Allocating fuel breaks to optimally protect structures in the wildland–urban interface
Avi Bar Massada A C , Volker C. Radeloff A and Susan I. Stewart B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
B Northern Research Station, US Forest Service, 1033 University Avenue, Suite 360, Evanston, IL 60201, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: barmassada@wisc.edu
International Journal of Wildland Fire 20(1) 59-68 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF09041
Submitted: 28 April 2009 Accepted: 29 March 2010 Published: 14 February 2011
Abstract
Wildland fire is a major concern in the wildland–urban interface (WUI), where human structures intermingle with wildland vegetation. Reducing wildfire risk in the WUI is more complicated than in wildland areas, owing to interactions between spatial patterns of housing and wildland fuels. Fuel treatments are commonly applied in wildlands surrounding WUI communities. Protecting the immediate surroundings of structures and building with fire-resistant materials might be more effective, but limited resources and uncooperative homeowners often make these impractical. Our question was how to allocate fuel treatments in the WUI under these constraints. We developed an approach to allocate fuel breaks around individual or groups of structures to minimise total treatment area. Treatment units were ranked according to their housing density and fire risk. We tested this method in a Wisconsin landscape containing 3768 structures, and found that our treatment approach required considerably less area than alternatives (588 v. 1050 ha required to protect every structure independently). Our method may serve as a baseline for planning fuel treatments in WUI areas where it is impractical to protect every single house, or when fire-proofing is unfeasible. This approach is especially suitable in regions where spotting is a minor cause of home ignitions.
References
Agee JK, Bahro B, Finney MA, Omi PN, Sapsis DB, Skinner CN, van Wagtendonk JW, Weatherspoon CP (2000) The use of shaded fuelbreaks in landscape fire management. Forest Ecology and Management 127, 55–66.| The use of shaded fuelbreaks in landscape fire management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Ager AA, McMahan AJ, Barrett JJ, McHugh CW (2007) A simulation study of thinning and fuel treatments on a wildland–urban interface in eastern Oregon, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning 80, 292–300.
| A simulation study of thinning and fuel treatments on a wildland–urban interface in eastern Oregon, USA.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Arno SF, Brown JK (1989) Managing fire in our forests – time for a new alternative. Journal of Forestry 87, 44–46..
Bahro B, Barber KH, Sherlock JW, Yasuda DA (2007) Stewardship and fireshed assessment: a process for designing a landscape fuel treatment strategy. In ‘Restoring Fire-adapted Ecosystems: Proceedings of the 2005 National Silviculture Workshop’, 6–10 June 2005, Tahoe City, CA. (Ed. RF Powers) USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, General Technical Report PSW-GTR-203, pp. 41–54. (Albany, CA)
Bar Massada A, Radeloff VC, Stewart SI, Hawbaker TJ (2009) Wildfire risk in the wildland–urban interface: a simulation study in north-western Wisconsin. Forest Ecology and Management 258, 1990–1999.
| Wildfire risk in the wildland–urban interface: a simulation study in north-western Wisconsin.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bevers M, Omi PN, Hof J (2004) Random location of fuel treatments in wildland community interfaces: a percolation approach. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34, 164–173.
| Random location of fuel treatments in wildland community interfaces: a percolation approach.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cohen JD (2000) Preventing disaster: home ignitability in the wildland–urban interface. Journal of Forestry 98, 15–21..
Cohen JD (2001) Wildland–urban fire – a different approach. In ‘Proceedings of the Firefighter Safety Summit’, 6–8 November, 2001, Missoula, MT. (International Association of Wildland Fire: Fairfax, VA)
Cohen JD, Stratton RD (2003) Home destruction. In ‘Hayman Fire Case Study’. (Tech. Ed. RT Graham) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-114, pp. 263–292. (Ogden, UT)
Cohen JD, Stratton RD (2008) Home destruction examination, Grass Valley Fire. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, San Bernardino National Forest, R5-TP-026b. (Vallejo, CA)
Finney MA (1998) FARSITE: Fire area simulator – model development and evaluation. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Research Paper RMRS-RP-4. (Ogden, UT)
Finney MA (2001) Design of regular landscape fuel treatment patterns for modifying fire growth and behavior. Forest Science 47, 219–228..
