Murphy Woodhouse
Idaho Reporter, Mountain West News BureauExpertise: Audio production, field reporting, photography, wildfire policy
Education: University of Montana + University of Arizona
Highlights
- I’m fluent in Spanish and love putting Spanish on the air
- I’m an all-conditions bike commuter and e-bike evangelist – EVERY day is a good day to ride
- I’ve seen two total solar eclipses, and intend to see many more before I die
Experience
I joined Boise State Public Radio and the Mountain West News Bureau (MWNB) in April 2023 after about a decade working as a print and radio reporter on both sides of the Arizona-Sonora border. Most recently I was based in the Sonoran capital Hermosillo working for the Phoenix NPR affiliate KJZZ. At the MWNB, I’ve tried to leverage my past experience as a wildland firefighter to provide listeners with informed coverage of a number of key issues in wildland fire. I’m especially interested in efforts to improve the famously challenging and dangerous working conditions on the fireline.
I’ve been a news photographer for a number of years now, but have more recently decided to really hone my skills. As a part of that, I try to have a camera on me whenever I’m out and about. I love sharing images that capture something essential about wherever I’m shooting, like young folks flinging themselves off the Greenbelt truss bridge last summer or car lights stretching along Highway 28 as meteors streak overhead in the lonely Lemhi Valley.
Email: Trail tips? Story tips? Know a secret the public ought to hear? Drop me a line!
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The Cross-Boundary Wildfire Solutions Act is fairly simple: it directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study obstacles to conducting wildfire mitigation projects on land with multiple owners or jurisdictions. Within two years, the GAO is expected to share its report and recommendations. -
Both in the United States and around the world, fire seasons in 2025 were relatively light. Yet the loss of lives and property hit historic highs, raising questions about whether acres burned is the best metric to assess devastation caused by wildfires, according to a recent analysis. -
Wildfire smoke is associated with a growing list of health impacts. New research now ties it to reproductive harm in bulls – a finding with implications for humans. -
Researchers looked at more than 750,000 wildfires in the West between 1992 and 2020. In the second half of that period, the number of reported wildfires were down by 31%, but acreage burned was up 40%. -
Alongside homeowners insurance premiums, costs for multi-family rental property policies and other insurance required in the business are also on the rise. That has big implications for tenants – especially those in subsidized or affordable housing. -
The Mountain West News Bureau’s wildfire reporter Murphy Woodhouse recently spoke at length with Chief Brian Fennessy, the inaugural head of the Department of Interior’s U.S. Wildland Fire Service. A major theme of their conversation was firefighter health and well-being. -
Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho and Wyoming have no statewide wildfire building codes. Colorado adopted a code last year, with enforcement expected to begin this year. Most other Western states are somewhere in between. -
At night, temperatures are often cooler and the air is wetter, which gives wildland firefighters a long window to make up significant ground when trying to suppress blazes. But that pattern is breaking down, a trend driven by human-caused climate change, according to a new study. -
Growth has been strong over the last year despite a great deal of uncertainty last spring over the future of the ambitious effort. -
One of the studies found that over seven recent years, U.S. Forest Service projects helped communities avoid $2.8 billion in fire-related harm.
