Download or read book Wildfire Hazards Risks and Disasters written by Douglas Paton and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-10-20 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 90% of wildfires are caused by human activity, but other causes include lighting, drought, wind and changing weather conditions, underground coal fires, and even volcanic activity. Wildfire Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, one of nine volumes in the Elsevier Hazards and Disasters series, provides a close and detailed examination of wildfires and measures for more thorough and accurate monitoring, prediction, preparedness, and prevention. It takes a geo-scientific and environmental approach to the topic while also discussing the impacts of human-induced causes such as deforestation, debris burning and arson—underscoring the multi-disciplinary nature of the topic. It presents several international case studies that discuss the historical, social, cultural and ecological aspects of wildfire risk management in countries with a long history of dealing with this hazard (e.g., USA, Australia) and in countries (e.g., Taiwan) where wildfire hazards represent a new and growing threat to the social and ecological landscape. Puts the contributions of environmental scientists, social scientists, climatologists, and geoscientists at your fingertips Arms you with the latest research on causality, social and societal impacts, economic impacts, and the multi-dimensional nature of wildfire mitigation, preparedness, and recovery Features a broad range of tables, figures, diagrams, illustrations, and photographs to aid in the retention of key concepts Discusses steps for prevention and mitigation of wildfires, one of the most expensive and complex geo-hazards in the world.
Download or read book Wildfire Risk and Hazard written by U.s. Department of Agriculture and published by Createspace Independent Pub. This book was released on 2012-10-19 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviews have been conducted by Federal oversight agencies and blue ribbon panels to identify causal factors of the unprecedented fire suppression costs and to suggest possible modifications to Federal fire management policy and strategies (USDOI, USDA 2004; USDAOIG 2006; GAO 2007, 2009). Agency and panel member reviews have found that Federal agencies with wildland fire responsibilities are not able to quantify the value of fire management activities in terms of reducing wildfire risk to social, economic, and ecological values. In response, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council's (WFLC) monitoring strategy asked: What are the trends and changes in fire hazard on Federal lands? Fire risk assessment requires an understanding of the likelihood of wildfire by intensity level and the potential beneficial and negative effects to valued resources from fire at different intensity levels. This monitoring study was conducted to meet three broad goals: (1) address the WFLC monitoring question regarding fire hazard on Federal lands; (2) develop information useful in prioritizing where fuels treatments and mitigation measures might be proposed to address significant fire hazard and risk; and (3) respond to critiques by Office of Management and Budget, General Accounting Office, and Congress that call for risk-based performance measures to document the effectiveness of fire management programs. The results of this monitoring study are useful for project planning to quantify the potential effects of proposed actions in terms of reducing risk to specific resources of concern. Developing decision support tools that utilize an appropriate risk management framework would address many of the issues identified within government oversight reports. Specifically, the Office of Inspector General (USDAOIG 2006) reviewed USDA Forest Service (FS) large fire costs and directed that the “FS must determine what types of data it needs to track in order to evaluate its cost effectiveness in relationship to its accomplishments. At a minimum, FS needs to quantify and track the number and type of isolated residences and other privately owned structures affected by the fire, the number and type of natural/cultural resources threatened, and the communities and critical infrastructure placed at risk.” The application of fire risk and fire hazard analyses has been demonstrated at the watershed and National Forest scales (Ager and others 2007). There, specific details regarding probabilities of fire and fire intensity are linked with specific resource benefit and loss functions (Ager and others 2007). Expanding these detailed analyses to regional and national scales to provide consistent risk assessment processes is complicated by the required data specificity and difficulty in developing loss-benefit functions for the range of human and ecological values. The research effort described in this report is designed to develop, from a strategic view, a first approximation of how both fire likelihood and intensity influence risk to social, economic, and ecological values at the national scale. The approach uses a quantitative risk framework that approximates expected losses and benefits from wildfire to highly valued resources (HVR). The information gathered in this study can be summarized in tabular and map formats at many different scales using administrative boundaries or delineations of HVR such as built structure density. The overall purpose of the analysis is to provide a base line of current conditions for monitoring trends in wildfire risk over time. Future analyses would be used to determine trends and changes in response to fuel reduction investments, climate shifts, and natural disturbance events (e.g., bark beetles) between the timeframes analyzed. Monitoring data could be used to address national and regional questions regarding changes in fire risk and hazard as a result of investment strategies or changing conditions.
