iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I love working in fire because I can show up to some random fire camp and run into someone I vaguely recognize before figuring out that they floated my crew off a fire on the Middle Fork Salmon in 2017 and gave me Oreos after two weeks of MREs and I nearly cried with joy.

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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 01/07/2026

Judge hands down 50-year sentence to defendant Ines Soto, whose wife Elizabeth was sentenced to same prison term

theguardian.com

Seven more sentenced to prison over protest outside Texas detention center

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

The death of 3 firefighters in Colorado is yet another tragic reminder that our ability to suppress wildfires is completely outmatched by conditions on the ground. These landscapes have changed, and humans simply can't contend with wildfires fueled by climate change, beatle kill & high winds.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Hey fire nerds, any of you coming to Missoula for the Forest Ecology conference next week??

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/2/... scholar.google.com/citations?vi... scholar.google.com/citations?vi... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... (Requires purchase): www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/...

mdpi.com

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Murphy Woodhouse @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

An important idea I've heard from @amonthei.bsky.social is "unsuppressability." Many are possessed of the VERY mistaken notion that all wildfires CAN BE suppressed. But 4 a select few, there is no technology on Earth that can stop them. Humility is part of the path out of the wildfire crisis.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

As far as I know, most places don't have geologic hazard alerts for those at risk for landslides and debris flows. But if you live below a recent burn scar, on an alluvial fan, or get your water from an area that has recently burned, I would do some research on how to prepare for the coming storm.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Massive atmospheric river heading towards the PNW this week, bringing a half inch of rain a day to some areas and up to five inches of rain total in places. These types of storms destabilize slopes that are susceptible to landslides, which includes slopes that have been destabilized by fire!

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Murphy Woodhouse @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Great interview with @riverselby.bsky.social on her new book HOTSHOT, which is now very much on my list. Follow @amonthei.bsky.social’s Life With Fire if you are interested in thoughtful conversations about wildfire.

podcasts.apple.com

Braiding The Personal with the Ecological, with HOTSHOT Author River Selby

Podcast Episode · Life with Fire · 10/17/2025 · 1h 9m

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

The funny thing is that I'm fairly certain the author of these books was in the Wildfire subreddit last year asking some extremely specific questions (with full admission of what she was working on) and the community was really kind/helpful with her requests! www.amazon.com/Sky-Ridge-Ho...

amazon.com

Sky Ridge Hotshots

Visit Amazon's Sky Ridge Hotshots Page and shop for all Sky Ridge Hotshots books. Check out pictures, author information, and reviews of Sky Ridge Hotshots

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Was talking to a groups of 50-ish year old women at a concert last night. They asked what I did and I told them about my wildfire work. One went “OH! I just read a series of *spicy* novels about hotshots! I learned so much about firefighting from it!” Is smut an underrated form of #scicomm? lol

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Thank you so much for sharing, Murphy!

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Murphy Woodhouse @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Thank you @amonthei.bsky.social for a very thoughtful conversation about the north rim situation. If you care about our terrible relationship with fire and getting more good fire on the ground, this is the podcast for you. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...

podcasts.apple.com

The Social Contract of Managing Fire with Stephen Pyne

Podcast Episode · Life with Fire · 07/17/2025 · 45m

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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Medical debt shouldn’t ever be a thing in a developed country. No other Western industrialized nation has it.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

My Roman empire is that some version of the headline below could happen in almost every county in the US right now if it experienced a disaster. We need to sit with that and then figure out how to do better—quickly. abcnews.go.com/US/hard-hit-...

abcnews.go.com

Hard-hit Texas county had no flood warning sirens despite years of discussions

State and local officials in Texas have come under scrutiny over the lack of sirens in place to warn people of impending flash flooding.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Anyone know where to find smoke data or live-ish prescribed fire/wildfire maps for (northern) Spain? Was great weather for burning today and I biked by at least two sizable burns, was hoping to find more info about them!

