The author examines social perceptions of risk of home ignition in the community of Forest Ranch, which is located in the Sierra-Cascade foothills near Chico in Butte County.
Read MoreThis study focuses on reducing fire ignition, specifically on discerning the most destructive ignition sources so that they might be targeted by managers.
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This 2003 study used aerial photos taken between 1939 and 1997 to quantify vegetation change in the landscape mosaic of grasslands, shrublands, woodlands and forests of the San Francisco Bay Area.
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This paper examined the 20th century fire history of the San Francisco East Bay landscape to understand to what extent fire management activities could account for changes in landscape patterns.
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The 2003 and the 2007 wildfires in San Diego County were remarkably similar in their causes, impacts and the human responses they elicited.
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Through modeling, field experiments, and case studies, the author demonstrated that home ignitability is largely dependent on a structure’s exterior materials and design combined with its exposure to flames and firebrands.
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Syphard, Brennan and Keeley asked how the size of the defensible space zone affected fire outcomes using a dataset of 687,869 homes with their property boundaries.
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The authors surveyed administrators of regulatory and voluntary wildfire reduction programs in 25 US states to gain information on how they are organized, what they are trying to accomplish, what obstacles existed in their implementation, and how well they may be working.
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Management strategies to reduce fire spread and severity typically involve targeted reduction of forest fuels through some combination of mechanical, hand, and/or burning treatments. A 2012 study by Safford et al. evaluates the effectiveness of such forest fuel treatments in mixed conifer and yellow pine forests in the California National Forests.
Read MoreMcCaffrey (2004) investigated what types of information are most useful to increase public support concerning defensible space, prescribed burning, and thinning activities.
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To better inform managers, there is a need for research to better explore many facets of WUI fires, including: hazard and risk assessment at small (e.g. community) scales; WUI fire behavior, including structure-to-structure spread; Structure exposure and vulnerability to both firebrands and heat; and Economic cost-benefit analyses of mitigation activities.
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This guide provides advice to homeowners on fire-safe building materials and home design.
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This extensive 51-page bibliography of WUI research citations is organized into nine sections: 1) Wildland fuels 2) Landscaping fuels 3) Construction 4) Community Planning 5) Social 6) Policy and economics 7) Fire suppression 8) Post-fire recovery 9) Case studies.
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A guide detailing the fire hazards associated with different landscape mulch types and landscaping near homes.
Read MoreThe video "Living With Fire: The USGS Southern California Wildfire Risk Project" discusses the history of fire in southern California and explains how science is being used to improve fire management in this area.
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The California Fire Science Consortium is divided into 4 geographic regions and 1 wildland-urban interface (WUI) team. Statewide coordination of this program is based at UC Berkeley.
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This regional Fire Science Exchange is one of 15 regional fire science exchanges.
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