and read some of our past fire coverage here.) If you have a tip to share, please feel free to reach out at shreya.agrawal@thexylom.com.
Yours sincerely,
Shreya Agrawal, Newsroom Fellow
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