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Community-level resilience has been a heavily requested topic by listeners over the years, but I could never give it the space I think it needed—I'm immensely grateful to Fire Aside for supporting my efforts to explore this topic from multiple angles and perspectives!

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

In our final episode of the series we spoke with Butte County Fire Safe Council ED Taylor Nilsson, who talked about the realities of recovering from and preparing for megafires, often simultaneously. Butte County has had over 90% of its WUI burned in 1999! lifewithfirepodcast.com/episodes/com...

lifewithfirepodcast.com

Ep. 76—Community Resilience Series Ep.3: Preparing for and Recovering From Megafires with Butte County Fire Safe Council Executive Director Taylor Nilsson

Welcome to the third and final episode of our Community Wildfire Resilience Series, supported by Fire Aside! In this episode, we spoke with Butte County Fire Safe Council Executive Director Taylor Nil...

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Ep. 2 was with Fire Aside CEO Jason Brooks, who spoke to the importance of scaling up home risk assessments and how Fire Aside fills this critical gap, particularly as more data is needed to inform state-wide policy (which connects to our previous ep.) lifewithfirepodcast.com/episodes/com...

lifewithfirepodcast.com

Ep. 75—Community Resilience Series Episode 2: The Importance of Scaling Up Home Risk Assessments with Fire Aside CEO Jason Brooks

Welcome to the second episode in our series about community-level wildfire resilience, supported by Fire Aside! We spoke with Fire Aside CEO and co-founder Jason Brooks about how Fire Aside—a home ass...

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

The first episode was with former CAL FIRE chief deputy director Chris Anthony, who spoke to big picture policy considerations in the community resilience space (particularly in CA, where Chris now consults with a number of fire-adjacent orgs and companies): lifewithfirepodcast.com/episodes/com...

lifewithfirepodcast.com

Ep. 74—Community Resilience Series Ep. 1: California Wildfire Policy (And So Much More) with Former CAL FIRE Chief Deputy Director Chris Anthony

Welcome to the first episode in a three-part series about community wildfire resilience, sponsored by Fire Aside. This episode explores a number of big, meaty topics you’ve likely been hearing about ...

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

I just finished up a month-long podcast series (supported by @fireaside.bsky.social), all centered on Community Wildfire Resilience. My approach to this conversation was to start as big as possible—with community resilience policy in California—and end at the community/implementation scale.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

A red card is required to respond to wildfire incidents, whether as a firefighter, information officer, logistics chief or other roles that support firefighting operations. So anyone who goes out on wildfires either as part of their normal job or on top of their normal job would have a red card.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

I don't have anything longer form yet. I just heard these numbers this morning, though many fire folks have been ringing the alarm on this since cuts started in February. We're about to enter the "find out" phase of f*ucking around and finding out.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

We will, without a single doubt, be short of firefighters and fire support folks this year. This will, without a single doubt, impact firefighter safety.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Due to DOGE cuts, RIFs and early retirements, the Forest Service has lost 1600 red-carded individuals and five complex incident management teams (the teams that manage the large, complex incidents that you see on the news) ahead of what is expected to be an active wildfire season.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

I will keep this in mind! I spoke with Susan Jane Brown (www.silvixresources.org/about) on this topic last week and am hoping to release that episode soonish. But I'm also working on a substack post about this topic and may need additional interviews/context to make that happen as well. Thank you!

silvixresources.org

About | Silvix Resources

Silvix Resources advances the conservation, restoration, and stewardship of western public lands.

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Lee Klinger PhD @suddenoaklife.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Center for Biological Diversity (@biologicaldiversity.org) recently published an opinion piece: "‘Active management’ harms forests — and it’s about to get a whole lot worse." Given that this article has considerable bearing on my profession, allow me to offer a different point of view. 🌎🍁🔥🌳

therevelator.org

‘Active Management’ Harms Forests — And It’s About to Get a Whole Lot Worse • The Revelator

Forest management approaches promoted as “resilience,” “restoration,” “fuel reduction,” and “forest health” often degrade natural systems and reduce carbon stocks.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

One reason the feds aren't discussing the situation & planning with state/local resources is because they aren't allowed to do so. Seeing it all laid out in this article is bracing. We are already well behind the curve & stand no chance of getting ahead of the 2025 fire year. Prepare accordingly.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Still amazed that these two maps are not making more news and generating more public comment. Especially given the intentionally degraded capacity of the federal wildland fire service.

