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This year, California experienced some of its worst wildfires in history, killing 30 people, destroying over 16,000 structures and harming the health of thousands. Indigenous communities, closely tied to the land, have been hit hard. But wildfires and their management are not new – across North America and beyond, droughts and rising temperatures caused by climate change are increasing the frequency and destructiveness of these blazes.

“If we’re going to solve this wildfire crisis, we need to be working together,” says Cody Desautel, a firefighter with 30 years’ experience and executive director of the Colville Tribe in North Central Washington State in the US. Desautel has witnessed wildfires become an escalating threat, fuelled by climate change and short-sighted land management practices. Yet indigenous knowledge may also hold the solution.  For centuries, communities like Desautel’s have practiced “cultural burning” to manage forests and support biodiversity. This traditional practice, long side-lined, is now being re-examined as scientists and local communities join forces to fight fire.

Urgent issues

This story, highlighting the intersection between local communities and science, is one of many featured on , a podcast from Wellcome. Hosted by botanist-turned-actor Alisha Wainwright, the show explores the incredible stories of people on the forefront of discovery science, research solving urgent health challenges, and the huge impact science has on all of us. Wainwright brings her science background and love of storytelling to the role. “We have a treasure trove of research projects to explore, and it gives listeners a real sense that amazing science is being done and that it is effective.”

Desautel’s story features in her favourite episode, which explores how traditional “cultural burning” can help prevent wildfires – an approach that Nicole Redvers, a member of the Deninu Kųę First Nation, in the Northwest territories of Canada, and researcher at Western University says Western science is only just embracing. “Short-sighted forest management practices have really contributed to the increasing destructiveness of wildfires,” Redvers told Wainwright.

Natural firebreaks

One common practice is to use the weed-killer glyphosate on forests to kill deciduous trees and encourage the more profitable coniferous forest growth. But this removes natural firebreaks and increases risk of wildfire.

The health impacts are stark – particularly for Indigenous communities who often lack air conditioning and other measures to protect against smoke. Fine particulate matter in wildfire smoke is linked to asthma, heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, cancers, as well as mental health issues.

Cultural burning can offer a way forward – setting small, deliberate fires guided by intergenerational knowledge about how the brush grows, when vegetation is thriving, and how animals move through the forest.

Studies comparing people’s blood and lung function show smoke from these beneficial burns is less harmful than wildfire smoke. “With beneficial fire, you could barely pick up the smoke particles [in the blood]”, says Kari Nadaeu, at Harvard School of Public Health. Nadeau and her colleagues took the data to the World Health Organization and now policymakers are using it to incorporate beneficial fires back into land management.

Yet true progress isn’t about bringing Indigenous people to a Western table and asking how to assimilate their knowledge into their systems, says Redvers. “Why are we not thinking about how we integrate Western systems to Indigenous systems?”

This theme – putting communities at the heart of science – is consistent across the podcast. Another favourite episode of Wainwright’s features Scott O’Neill, founder of the World Mosquito Program and his work to combat dengue fever using a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia, which reduces the mosquitoes’ ability to carry and transmit viruses like dengue.  O’Neill’s work has been supported by Wellcome for more than a decade.

Viral load

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible for almost all the world’s dengue transmission, infecting around 390 million people each year, killing thousands. To combat this, O’Neill’s group introduced Wolbachia into the mosquito. Released into the wild, the Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes spread the bacterium as they breed, reducing the transmission of the dengue virus to humans.

Elegant it may be, but implementation wasn’t easy. “We can’t just go into these communities and say, ‘this is good for you, you should accept it’,” says O’Neill. In Bello, Columbia, Joanny Rendon, a community volunteer played a role in spreading the word to her neighbours. “We went from house to house, churches, supermarkets, informing people on why it was important.” When someone from your own community tells the story, people listen, she says. As a result, seasonal peaks of dengue fell by more than 90 per cent.

Wainwright hopes listeners come away inspired by the podcast. Other episodes in season two explore cholera prevention in Kenya, equitable access to genomics, and even stories from people using digital avatars to regain control over psychosis. Each one reinforcing Wellcome’s goal of creating a healthier future for everyone, through scientific innovation.

“When I read the news, I feel hopeless and frustrated,” says Wainwright. “What I love about each episode is that I never come away feeling disappointed in the world.”

Season two of is available now on all podcast platforms.