Download or read book Wildfire Risk written by Wade E. Professor Martin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The continuing encroachment of human settlements into fire-prone areas and extreme fire seasons in recent years make it urgent that we better understand both the physical and human dimensions of managing the risk from wildfire. Wildfire Risk follows from our awareness that increasing public knowledge about wildfire hazard does not necessarily lead to appropriate risk reduction behavior. Drawing heavily upon health and risk communication, and risk modeling, the authors advance our understanding of how individuals and communities respond to wildfire hazard. They present results of original research on the social, economic, and psychological factors in responses to risk, discuss how outreach and education can influence behavior, and consider differences among ethnic/racial groups and between genders with regard to values, views, and attitudes about wildfire risk. They explore the role of public participation in risk assessment and mitigation, as well as in planning for evacuation and recovery after fire. Wildfire Risk concludes with a dedicated section on risk-modeling, with perspectives from decision sciences, geography, operations research, psychology, experimental economics, and other social sciences.
Download or read book Wildfire Risk and Hazard written by United States Department of Agriculture and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-02 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report was designed to meet three broad goals: (1) evaluate wildfire hazard on Federal lands; (2) develop information useful in prioritizing where fuels treatments and mitigation measures might be proposed to address significant fire hazard and risk; and (3) develop risk-based performance measures to document the effectiveness of fire management programs. The research effort described in this report is designed to develop, from a strategic view, a first approximation of how fire likelihood and fire intensity influence risk to social, economic, and ecological values at the national scale. The approach uses a quantitative risk framework that approximates expected losses and benefits to highly valued resources from wildfire. Specifically, burn probabilities and intensities are estimated with a fire simulation model and are coupled with spatially explicit data on human and ecological values and fire-effects response functions to estimate the percent loss or benefit. This report describes the main components of the risk framework, including the burn probability models, highly valued resource data, and development of response functions, and illustrates the application to the State of Oregon. The State of Oregon was selected for prototype due to the wide range of variability in ecoregions represented in the state. All of the highly valued resource themes were represented in the mix of developed and natural resources present in the state.
Download or read book Mapping Wildfire Hazards and Risks written by R Neil Sampson and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2000-10-10 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Develop accurate computer models to determine wildfire risks and controlled-burn benefits! Although scientists now recognize that fire is essential to many ecosystems, the ecological and political issues of managing wildfire continue to be vexing. Mapping Wildfire Hazards and Risks offers multiple perspectives on using a Geographic Information System (GIS) for more effective wildfire management. This innovative technology is the ideal tool to organize and display all the information available, so authorities can make informed judgments based on all the facts. Because the authors are not merely theorizing but discussing the GIS they are actually building and using, Mapping Wildfire Hazards and Risks offers practical ideas and perspectives, including: specific information on the modeling approach and kinds of data utilized valuable discussions of the social and environmental factors included in the model techniques for predicting the effects of wildfire on neighborhoods, soil erosion, sedimentation, and air quality predictions of long-term ecosystem recovery given wildfires of different sizes and intensities maps, charts, tables, and formulas to make the process of building a GIS understandable and accessible Mapping Wildfire Hazards and Risks is a compilation of the ideas of federal and state agencies, universities, and non-governmental organizations on how to rank and prioritize forested watershed areas that are in need of prescribed fire. This book provides the essential information for deciding how to set priorities for wildfire management that might reduce risks or lower future damages.
Download or read book Wildfire Hazard and Risk Assessment written by James R. Meldrum and published by Mdpi AG. This book was released on 2022-03-17 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildfire risk can be perceived as the combination of wildfire hazards (often described by likelihood and intensity) with the susceptibility of people, property, or other valued resources to that hazard. Reflecting the seriousness of wildfire risk to communities around the world, substantial resources are devoted to assessing wildfire hazards and risks. Wildfire hazard and risk assessments are conducted at a wide range of scales, from localized to nationwide, and are often intended to communicate and support decision making about risks, including the prioritization of scarce resources. Improvements in the underlying science of wildfire hazard and risk assessment and in the development, communication, and application of these assessments support effective decisions made on all aspects of societal adaptations to wildfire, including decisions about the prevention, mitigation, and suppression of wildfire risks. To support such efforts, this Special Issue of the journal Fire compiles articles on the understanding, modeling, and addressing of wildfire risks to homes, water resources, firefighters, and landscapes.
