Sequoia ForestKeeper has a
great respect for fire's ability to replenish the soil and
clear out the dead brush and weak trees in the forest.
But sometimes, fire gets too close to communities and
destroys people's homes because they were not aware of what
measures homeowners can take to protect their property from
wildfire. Here, you will find the latest reports on what
steps people whose property abuts the forest should take in
order to protect their land and dwellings.
This page contains fire science information on community protection, fuels
reduction in the general forest, and salvage logging.
COMMUNITY PROTECTION
FIRE PROBABILITY, FUEL TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS AND ECOLOGICAL TRADE-OFFS
IN WESTERN U.S. PUBLIC FORESTS
The Open Forest Science Journal January 2008
INTRODUCTION
Fuel treatments to reduce fire
impacts have been promoted as a public forest restoration priority
by policy [1] and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. It
is difficult to generalize about the effectiveness of fuel
treatments under all conditions [2, 3], but treatments are not
universally effective when fire affects treated areas [4]. Factors
influencing effectiveness include forest type, fire weather [4],
and treatment method [5].
However, treatments cannot reduce
fire severity and consequent impacts, if fire does not affect
treated areas while fuels are reduced. Fuels rebound after
treatment, eventually negating treatment effects [3, 6].
Therefore, the necessary, but not sufficient, condition for fuel
treatment effectiveness is that a fire affects a treated area
while the fuels that contribute to high-severity fire have been
reduced. Thus, fire occurrence within the window of effective fuel
reduction exerts an overarching control on the probability of fuel
treatment effectiveness. The probability of this confluence of
events can be estimated from fire records. Although this
probability has not been rigorously analyzed, it has often been
assumed to be high [7].
The probability of future fire
occurrence also abets assessing the ecological risks incurred if
fuels are not treated. Therefore, analysis of the likelihood of
fire is central to estimating likely risks, costs and benefits
incurred with the treatment or non-treatment of fuels.
Assessing fire occurrence and its
effect on fuel treatment effectiveness also has merit because
treatments can incur ecological costs, including negative impacts
on aquatic systems [8], soils [7], and invasion by non-native
plants [9, 10]. Here, we use watershed and aquatic systems
as a specific context for evaluating tradeoffs involved with
treatment and non-treatment of fuels on western public lands.
However, the analysis applies to upland ecosystems as well.
Click Here to read the entire study, or go to http://www.bentham.org/open/tofscij/openaccess2.htm
GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE (GAO) REPORT ON WILDLAND FIRE PROTECTION
April 2005
This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-05-627T
entitled 'Wildland Fire Management: Progress and Future Challenges,
Protecting Structures, and Improving Communications' which was released
on April 26, 2005.
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Testimony:
Before the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests, Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate:
United States Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
For Release on Delivery Expected at 2:30 p.m. EDT:
Tuesday, April 26, 2005:
Wildland Fire Management:
Progress and Future Challenges, Protecting Structures, and Improving
Communications:
Statement of Robin M. Nazzaro, Director, Natural Resources and
Environment:
GAO-05-627T:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-05-627T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on
Public Lands and Forests, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S.Senate.
Why GAO Did This Study:
Wildland fires are increasingly threatening communities and ecosystems.
In recent years, they have become more intense due to excess vegetation
that has accumulated, partly as a result of past suppression efforts.
The cost to suppress these fires is increasing and, as more people move
into fire-prone areas near wildlands, the number of homes at risk is
growing. During these wildland fires, effective communications among
the public safety agencies responding from various areas is critical,
but can be hampered by incompatible radio equipment.
This testimony discusses
(1) progress made and future challenges to managing wildland fire, (2)
measures to help protect structures, and (3) the role of technology in
improving responder communications during fires. It is based on two GAO
reports: Wildland Fire Management: Important Progress Has Been Made,
but Challenges Remain to Completing a Cohesive Strategy (GAO-05-147,
Jan. 14, 2005) and Technology Assessment: Protecting Structures and
Improving Communications during Wildland Fires (GAO-05-380, Apr. 26,
2005).
What GAO Found:
Over the last 5 years, the Forest Service in the Department of
Agriculture and land management agencies in the Department of the
Interior, working with the Congress, have made important progress in
responding to wildland fires. Most notably, the agencies have adopted
various national strategy documents addressing the need to reduce
wildland fire risks, established a priority to protect communities in
the wildland-urban interface, and increased efforts and amounts of
funding committed to addressing wildland fire problems. However,
despite producing numerous planning and strategy documents, the
agencies have yet to develop a cohesive strategy that identifies the
long-term options and related funding needed to reduce excess
vegetation that fuels fires in national forests and rangelands.
Reducing these fuels lowers risks to communities and ecosystems and
helps contain suppression costs. As GAO noted in 1999, such a strategy
would help the agencies and the Congress to determine the most
effective and affordable long-term approach for addressing wildland
fire problems. Completing this strategy will require finishing several
efforts now under way to improve a key wildland fire data and modeling
system, local fire management planning, and a new system designed to
identify the most cost-effective means for allocating fire management
budget resources, each of which has its own challenges. Without
completing these tasks, the agencies will have difficulty determining
the extent and location of wildland fire threats, targeting and
coordinating their efforts and resources, and resolving wildland fire
problems in the most timely and cost-effective manner over the long
term.
The two most effective measures for protecting structures from wildland
fires are (1) creating and maintaining a buffer around a structure by
eliminating or reducing trees, shrubs, and other flammable objects
within an area from 30 to 100 feet around the structure and (2) using
fire-resistant roofs and vents. Other technologies—such as fire-
resistant building materials, chemical agents, and geographic
information system mapping tools—can help in protecting structures and
communities, but they play a secondary role. Many homeowners, however,
are not using the protective measures because of the time or expense
involved, competing values or concerns, misperceptions about wildland
fires, or lack of awareness of their shared responsibility for home
protection. Federal, state, and local governments and others are
attempting to address this problem through a variety of educational,
financial assistance, and regulatory efforts.
Technologies exist and others are being developed to address
communications problems among emergency responders using different
radio frequencies or equipment. However, technology alone cannot solve
this problem. Effective adoption of these technologies requires
planning and coordination among federal, state, and local agencies
involved. The Department of Homeland Security, as well as several
states and local jurisdictions, are pursuing initiatives to improve
communications.
What GAO Recommends:
In its report, GAO recommended that the Departments of Agriculture and
the Interior develop a plan for completing a cohesive strategy that
identifies options and funding needed to address wildland fire
problems. The departments agreed.
GAO Entire
Report
OTHER REPORTS
Reducing the Wildland Fire Threat to Homes: Where and How Much?
Progress and Future Challenges, Protecting Structures, and
Improving Communications
Fire
Weather: US Forest Service Handbook for managing Fire
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