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The national database of state and local wildfire hazard mitigation programs
serves as a clearinghouse of information about nonfederal policies and
programs that seek to reduce the risk of loss of life and property through
the reduction of hazardous fuels on private lands. If
you would like to submit a program to the national wildfire programs database,
please complete the following form (MS
Word).
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Title: |
TX --Southern States Wildfire Risk Assessment Project
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Type: |
Designation of high risk areas
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Jurisdiction: |
Multi-level
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State: |
Texas
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Program Description: |
Background
The Southern Group of State Foresters has initiated a wildfirerisk assessment for its 13 state members. The purpose of the Southern Wildland Fire Risk Assessment (SWRA) is to provide agencies and organizations at the national, state, and local levels a means to determine the potential risk for wildfire in their jurisdictions. The contractor, Space Imaging, is working with the Texas Forest Service, the lead administering agency, in conducting the assessment and developing applications of project results. The startup date for the baseline analysis was July 2003 with project completion estimated at two or more years. A SWRA website will be used to post information as the project progresses.
Objectives
The objectives of the SWRA are to: identify areas in need of fuels treatment and prioritize projects, improve allocation of firefighting resources, increase communication with residents, foster collaboration among agencies, and perform refined analyses of complex areas in need of additional study. The assessment will be applied at community, county, congressional district, fire response zone, state, and regional scales.
Methodology
The Wildland Fire Risk Assessment Model, which was initially developed by Space Imaging for an analysis of wildfire risk in Florida, is the core component of the SWRA. The model outputs include indices of wildland fire susceptibility, fire effects, fire response accessibility, and wildland fire risk.
Each southern state is providing two datasets as inputs for the model. These are: 1) the location coordinates and name of state, local, and federal wildland firefighting resources; and 2) information about fire history including wildfire location, date and time of discovery and containment, and the number of acres burned at the time the fire was controlled.
Space Imaging will supply data inputs to compile mapping layers for vegetation/fuels, structure density, demographics, transportation, soils, and topography. Landsat (30 meter resolution) and Ikonos (4 meter resolution) imagery will be used to create the vegetation/fuels indices. The remaining map layers will be developed from existing datasets.
Planning Process
The general planning process for the SWRA includes the basic assessment of the current wildfire risk, formulating program alternatives, implementing risk reduction and preparedness programs, and monitoring and evaluating programs. A publication similar to Fire in the West based on the SWRA results is planned, as well.
In addition to the wildfire risk assessment, an important GIS planning tool will be developed from the model. Fire managers will have the capability to customize wildfire management scenarios by altering fuels, resource location, and fire occurrence data. This tool will allow fire managers to analyze mitigation options and estimate their effect on wildfire risk.
Contact information
For more information, contact, via email, Tom Spencer with the Texas Forest Service at [email protected] or Julie Coen with Space Imaging at [email protected].
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