A Review of Initial Attack Fire Crew Productivity and Effectiveness

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 199 ◽  
Author(s):  
KG Hirsch ◽  
DL Martell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Initial Attack ◽  
Forest Fire Management ◽  
Rules Of Thumb ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Management Decision Support

Information regarding the productivity and effectiveness of initial attack fire crews is essential to a wide variety of forest fire management activities. This paper provides a selective review of crew productivity research conducted in Australia, Canada, and the United States and a cursory overview of how such information is used in computer-based fire management decision support systems. A description of several widely used rules-of-thumb that relate suppression effectiveness to fire intensity is presented as well as our understanding of how these guidelines may have evolved. This is followed by an example of some of the difficulties associated with transferring productivity and effectiveness information between fire management organizations and fire environments. The paper concludes with a discussion of strategies for investigating initial attack crew performance.

scholarly journals Understanding Forest Fire Management in Indonesia from a Global Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Indra Agus Riyanto ◽  
Ahmad Cahyadi ◽  
Faricha Kurniadhini ◽  
Hafidz Bachtiar ◽  
Dwiki Apriyana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Forest Fire Management ◽  
Fire Disaster ◽  
Forest Fire Disaster

Forest fires are one of the global issues that attract worldwide attention. Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and Indonesia are among the countries with the largest forest cover and long records of massive forest fires. Forest fire management is, therefore, critical to decreasing the severity level of these fires. Current conditions indicate that, compared with the four other countries, Indonesia has significantly reduced forest fires within the past five years. Consequently, adopting a global perspective to study the characteristics of forest fire disaster management has become necessary. For each management parameter, this research employed a literature review and descriptive analysis. The results showed that Indonesia had an advantage in the field of legal regulation. Indonesia tends to change its regulations within a short span of time, resulting in the number of forest fire incidents decreasing significantly compared with Russia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. However, the country still has several weaknesses, namely in emergency responses, forest fire monitoring technology, and inter-institutional integration in forest fire disaster management.

AFOPro: a nutrient management decision support system for the United States

2004 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahadeb De ◽  
Robin W. Kloot ◽  
Elzbieta Covington ◽  
Anton Bezuglov ◽  
Hemanth Taduri
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Management Decision Support

scholarly journals Towards enhanced risk management: planning, decision making and monitoring of US wildfire response

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Dunn ◽  
David E. Calkin ◽  
Matthew P. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Current Response ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Response Decisions

Wildfire’s economic, ecological and social impacts are on the rise, fostering the realisation that business-as-usual fire management in the United States is not sustainable. Current response strategies may be inefficient and contributing to unnecessary responder exposure to hazardous conditions, but significant knowledge gaps constrain clear and comprehensive descriptions of how changes in response strategies and tactics may improve outcomes. As such, we convened a special session at an international wildfire conference to synthesise ongoing research focused on obtaining a better understanding of wildfire response decisions and actions. This special issue provides a collection of research that builds on those discussions. Four papers focus on strategic planning and decision making, three papers on use and effectiveness of suppression resources and two papers on allocation and movement of suppression resources. Here we summarise some of the key findings from these papers in the context of risk-informed decision making. This collection illustrates the value of a risk management framework for improving wildfire response safety and effectiveness, for enhancing fire management decision making and for ushering in a new fire management paradigm.

Evaluating a model for predicting active crown fire rate of spread using wildfire observations

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 3015-3028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E Alexander ◽  
Miguel G Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Research ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Predictive Capacity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Spread Model

We evaluated the predictive capacity of a rate of spread model for active crown fires (M.G. Cruz, M.E. Alexander, and R.H. Wakimoto. 2005. Can. J. For. Res. 35: 1626–1639) using a relatively large (n = 57) independent data set originating from wildfire observations undertaken in Canada and the United States. The assembled wildfire data were characterized by more severe burning conditions and fire behavior in terms of rate of spread and the degree of crowning activity than the data set used to parameterize the crown fire rate of spread model. The statistics used to evaluate model adequacy showed good fit and a level of uncertainty considered acceptable for a wide variety of fire management and fire research applications. The crown fire rate of spread model predicted 42% of the data with an error lower then ±25%. Mean absolute percent errors of 51% and 60% were obtained for Canadian and American wildfires, respectively. The characteristics of the data set did not allow us to determine where model performance was weaker and consequently identify its shortcomings and areas of future improvement. The level of uncertainty observed suggests that the model can be readily utilized in support of operational fire management decision making and for simulations in fire research studies.

scholarly journals Creating and Using Data Portals to Support Ocean Planning: Challenges and Best Practices from the Northeast United States and Elsewhere

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
SeaPlan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Data Accessibility ◽  
Data Portal

As more ocean plans are developed and adopted around the world, the importance of accessible, up-to-date spatial data in the planning process has become increasingly apparent. Many ocean planning efforts in the United States and Canada rely on a companion data portal–a curated catalog of spatial datasets characterizing the ocean uses and natural resources considered as part of ocean planning and management decision-making.Data portals designed to meet ocean planning needs tend to share three basic characteris- tics. They are: ocean-focused, map-based, and publicly-accessible. This enables planners, managers, and stakeholders to access common sets of sector-speci c, place-based information that help to visualize spatial relationships (e.g., overlap) among various uses and the marine environment and analyze potential interactions (e.g., synergies or con icts) among those uses and natural resources. This data accessibility also enhances the transparency of the planning process, arguably an essential factor for its overall success.This paper explores key challenges, considerations, and best practices for developing and maintaining a data portal. By observing the relationship between data portals and key principles of ocean planning, we posit three overarching themes for data portal best practices: accommodation of diverse users, data vetting and review by stakeholders, and integration with the planning process. The discussion draws primarily from the use of the Northeast Ocean Data Portal to support development of the Northeast Ocean Management Plan, with additional examples from other portals in the U.S. and Canada.

scholarly journals Evaluating Student Performance on Computer-Based versus Handwritten Exams: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-762
Author(s):  
Besir Ceka ◽  
Andrew J. O’Geen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Relative Ease ◽  
Randomized Field Experiment ◽  
Course Management Software ◽  
Computer Based

ABSTRACTThe use of course-management software such as Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas has become ubiquitous at all levels of education in the United States. A potentially useful feature of these products is the ability for instructors to administer assessments including quizzes and tests that are flexible, easy to customize, and quick and efficient to grade. Although computer-based assessments offer clear advantages, instructors might be concerned about their effect on student performance. This article evaluates whether student performance differs between handwritten and computer-based exams through a randomized field experiment conducted in a research methods course. Overall, our findings suggest a significant improvement in student performance on computer-based exams that is driven primarily by the relative ease of producing thorough responses on the computer versus by hand.

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