Download or read book Fire Hazards Socio economic and Regional Issues written by Jesús Rodrigo-Comino and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wildfire Risk and Hazard written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wildfire Hazard and Risk Assessment written by James R. Meldrum and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildfire risk can be perceived as the combination of wildfire hazards (often described by likelihood and intensity) with the susceptibility of people, property, or other valued resources to that hazard. Reflecting the seriousness of wildfire risk to communities around the world, substantial resources are devoted to assessing wildfire hazards and risks. Wildfire hazard and risk assessments are conducted at a wide range of scales, from localized to nationwide, and are often intended to communicate and support decision making about risks, including the prioritization of scarce resources. Improvements in the underlying science of wildfire hazard and risk assessment and in the development, communication, and application of these assessments support effective decisions made on all aspects of societal adaptations to wildfire, including decisions about the prevention, mitigation, and suppression of wildfire risks. To support such efforts, this Special Issue of the journal Fire compiles articles on the understanding, modeling, and addressing of wildfire risks to homes, water resources, firefighters, and landscapes.
Download or read book WILDFIRE AND COMMUNITY written by Douglas Paton and published by Charles C Thomas Publisher. This book was released on 2012 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildfires represent a growing threat to environments, to people, communities, and to societies worldwide, particularly in the United States, Southern Europe, and Australia. Recognition of this growing risk has highlighted a need to develop people's capacity to adapt to annually occurring events that could increase in frequency and severity over the coming years and decades. The goal of ensuring sustained levels of protective measures in communities susceptible to wildfire hazard consequences has proved to be elusive. This book examines why this is so and identifies ways in which sustained levels of preparedness can be facilitated. Major topics include: wildfire preparedness and resiliency in community contexts; socially disastrous landscape fires in southeastern Australia; landscape typology of residential wildfire risk; proactive human response to wildfires outbreak; forest fires in wildland-urban interface, wildfire risk management; “stay or go” policy in the line of fire; social dimensions of forest fire; the influence of community diversity; evaluating a community engagement initiative; response to fire threats; social media and resiliency; and building on lessons learned. Additional information includes the landscape fires in southeastern Australia, wildfire risk management in Portugal; fire preparedness in Greece, Cyprus, and the Pine Barrens in the northeastern United States. The findings of research programs being conducted in the United States, Australia, Europe, India and South America are presented. The book includes case studies on the analysis and proposed actions of the wildland-urban interface being faced by Central Chile and South America. This book will provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the wildfire preparedness research and its application to the development of risk communications and public education programs.
Download or read book Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire written by James C. Smalley and published by Jones & Bartlett Learning. This book was released on 2005 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Make your community firewise with powerful facts! From coast to coast, an estimated 30,000 communities are at risk from wildland fire. This text provides community leaders and the fire service with the tools required to understand this complex problem and work together to mitigate risks. Protecting Life and Property from Wildfire follows a plan for safer community development, and presents a comprehensive program for protecting lives and property.
Download or read book Wildfire Risk Assessment Guide for Homeowners in the Southern United States written by Alan J. Long and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Wildfire Risk Assessment Framework for Land and Resource Management written by Joe Scott and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-06-22 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildfires-unplanned wildland fires-can result in significant, long-lasting impacts to ecological, social, and economic systems; therefore, it is necessary to identify and quantify the risks posed by wildfire, and to subsequently develop cost-effective mitiga-tion strategies. To do so, fire and fuel managers require information on where fires are likely to occur, the intensity at which they might occur, and with what impacts to highly valued resources and assets (HVRAs; that is, the things we care about). Managers need to assess wildfire risk.
Download or read book Incident Response Pocket Guide and Wildland Urban Interface Wildfire Mitigation Desk Reference Guide All Hazard Response Homeowner Fire Mitigation Firewise Communities Living with Fire written by National Wildfire Coordinating Group and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-07 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ebook reproduces two important wildfire and incident-response documents: Incident Response Pocket Guide and Wildland Urban Interface Wildfire Mitigation Desk Reference Guide. Incident Response Pocket Guide - This reference is intended to assist in reporting key information regarding incident conditions when first arriving on-scene. All agencies will have specific information requirements that may involve additional reports. The intent of this guide is to provide a wildland fire job aid and training reference for operational personnel from Firefighter Type 2 through Division Supervisor and initial attack/extended attack Incident Commanders. It also has a secondary application for all-hazard incident response. Operational Leadership * Communication Responsibilities * Leader's Intent * Human Factor Barriers to Situation Awareness * After Action Review * OPERATIONAL ENGAGEMENT * Risk