Built structure identification in wildland fire decision support

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Calkin ◽  
Jon D. Rieck ◽  
Kevin D. Hyde ◽  
Jeffrey D. Kaiden
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structure Identification ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Wildland Fire Management

Recent ex-urban development within the wildland interface has significantly increased the complexity and associated cost of federal wildland fire management in the United States. Rapid identification of built structures relative to probable fire spread can help to reduce that complexity and improve the performance of incident management teams. Approximate structure locations can be mapped as specific-point building cluster features using cadastral data records. This study assesses the accuracy and precision of building clusters relative to GPS structure locations and compares these results with area mapping of housing density using census-based products. We demonstrate that building clusters are reasonably accurate and precise approximations of structure locations and provide superior strategic information for wildland fire decision support compared with area density techniques. Real-time delivery of structure locations and other values-at-risk mapped relative to probable fire spread through the Wildland Fire Decision Support System Rapid Assessment of Values at Risk procedure supports development of wildland fire management strategies.

scholarly journals Effects of policy change on wildland fire management strategies: evidence for a paradigm shift in the western US?

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse D. Young ◽  
Alexander M. Evans ◽  
Jose M. Iniguez ◽  
Andrea Thode ◽  
Marc D. Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Western Us ◽  
Strategic Options ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Wildland Fire Management

In 2009, new guidance for wildland fire management in the United States expanded the range of strategic options for managers working to reduce the threat of high-severity wildland fire, improve forest health and respond to a changing climate. Markedly, the new guidance provided greater flexibility to manage wildland fires to meet multiple resource objectives. We use Incident Status Summary reports to understand how wildland fire management strategies have differed across the western US in recent years and how management has changed since the 2009 Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy. When controlling for confounding variation, we found the 2009 Policy Guidance along with other concurrent advances in fire management motivated an estimated 27 to 73% increase in the number of fires managed with expanded strategic options, with only limited evidence of an increase in size or annual area burned. Fire weather captured a manager’s intent and allocation of fire management resources relative to burning conditions, where a manager’s desire and ability to suppress is either complemented by fire weather, at odds with fire weather, or put aside due to other priorities. We highlight opportunities to expand the use of strategic options in fire-adapted forests to improve fuel heterogeneity.

Wildfire Management and Forecasting Fire Potential: The Roles of Climate Information and Social Networks in the Southwest United States

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gigi Owen ◽  
Jonathan D. McLeod ◽  
Crystal A. Kolden ◽  
Daniel B. Ferguson ◽  
Timothy J. Brown
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Types Of Information ◽  
Wildland Fire Management

Abstract Continuing progress in the fields of meteorology, climatology, and fire ecology has enabled more proactive and risk-tolerant wildland fire management practices in the United States. Recent institutional changes have also facilitated the incorporation of more advanced climate and weather research into wildland fire management. One of the most significant changes was the creation of Predictive Services in 1998, a federal interagency group composed, in part, of meteorologists who create climate- and weather-based fire outlooks tailored to fire manager needs. Despite the numerous forecast products now available to fire managers, few studies have examined how these products have affected their practices. In this paper the authors assess how fire managers in the Southwest region of the United States perceive and incorporate different types of information into their management practices. A social network analysis demonstrates that meteorologists have become central figures in disseminating information in the regional interagency fire management network. Interviews and survey data indicate that person-to-person communication during planning phases prior to the primary fire season is key to Predictive Services’ success in supporting fire managers’ decision making. Over several months leading up to the fire season, predictive forecasts based on complex climate, fuels, and fire-risk models are explained to fire managers and updated through frequent communication. The study’s findings suggest that a significant benefit of the information sharing process is the dialogue it fosters among fire managers, locally, regionally, and nationally, which better prepares them to cooperate and strategically plan for the fire season.

scholarly journals Developing the US Wildland Fire Decision Support System

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin K. Noonan-Wright ◽  
Tonja S. Opperman ◽  
Mark A. Finney ◽  
G. Thomas Zimmerman ◽  
Robert C. Seli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Program Effectiveness ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Informed Decision Making

A new decision support tool, the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) has been developed to support risk-informed decision-making for individual fires in the United States. WFDSS accesses national weather data and forecasts, fire behavior prediction, economic assessment, smoke management assessment, and landscape databases to efficiently formulate and apply information to the decision making process. Risk-informed decision-making is becoming increasingly important as a means of improving fire management and offers substantial opportunities to benefit natural and community resource protection, management response effectiveness, firefighter resource use and exposure, and, possibly, suppression costs. This paper reviews the development, structure, and function of WFDSS, and how it contributes to increased flexibility and agility in decision making, leading to improved fire management program effectiveness.

scholarly journals The Haines Index – it's time to revise it or replace it

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Potter
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Original Publication ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Large Growth ◽  
Wildland Fire Management ◽  
Original Index

The Haines Index is used in wildland fire management to evaluate the potential for ‘large and/or erratic’ fire behaviour. Published in 1988 as the Lower Atmospheric Severity Index, it was widely adopted and has become popular among fire managers, especially in the United States. Meteorologists have questioned its validity, however. This study revisits the original publication to consider the scientific basis of the Index. It then examines subsequent studies of the Index’s performance. The original Index formulation is found to be incomplete. Some studies suggest that, nonetheless, there may be some association of the Index with large growth events. Others indicate that the Index can be negatively correlated with growth in some situations. The Index, at present, lacks a scientific basis and the limited studies examining its value are inconclusive. It is unclear whether it would more appropriately be revised or replaced.

