Supporting a shift in wildfire management from fighting fires to thriving with fires: The need for translational wildfire science

2021 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 102565
Author(s):  
Fantina Tedim ◽  
Sarah McCaffrey ◽  
Vittorio Leone ◽  
Carmen Vazquez-Varela ◽  
Yaella Depietri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wildfire Management

scholarly journals Navigating the Wildfire–Pandemic Interface: Public Perceptions of COVID-19 and the 2020 Wildfire Season in Arizona

Fire ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Catrin M. Edgeley ◽  
Jack T. Burnett
Keyword(s):  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Wildfire Risk ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Literature Highlight ◽  
Wildfire Season

COVID-19 has complicated wildfire management and public safety for the 2020 fire season. It is unclear whether COVID-19 has impacted the ability of residents in the wildland–urban interface to prepare for and evacuate from wildfire, or the extent to which residents feel their household’s safety has been affected. Several areas with high wildfire risk are also experiencing record numbers of COVID-19 cases, including the state of Arizona in the southwestern United States. We conducted a mixed-mode survey of households in close proximity to two recent wildfires in rural Arizona to better understand whether residents living in the wildland–urban interface perceive COVID-19 as a factor in wildfire safety. Preliminary data suggest that the current challenges around collective action to address wildfire risk may be further exacerbated due to COVID-19, and that the current pandemic has potentially widened existing disparities in household capacity to conduct wildfire risk mitigation activities in the wildland–urban interface. Proactive planning for wildfire has also increased perceived ability to practice safe distancing from others during evacuation, highlighting the benefits that household planning for wildfire can have on other concurrent hazards. Parallels in both the wildfire and pandemic literature highlight vast opportunities for future research that can expand upon and advance our findings.

Comparison of homeowner response to wildfire risk among towns with and without wildfire management

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Faulkner ◽  
Bonita L. McFarlane ◽  
Tara K. McGee
Keyword(s):  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Wildfire Risk

Predicting wildfire vulnerability using logistic regression and artificial neural networks: a case study in Brazil's Federal District

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Pozzobon de Bem ◽  
Osmar Abílio de Carvalho Júnior ◽  
Eraldo Aparecido Trondoli Matricardi ◽  
Renato Fontes Guimarães ◽  
Roberto Arnaldo Trancoso Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Ann Model ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Artificial Neural ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Ann

Predicting the spatial distribution of wildfires is an important step towards proper wildfire management. In this work, we applied two data-mining models commonly used to predict fire occurrence – logistic regression (LR) and an artificial neural network (ANN) – to Brazil’s Federal District, located inside the Brazilian Cerrado. We used Landsat-based burned area products to generate the dependent variable, and nine different anthropogenic and environmental factors as explanatory variables. The models were optimised via feature selection for best area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and then validated with real burn area data. The models had similar performance, but the ANN model showed better AUC (0.77) and accuracy values when evaluating exclusively non-burned areas (73.39%), whereas it had worse accuracy overall (66.55%) when classifying burned areas, in which LR performed better (65.24%). Moreover, we compared the contribution of each variable to the models, adding some insight into the main causes of wildfires in the region. The main driving aspects of the burned area distribution were land-use type and elevation. The results showed good performance for both models tested. These studies are still scarce despite the importance of the Brazilian savanna.

Forest Fires

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Charbonneau
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Percolation Cluster ◽  
Natural Process ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Fire Model ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Forest Fire Model ◽  
Self Organized Criticality

This chapter explores how a “natural” process generates dynamically something that is conceptually similar to a percolation cluster by using the case of forest fires. It first provides an overview of the forest-fire model, which is essentially a probabilistic cellular automata, before discussing its numerical implementation using the Python code. It then describes a representative simulation showing the triggering, growth, and decay of a large fire in a representative forest-fire model simulation on a small 100 x 100 lattice. It also considers the behavior of the forest-fire model as well as its self-organized criticality and concludes with an analysis of the advantages and limitations of wildfire management. The chapter includes exercises and further computational explorations, along with a suggested list of materials for further reading.

scholarly journals Forest Governance in Nepal: Rationale for Centralised Forest and Wildfire Management

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 16-35
Author(s):  
Iván Győző Sombai ◽  
John Karakatsoulis ◽  
Wendy Gardner ◽  
Ambika P. Gautam ◽  
Sundar Prasad Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Management Programme ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Forest Governance ◽  
Similar Measure ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Forest Fire Management ◽  
The Government

Numerous inter-related social and institutional factors are causing concern as to effective responses to the increasing number and severity of forest and wildfires in Nepal, due in similar measure to socio-cultural, politico-bureaucratic as well as global climatic issues. Our binational team of multisectoral field practitioners in bureaucratic as well as natural resource and fire management compiled and verified background information to more clearly discern the issues affecting improved fire governance and thereupon has made supportive recommendations for the belated establishment of a dedicated unit within the Government of Nepal Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation to coordinate, administer and manage a comprehensive forest fire management programme.

scholarly journals A century of changing fire management alters ungulate forage in a wildfire-dominated landscape

