The word "firewave" emerged from an Imperial Hazelab paper, created out of a need to describe and measure the wildfires that struck London during the heatwaves of summer 2022. The paper, titled “Heatwaves and Firewaves: The Drivers of Urban Wildfires in London in the Summer of 2022”, was co-authored by Jamie John and Guillermo Rein and published in 2025 in Fire Technology.
The term was submitted to the dictionary by a member of the public who cited BBC coverage of the Imperial research. Professor Guillermo Rein stated: “Including firewave in a dictionary is a formal recognition of the value of the concept in helping societies recognise, measure and communicate a growing hazard that demands everyone's attention, encouraging better prevention and preparedness. It is a testament to our times that we need new words to describe an emerging hazard of climate change.”
