Wildfire intelligence capability gap analysis

Wildfires pose a continued and mounting national threat. To accelerate progress in addressing wildfire threats, experts from The Aerospace Corporation, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The MITRE Corporation, and the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research formed the Wildfire Working Group (WWG).

Their May 2025 white paper explores practical, scalable solutions for strategically addressing key capability gaps in wildfire intelligence, highlighting associated investments needed. The study spotlights seven critical areas where focused investments can deliver outsized benefits, especially in the wildland-urban interface.