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 523-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly M Proffitt ◽  
Jesse DeVoe ◽  
Kristin Barker ◽  
Rebecca Durham ◽  
Teagan Hayes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Forage Quality ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Winter Range ◽  
Forestry Practices ◽  
Summer Range ◽  
Straightforward Approach

Abstract Forestry practices such as prescribed fire and wildfire management can modify the nutritional resources of ungulates across broad landscapes. To evaluate the influences of fire and forest management on ungulate nutrition, we measured and compared forage quality and abundance among a range of land cover types and fire histories within 3 elk ranges in Montana. We used historical fire data to assess fire-related variations in elk forage from 1900 to 2015. Fire affected summer forage more strongly than winter forage. Between 1900–1990 and 1990–2015, elk summer range burned by wildfire increased 242–1772 per cent, whereas the area on winter range burned by wildfire was low across all decades. Summer forage quality peaked in recently burned forests and decreased as time since burn increased. Summer forage abundance peaked in dry forests burned 6–15 years prior and mesic forests burned within 5 years. Forests recently burned by wildfire had higher summer forage quality and herbaceous abundance than those recently burned by prescribed fire. These results suggest that the nutritional carrying capacity for elk varies temporally with fire history and management practices. Our methods for characterizing nutritional resources provide a relatively straightforward approach for evaluating nutritional adequacy and tracking changes in forage associated with disturbances such as fire.

scholarly journals A Temporal Framework of Large Wildfire Suppression in Practice, a Qualitative Descriptive Study

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 884 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simpson ◽  
Bradstock ◽  
Price
Keyword(s):  
Resource Use ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Resource Productivity ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Stage Classification ◽  
Wildfire Suppression ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive

Suppression activities on large wildfires are complicated. Existing suppression literature does not take into account this complexity which leaves existing suppression models and measures of resource productivity incomplete. A qualitative descriptive analysis was performed on the suppression activities described in operational documents of 10 large wildfires in Victoria, Australia. A five-stage classification system summarises suppression in the everyday terms of wildfire management. Suppression can be heterogeneous across different sectors with different stages occurring across sectors on the same day. The stages and the underlying 20 suppression tasks identified provide a fundamental description of how suppression resources are being used on large wildfires. We estimate that at least 57% of resource use on our sample of 10 large wildfires falls outside of current suppression modelling and productivity research.

Where's the fire? Quantifying uncertainty in a wildfire threat model

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Jones ◽  
M. F. Garvey ◽  
G. J. Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Data ◽  
Uncertainty Assessment ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Minimal Impact ◽  
Threat Model ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Input Dataset ◽  
Land Cover Maps

Models of wildfire threat are often used in the management of fire-prone areas for purposes such as planning fire education campaigns and the deployment of fire prevention and suppression resources. While the use of spatial or geographic data is common to all wildfire threat models, the key question arises: Is the accuracy of the spatial data used in wildfire threat models sufficient for the intended decision-making purpose? To help answer this question, a quantitative uncertainty assessment technique was applied to a wildfire threat model used by the Country Fire Authority in Victoria, Australia. The technique simulates known or estimated spatial data error by modifying data values to represent the range of all probable errors present in the input dataset. The wildfire threat model is then run multiple times using these modified ‘error’ layers in order to simulate and observe the effect these errors have on the model outputs. For the model concerned, the results suggest that errors in digital elevation surfaces have only minimal impact upon the outputs, resulting in relatively stable wildfire management decisions. On the other hand inaccuracies in land cover maps (with implied differences in fuel load estimations) result in larger changes in the model outputs, whereas changes in fire weather data can result in highly unstable outputs. Knowledge of these effects can facilitate better wildfire management since any improvements that are to be made to the model’s accuracy can be focussed directly upon the problem datasets.

A methodology for determining operational priorities for prevention and suppression of wildland fires

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Rodríguez y Silva ◽  
Juan Ramón Molina Martínez ◽  
Armando González-Cabán
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Forest Land ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Land Use Conversion ◽  
Management Personnel ◽  
Fundamental Information ◽  
Difficulty Index ◽  
A Site ◽  
Risk Potential

Traditional uses of the forest (timber, forage) have been giving way to other uses more in demand (recreation, ecosystem services). An observable consequence of this process of forest land use conversion is an increase in more difficult and extreme wildfires. Wildland forest management and protection program budgets are limited, and managers are requesting help in finding ways to objectively assign their limited protection resources based on the intrinsic environmental characteristics of a site and the site’s interrelationship with available firefighting resources and existing infrastructure. A Fire Suppression Priority Index, integrating information on both the potential fire behaviour risk (Potential Fire Behaviour Index) and the fire suppression difficulty (Suppression Difficulty Index), provides managers with fundamental information for strategic planning and development of tactical operations to protect the natural environment. Results in the Córdoba Province, Andalusia’s autonomous region, Spain, showed a statistically significant relationship between wildfire size and all three indices, demonstrating the utility of the methodology to identify and prioritise forest areas for strategic and tactical fire management operations. In addition, the methodology was tested and validated by trained and qualified wildfire management personnel in Chile and Israel, obtaining similar results as in Spain.

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