Research and development supporting risk-based wildfire effects prediction for fuels and fire management: status and needs

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Hyde ◽  
Matthew B. Dickinson ◽  
Gil Bohrer ◽  
David Calkin ◽  
Louisa Evers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Risk Processes

Wildland fire management has moved beyond a singular focus on suppression, calling for wildfire management for ecological benefit where no critical human assets are at risk. Processes causing direct effects and indirect, long-term ecosystem changes are complex and multidimensional. Robust risk-assessment tools are required that account for highly variable effects on multiple values-at-risk and balance competing objectives, to support decision making. Providing wildland fire managers with risk-analysis tools requires a broad scientific foundation in fire behaviour and effects prediction as well as high quality computer-based tools and associated databases. We outline a wildfire risk-assessment approach, highlight recent developments in fire effects science and associated research needs, and recommend developing a comprehensive plan for integrated advances in wildfire occurrence, behaviour and effects research leading to improved decision support tools for wildland fire managers. We find that the current state of development in fire behaviour and effects science imposes severe limits on the development of risk-assessment technology. In turn, the development of technology has been largely disconnected from the research enterprise, resulting in a confusing array of ad hoc tools that only partially meet decision-support needs for fuel and fire management. We make the case for defining a common risk-based analytic framework for fire-effects assessment across the range of fire-management activities and developing a research function to support the framework.

A comparison of three approaches for simulating fine-scale surface winds in support of wildland fire management. Part I. Model formulation and comparison against measurements

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Forthofer ◽  
Bret W. Butler ◽  
Natalie S. Wagenbrenner
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Neutral Stability ◽  
Wind Fields ◽  
Forecast Models ◽  
Wildland Fire Management

For this study three types of wind models have been defined for simulating surface wind flow in support of wildland fire management: (1) a uniform wind field (typically acquired from coarse-resolution (~4km) weather service forecast models); (2) a newly developed mass-conserving model and (3) a newly developed mass and momentum-conserving model (referred to as the momentum-conserving model). The technical foundation for the two new modelling approaches is described, simulated surface wind fields are compared to field measurements, and the sensitivity of the new model types to mesh resolution and aspect ratio (second type only) is discussed. Both of the newly developed models assume neutral stability and are designed to be run by casual users on standard personal computers. Simulation times vary from a few seconds for the mass-conserving model to ~1h for the momentum-conserving model using consumer-grade computers. Applications for this technology include use in real-time fire spread prediction models to support fire management activities, mapping local wind fields to identify areas of concern for firefighter safety and exploring best-case weather scenarios to achieve prescribed fire objectives. Both models performed best on the upwind side and top of terrain features and had reduced accuracy on the lee side. The momentum-conserving model performed better than the mass-conserving model on the lee side.

scholarly journals Megafires on the Southern Great Plains

2019 ◽  
pp. 164-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Todd Lindley ◽  
Douglas A. Speheger ◽  
Matthew A. Day ◽  
Gregory P. Murdoch ◽  
Bradley R. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Policy ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Antecedent Precipitation ◽  
Complex Phenomena

A global increase in megafires has occurred since the mid-1990s. Defined as wildfires that burn more than 405 km2 (100 000 ac), megafires are complex phenomena with wide ranging societal impacts. In the United States, scientific literature and wildland fire policy has traditionally focused upon megafires in forests of the American West. However, megafires also pose a significant threat to life and property on the southern Great Plains. The southern Great Plains is characterized by grass-dominated prairie and is climatologically prone to dry and windy weather, which facilitates extreme rates of fire spread leading to some of the largest wildfires in North America. This study documents 16 megafires on the plains of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas between 2006 and 2018. Most of these megafires occurred during southern Great Plains wildfire outbreaks, or plains firestorms, characterized by fire-effective low-level thermal ridges. Fuel and weather conditions supporting the 2006–2018 plains megafires are quantified by antecedent precipitation anomalies, fuel moisture, Energy Release Component, relative humidity, sustained wind speed, and temperature percentiles. Three modes of plains megafire evolution are identified by the analyses as short-duration, long-duration, and hybrid. Abrupt wind shifts and carryover fire in heavy dead fuels dictate megafire potential and evolutionary type. The presented analyses define favorable fuel and weather conditions that allow forecasters to discriminate megafire environments from typical plains fire episodes. Further, predictive signals for plains megafire conceptual model types can improve anticipation of southern Great Plains megafire evolution, threats, and management strategies.

A comparison of three approaches for simulating fine-scale surface winds in support of wildland fire management. Part II. An exploratory study of the effect of simulated winds on fire growth simulations

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Forthofer ◽  
Bret W. Butler ◽  
Charles W. McHugh ◽  
Mark A. Finney ◽  
Larry S. Bradshaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Fire Growth ◽  
Conservation Of Mass ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Fire Planning ◽  
Fine Resolution ◽  
Wildland Fire Management

The effect of fine-resolution wind simulations on fire growth simulations is explored. The wind models are (1) a wind field consisting of constant speed and direction applied everywhere over the area of interest; (2) a tool based on the solution of the conservation of mass only (termed mass-conserving model) and (3) a tool based on a solution of conservation of mass and momentum (termed momentum-conserving model). Fire simulations use the FARSITE fire simulation system to simulate fire growth for one hypothetical fire and two actual wildfires. The momentum-conserving model produced fire perimeters that most closely matched the observed fire spread, followed by the mass-conserving model and then the uniform winds. The results suggest that momentum-conserving and mass-conserving models can reduce the sensitivity of fire growth simulations to input wind direction, which is advantageous to fire growth modellers. The mass-conserving and momentum-conserving wind models may be useful for operational use as decision support tools in wildland fire management, prescribed fire planning, smoke dispersion modelling, and firefighter and public safety.

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