Fighting Fire with Fire — How Controlled Burning Strengthens Forest Preparedness

Through her project Burning for Conservation, Olga explores how reintroducing fire can reduce fuel buildup, restore biodiversity, and help Sweden adapt to a warmer, drier climate where wildfires are expected to become more frequent and harder to control.

Bringing fire back — safely

“For centuries, we’ve tried to remove fire from our landscapes,” Olga says. “But by doing so, we also removed the natural processes that kept forests open, diverse, and resilient.”

Since the 1700s, fire suppression and land-use change have created darker, denser forests where oak and pine struggle to regenerate. Many fire-adapted species are disappearing — along with the ecosystems that depend on them.

Her work combines ecology, fieldwork, and data analysis to understand how to use fire safely and effectively — as a tool for long-term forest preparedness.

Preparedness in practice

Olga’s burns are precise operations involving detailed planning, firebreaks, and constant monitoring of wind, humidity, and fuel conditions.
“During the burn, I become everything at once — coordinator, safety officer, and researcher,” she says. “We track fire spread and temperature minute by minute.”

The data she collects adds depth to Sweden’s national fire records, showing how fires behave under different forest types and weather conditions.
This knowledge helps improve fire simulations, risk assessments, and training for emergency services.

“The goal is to move from reacting to preventing,” Olga says. “If we understand fire behavior, we can plan ahead — and strengthen preparedness before a real emergency happens.”

From research to resilience

The implications reach far beyond academic study. By mapping fire behaviour and overlaying it with Sweden’s forest data, Olga and her colleagues can pinpoint which areas are most at risk and which can act as natural firebreaks — information that can guide both landowners and emergency services.

“Once we know which trees and fuels slow down a fire, we can design landscapes that are more resilient,” she says.

For example, promoting patches of oak or birch within pine-dominated forests can limit how far wildfires spread. It’s a nature-based approach to preparedness — using the forest’s own composition to protect itself.

A balance of danger and renewal

“I don’t want to sound like a pyromaniac,” Olga laughs, “but fire is simply amazing. It’s powerful, unpredictable, and alive — a force that connects ecology, physics, and human safety.”

Her hope is clear: that prescribed burning becomes a natural, evidence-based part of Swedish forest management — helping society prepare for the challenges of tomorrow by understanding the power of fire today.