Development at the wildland–urban interface and the mitigation of forest-fire risk
- 4 September 2007
- journal article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Vol. 104 (36), 14272-14276
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0704488104
Abstract
This work addresses the impacts of development at the wildland-urban interface on forest fires that spread to human habitats. Catastrophic fires in the western United States and elsewhere make these impacts a matter of urgency for decision makers, scientists, and the general public. Using a simple fire-spread model, along with housing and vegetation data, we show that fire size probability distributions can be strongly modified by the density and flammability of houses. We highlight a sharp transition zone in the parameter space of vegetation flammability and house density. Many actual fire landscapes in the United States appear to have spreading properties close to this transition. Thus, the density and flammability of buildings should be taken into account when assessing fire risk at the wildland-urban interface. Moreover, our results highlight ways for regulation at this interface to help mitigate fire risk.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Recommendations for Integrating Restoration Ecology and Conservation Biology in Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Southwestern United StatesRestoration Ecology, 2006
- THE WILDLAND–URBAN INTERFACE IN THE UNITED STATESEcological Applications, 2005
- MODELING THERMAL IMPACT OF WILDLAND FIRES ON STRUCTURES IN THE URBAN INTERFACE. PART 1: RADIATIVE AND CONVECTIVE COMPONENTS OF FLAMES REPRESENTATIVE OF VEGETATION FIRESNumerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications, 2005
- A classification of landscape fire succession models: spatial simulations of fire and vegetation dynamicsEcological Modelling, 2004
- Applying landscape principles to fire hazard reductionForest Ecology and Management, 2004
- Random location of fuel treatments in wildland community interfaces: a percolation approachCanadian Journal of Forest Research, 2004
- The role of climate and vegetation change in shaping past and future fire regimes in the northwestern US and the implications for ecosystem managementForest Ecology and Management, 2003
- Estimating historical range and variation of landscape patch dynamics: limitations of the simulation approachEcological Modelling, 2002
- Songbird and Medium‐Sized Mammal Communities Associated with Exurban Development in Pitkin County, ColoradoConservation Biology, 2001
- Forest Fires: An Example of Self-Organized Critical BehaviorScience, 1998