Finney MA (2002) Fire growth using minimum travel time methods. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 32, 1420–1424.
| Fire growth using minimum travel time methods.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Finney MA (2005) The challenge of quantitative risk analysis for wildland fire. Forest Ecology and Management 211, 97–108.
| The challenge of quantitative risk analysis for wildland fire.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Finney MA (2006) An overview of FlamMap fire modeling capabilities. In ‘Fuels Management – How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings’, 28–30 March 2006, Portland, OR. (Eds PL Andrews, BW Butler) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Proceedings RMRS-P-41, pp. 213–220. (Fort Collins, CO)
Finney MA (2007) A computational method for optimizing fuel treatment locations. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, 702–711.
| A computational method for optimizing fuel treatment locations.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hammer RB, Radeloff VC, Fried JS, Stewart JS (2007) Wildland–urban interface housing growth during the 1990s in California, Oregon, and Washington. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, 255–265.
| Wildland–urban interface housing growth during the 1990s in California, Oregon, and Washington.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hessburg PF, Reynolds KM, Keane RE, James KM, Salter RB (2007) Evaluating wildland fire danger and prioritizing vegetation and fuels treatments. Forest Ecology and Management 247, 1–17.
| Evaluating wildland fire danger and prioritizing vegetation and fuels treatments.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kennedy MC, Ford ED, Singleton P, Finney MA, Agee JK (2008) Informed multiobjective decision-making in environmental management using Pareto optimality. Journal of Applied Ecology 45, 181–192.
| Informed multiobjective decision-making in environmental management using Pareto optimality.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Nowak DJ, Walton JT (2005) Projected urban growth (2000–2050) and its estimated impact on the US forest resource. Journal of Forestry 103, 383–389..
Parisien M, Junor DR, Kafka VG (2007) Comparing landscape-based decision rules for placement of fuel treatments in the boreal mixed wood of western Canada. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, 664–672.
| Comparing landscape-based decision rules for placement of fuel treatments in the boreal mixed wood of western Canada.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Platt RV, Veblen TT, Sherriff RL (2008) Spatial model of forest management strategies and outcomes in the wildland–urban interface. Natural Hazards Review 9, 199–208.
| Spatial model of forest management strategies and outcomes in the wildland–urban interface.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Quincy Library Group (1990) Fuels management for fire protection. Available at http://www.qlg.org/pub/agree/penney.htm [Verified 17 December 2010]
Radeloff VC, Hammer RB, Stewart SI, Fried JS, Holcomb SS, McKeefry AJ (2005) The wildland–urban interface in the United States. Ecological Applications 15, 799–805.
| The wildland–urban interface in the United States.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rehm RG, Hamins A, Baum HR, McGrattan KB, Evans DD (2002) Community-scale fire spread. In ‘Proceedings of the California’s 2001 Wildfire Conference: Ten Years after the 1991 East Bay Hills Fire’, 10–12 October 2001, Oakland, CA. (Eds KS Blonski, ME Morales, TJ Morales) Technical Report 35-01-462, pp. 126–139. (University of California Forest Products Laboratory: Richmond CA) Available at http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/fire02/art019.html [Verified 17 December 2010]
Reinhardt ED, Keane RE, Calkin DE, Cohen JD (2008) Objectives and considerations for wildland fuel treatment in forested ecosystems of the interior western United States. Forest Ecology and Management 256, 1997–2006.
| Objectives and considerations for wildland fuel treatment in forested ecosystems of the interior western United States.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rollins MG, Frame CK (2006) The LANDFIRE Prototype Project: nationally consistent and locally relevant geospatial data for wildland fire management. USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-175. (Fort Collins, CO)
Schmidt DA, Taylor AH, Skinner CN (2008) The influence of fuels treatment and landscape arrangement on simulated fire behavior, Southern Cascade Range, California. Forest Ecology and Management 255, 3170–3184.
| The influence of fuels treatment and landscape arrangement on simulated fire behavior, Southern Cascade Range, California.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Spyratos V, Bourgeron PS, Ghil M (2007) Development at the wildland–urban interface and the mitigation of forest-fire risk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104, 14 272–14 276.
| Development at the wildland–urban interface and the mitigation of forest-fire risk.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BD2sXhtVGhtLzK&md5=e5f16e032b77c356535b0b9524591eb1CAS |
Sturtevant BR, Cleland DT (2007) Human and biophysical factors influencing modern fire disturbance in northern Wisconsin. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, 398–413.
| Human and biophysical factors influencing modern fire disturbance in northern Wisconsin.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Suffling R, Grant A, Feick R (2008) Modeling prescribed burns to serve as regional firebreaks to allow wildfire activity in protected areas. Forest Ecology and Management 256, 1815–1824.
| Modeling prescribed burns to serve as regional firebreaks to allow wildfire activity in protected areas.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Syphard AD, Radeloff VC, Keely JE, Hawbaker TJ, Clayton MK, Stewart SI, Hammer RB (2007) Human influence on California fire regimes. Ecological Applications 17, 1388–1402.
| Human influence on California fire regimes.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 17708216PubMed |
Wei Y, Rideout D, Kirsch A (2008) An optimization model for locating fuel treatments across a landscape to reduce expected fire losses. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 38, 868–877.
| An optimization model for locating fuel treatments across a landscape to reduce expected fire losses.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Weisstein EW (2009) Convex polygon. In ‘MathWorld – A Wolfram Web Resource’. Available at http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ConvexPolygon.html [Verified January 2009]
