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Wildfire risk is increasing all over the world, particularly in the western United States and the communities in wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas are at the greatest risk of fire. Understanding the driving behavior of individuals to evacuate…
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Background: Potential Wildfire Operational Delineations (PODs) were developed as a pre-season planning tool to promote safe and effective fire response. Past research on PODs has identified uses in an incident management context. There has been…
Author(s): William C. Buettner, Tyler A. Beeton, Courtney Schultz, Michael D. Caggiano, S. Michelle Greiner
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In wildland–urban interface areas, firefighters balance wildfire suppression and structure protection. These tasks are often performed under resource limitations, especially when many structures are at risk. To address this problem, wildland…
Author(s): Alexander Joseph Heeren, Philip E. Dennison, Michael J. Campbell, Matthew P. Thompson
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Background: Current guidance for implementation of United States federal wildland fire policy charges agencies with restoring and maintaining fire-adapted ecosystems while limiting the extent of wildfires that threaten life and property, weighed…
Author(s): Bradley Pietruszka, Jesse Young, Karen C. Short, Lise A. St. Denis, Matthew P. Thompson, David E. Calkin
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In December 2022, twenty-one experts from land management agencies, Tribes, and organizations from across the country convened at the Wilderness and Fire Workshop in Gunnison, Colorado to consider the effects of over a century of fire exclusion on…
Author(s): Center for Public Lands Western Colorado University, USFS Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute,
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Background: An effective identification model is crucial to realise the real-time monitoring and early warning of forest fires from surveillance cameras. However, existing models are prone to generate numerous false alarms under the interference of…
Author(s): Yuming Qiao, Wenyu Jiang, Fei Wang, Guofeng Su, Xin Li, Juncai Jiang
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This is a summary from the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Fire Science Workshop held June 27-28, 2023. It summarizes discussion points from the first day's breakout groups as well as some key discussion points from…
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Structure loss is an acute, costly impact of the wildfire crisis in the western conterminous United States (“West”), motivating the need to understand recent trends and causes. We document a 246% rise in West-wide structure loss from wildfires…
Author(s): Philip E. Higuera, Maxwell C. Cook, Jennifer Balch, E. Natasha Stavros, Adam L. Mahood, Lise A. St. Denis
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Large outdoor fires such as wildfires, wildland urban interface (WUI) fires, urban fires, and informal settlement fires have received increased attention in recent years. In order to develop effective emergency plans to protect people from threats…
Author(s): Negar Elhami-Khorasani, Max Kinateder, Vincent Lemiale, Sam Manzello, Ido Marom, Leorey Marquez, Sayaka Suzuki, Maria Theodori, Yu Wang, Steven Wong
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Firebrands generated from wildfires can contribute to wildfire spread and are a threat to structures in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Understanding the characteristics such as the firebrand size, mass and heat flux to the recipient fuel are…
Author(s): Sampath Adusumilli, David L. Blunck
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Wilderness areas are important natural laboratories for scientists and managers working to understand fire. In the last half-century, shifts in the culture and policy of land management agencies have facilitated the management practice of letting…
Author(s): Mark R. Kreider, Melissa Jaffe, Julia Berkey, Sean A. Parks, Andrew J. Larson
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As wildfire risks have elevated due to climate change, the health risks that toxicants from fire smoke pose to wildland firefighters have been exacerbated. Recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has reclassified wildland…
Author(s): Jooyeon Hwang, Ngee Sing Chong, Mengliang Zhang, Robert J. Agnew, Chao Xu, Zhuangjie Li, Xin Xu
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Facing an increase in the size and complexity of wildland interface fires, water utilities must pay more attention to protecting vital infrastructures during potentially catastrophic wildfires. Water utilities can mitigate the impacts of wildfires…
Author(s): Robert Gutierrez, Esaud Lagunas
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A safe separation distance (SSD) needs to be considered during firefighting activities (fire suppression or people evacuation) against wildfires. The SSD is of critical interest for both humans and assets located in the wildland–urban interfaces (…
Author(s): Jacky Fayad, Gilbert Accary, Frederic Morandini, François Joseph Chatelon, Lucile Rossi, Thierry Marcelli, Dominique Cancellieri, Valérie Leroy-Cancellieri, Yassine Rahib, D. Morvan, Sofiane Meradji, Antoine Pieri, Jean-Yves Duret, Jean Louis Rossi
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Wildfires spread along trajectories set by a coincident wind direction. Despite the highly directional nature of wildfire threats to public safety, landscape fire risk assessments are typically omnidirectional. We used a simple metric of landscape…
Author(s): Jennifer L. Beverly, Air M. Forbes
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Background Estimating the factors affecting the probability of a wildfire reaching the wildland urban interface (WUI) can help managers make decisions to prevent WUI property loss. This study compiles data on fire progression, wind, landscape…
Author(s): Yu Wei, Benjamin Gannon, Jesse Young, Erin J. Belval, Matthew P. Thompson, Christopher D. O'Connor, David E. Calkin
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Firebrand showers are known to result in massive destruction in large outdoor fires. A key missing piece is how these ignition scenarios may be influenced by firebrand showers in conjunction with external radiant heat that would be generated by…
Author(s): Sayaka Suzuki, Sam Manzello
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Firebrand spotting is a major cause for structure losses in wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires. When firebrands land nearby and accumulate into groups or piles, they can act as a more competent ignition source compared to single firebrands. While…
Author(s): Luqing Zhu, James Urban
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The wildland-urban interface (WUI), where housing intermingles with wildland vegetation, is the fastest-growing land use type in the United States. Given the ecological and social benefits of forest ecosystems, there is a growing need to more fully…
Author(s): Nancy Sonti, Rachel Riemann, Miranda H. Mockrin, Grant M. Domke
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This is a synthesis of the research priorities from the 2023 Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Fire Science Workshop as identified by participants. 
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