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GrumpyUncleSean🔥 @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

New paper alert -- Gavin Jones strikes again! Key findings: • Fire-driven complete loss of mature forest habitat in California is possible by 2100 under 'business as usual'. • Active forest restoration could slow or reverse trends of mature forest loss. 🧪🌍🔥

sciencedirect.com

Collapse and restoration of mature forest habitat in California

Mature and old-growth forests provide critically important ecosystems services and wildlife habitats, but they are being lost at a rapid rate to uncha…

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Thanks for your ongoing coverage of this, Murphy!

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

thank you for reading, as always <3

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Something I think about a lot: We will never be able to prevent wildfires. Sorry, we just won't. Humans on the whole have dumb and sometimes malicious tendencies. It's well past time to accept this reality, from coast to coast, no matter how "at-risk" your community is.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

My staunchly conservative father—who used to call me a treehugger for ordering a salad at dinner—is now talking about food dyes and GMOs. Consider this a strong indicator that RFK's messaging has reached the last offline holdouts in the rural Midwest.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Just noticed I have two new podcast reviews. It's all about balance!

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Murphy Woodhouse @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Here is the statement that I just got from NIOSH on the status of the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, perhaps the most ambitious effort to date to understand the firefighting-cancer connection. This is a huge deal.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Who wants to come on Life with Fire to talk about the policy/capacity/infrastructure limitations of Trump's plan to increase logging on public lands? Would also love to get some input on what we actually *should* be worried about with that USDA memo so we can be more targeted than "STOP LOGGING!"

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

A local conservation organization is promoting a book club that's preparing to read a Chad Hanson book. I've already sent them an email telling them this is embarrassing. Now considering a covert book club infiltration to subtly espouse the benefits of active management for forest health.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

just want to shout out the one guy in Arizona who listens to all of my podcast episodes religiously the day they come out and immediately messages me his thoughts about it. Robert, if you follow me here, just know you're keeping this ship afloat my man.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

New Life with Fire episode is live today! I spoke with Collin Haffey—the @wadnr.bsky.social Post Fire Recovery Program Manager—about all things post-fire, including the common gaps that communities face in effectively recovering from wildfire. Listen here: lifewithfirepodcast.com/episodes/aft...

lifewithfirepodcast.com

Ep. 73—After The Fire with Collin Haffey

Today’s episode is all about post-fire—how to plan and prepare for post-fire challenges like debris flows and landslides, how to recover at a community and landscape scale, how to maintain a love of p...

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

I hope you're doing well now and have gotten power back. This was such an unprecedented, devastating storm for this area. Wishing you and yours the best in the recovery phase.

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NFFE Local 34 @nffe-local34.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

We’ll see you out there.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I'm angry that the prevailing messaging, it seems, is that this area is a safe haven from climate change. I wonder if this perspective resulted in people being less prepared...and it's events like this that prove (yet again!!) that nowhere is ultimately safe from climate change.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

It's devastating to watch this from afar. This area has no precedent for an event like this and I worry about the death toll considering the elderly population there. I'm also angry about the messaging and preparedness around this event...

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

This area has been wildly lucky in the grand scheme of major disasters, meaning many people were nowhere near prepared for up to a week without power *during a cold snap*. Gov. Whitmer declared a state of emergency this morning.

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Amanda Monthei @amonthei.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

I just want to draw attention to the catastrophic ice storm in Northern Michigan right now. My family lives there and they are nearly out of gas to fuel their generators. Temps in the 20s tonight, in the teens tomorrow night. Power outages expected for at least another week.

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