Management * Planning for Medical Emergencies * Look Up, Down and Around * Look Up, Down and Around (continued) * Common Denominators of Fire Behavior on Tragedy Fires * Common Tactical Hazards * LCES * Safety Zones * Downhill Checklist * Indicators of Incident Complexity * Wildland Urban Interface Firefighting * SPECIFIC HAZARDS * How to Properly Refuse Risk * Thunderstorm Safety * Hazard Tree Safety * Powerline Safety * Roadside Response Safety * Unexploded Ordnance Safety * Oil and Gas Site Safety * Last Resort Survival * ALL HAZARD RESPONSE * Vehicle Accident Operations * HazMat Incident Operations * HazMat Isolation Distances * HazMat Classification for Fixed Facilities based on NFPA 704 * Local Disaster Response * All Hazard Incident Response * Structure Hazard Marking System * Missing Person Search Urgency * AVIATION * Aviation User Checklist * Aviation Watch Out Situations * Helicopter Passenger Briefing and PPE * Flight Following * Helicopter Landing Area Selection * One-Way Helispot * Two-Way Helispot * Longline Mission * Helicopter Hand Signals * Paracargo Operations Safety * Weight Estimates * Aerial Retardant Safety * Directing Retardant and Bucket Drops * Working with Airtankers * Aircraft Mishap Response Actions * SAFECOM Reporting System * OTHER REFERENCES * Spot Weather Forecast * Energy Release Component (ERC) * Burning Index (BI) * Haines Index (HI) * Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) * Lightning Activity Level (LAL) * Weather Watch/Weather Warning * Wind Speed Ranges * Severe Fire Behavior Potential * Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics * Reporting Fire Chemical Introductions * Fire Cause Determination Checklist * Media Interviews * Phonetic Alphabet * EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE GUIDELINES * Emergency Medical Care Guidelines * Patient Assessment * Specific Treatments * CPR * Heat-Related Injuries * Burn Injuries * Injury/Fatality Procedures * Medical Incident Report * Sizeup Report * Briefing Checklist * Standard Firefighting Orders * Wildland Urban Interface Wildfire Mitigation Desk Reference Guide - The effects of wildland fire on communities have become more intense, frequent, and far-reaching. Increased development in the wildland urban interface means higher wildfire risk and more suppression needs, costing billions every year. This book is designed to provide basic background information on relevant programs and terminology for those, whether community members or agency personnel, who are seeking to enhance their community's wildfire mitigation efforts. Mitigation happens at all levels - local, state, tribal, and federal. This guide defines terms and identifies resources that are useful in mitigation planning efforts for all lands. The four primary objectives of this reference guide are to: Provide a reference to assist with integrating wildland urban interface mitigation principles into national wildland fire training; Promote common wildfire mitigation language and culture; Establish an authoritative source for wildland urban interface mitigation information; and Provide consistent definitions for use by all media.
Download or read book A Wildfire Risk Assessment Framework for Land and Resource Management written by Joe H. Scott and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wildfires can result in significant, long-lasting impacts to ecological, social, and economic systems. It is necessary, therefore, to identify and understand the risks posed by wildland fire, and to develop cost-effective mitigation strategies accordingly. This report presents a general framework with which to assess wildfire risk and explore mitigation options, and illustrates a process for implementing the framework. Two key strengths of the framework are its flexibility-- allowing for a multitude of data sources, modeling techniques, and approaches to measuring risk--and its scalability, with potential application for project, forest, regional, and national planning. The specific risk assessment process we introduce is premised on three modeling approaches to characterize wildfire likelihood and intensity, fire effects, and the relative importance of highly valued resources and assets that could be impacted by wildfire. The spatial scope of the process is landscape-scale, and the temporal scope is short-term (that is, the temporal dynamics of succession and disturbance are not simulated). We highlight key information needs, provide guidance for use of fire simulation models and risk geo-processing tools, and demonstrate recent applications of the framework across planning scales. The aim of this report is to provide fire and land managers with a helpful set of guiding principles and tools for assessing and mitigating wildfire risk.
Download or read book Wildfire Risk and Hazard written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Implications of the California Wildfires for Health Communities and Preparedness written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2020-08-31 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: California and other wildfire-prone western states have experienced a substantial increase in the number and intensity of wildfires in recent years. Wildlands and climate experts expect these trends to continue and quite likely to worsen in coming years. Wildfires and other disasters can be particularly devastating for vulnerable communities. Members of these communities tend to experience worse health outcomes from disasters, have fewer resources for responding and rebuilding, and receive less assistance from state, local, and federal agencies. Because burning wood releases particulate matter and other toxicants, the health effects of wildfires extend well beyond burns. In addition, deposition of toxicants in soil and water can result in chronic as well as acute exposures. On June 4-5, 2019, four different entities within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop titled Implications of the California Wildfires for Health, Communities, and Preparedness at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California, Davis. The workshop explored the population health, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and health equity consequences of increasingly strong and numerous wildfires, particularly in California. This publication is a summary of the presentations and discussion of the workshop.