Wildland fires in the United States are not always confined to wilderness areas. The growth of population centers and housing developments in wilderness areas has blurred the boundaries between rural and urban. This merger of human development and natural landscape is known in the wildland fire community as the wildland urban interface or WUI, and it is within this interface that many wildland fires increasingly occur. As wildland fire intrusions in the WUI increase so too does the need for tools to assess potential impact to valuable assets contained within the interface. This study presents a methodology that combines real-time weather data, a wildland fire behavior model, satellite remote sensing and geospatial data in a geographic information system to assess potential risk to human developments and natural resources within the Austin metropolitan area and surrounding ten counties of central, Texas. The methodology uses readily available digital databases and satellite images within Texas, in combination with an industry standard fire behavior model to assist emergency and natural resource managers assess potential impacts from wildland fire. Results of the study will promote prevention of WUI fire disasters, facilitate watershed and habitat protection, and help direct efforts in post wildland fire mitigation and restoration.

As climate change continues to worsen, environmental effects are felt by many people around the world. In California, some of its most damaging wildfires have been found to be started by utilities. As the state continues to suffer from worsening wildfire conditions, the utilities need to implement a variety of wildfire mitigations to help reduce the risk of wildfires that can affect the state and its residents. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of four mitigations employed across three California utilities and suggests potential ways for the mitigations to be used together. The technologies evaluated are covered conductor, rapid earth fault current limiter, distribution fault analysis, and early fault detection. Each of these mitigate different failure drivers of utility lines, whether it is due to a contact from a foreign object, an equipment failure, or another driver. Because each mitigation is more effective against different drivers, a suggestion for multiple mitigations to use together is given. This also includes a path for utilities to evaluate mitigation effectiveness in a different way that may more accurately represent how many fires are stopped by the mitigations employed.

4 pp.

Revised; Original Published: 2002 / 4 pp.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-143). Also available on the World Wide Web.

24 p. / Jones, C., C. Dennett, and D. Garcia. 2016. Living with Wildfire: Homeowners’ Firewise Guide for Arizona (Revised). Multi-agency collaborative pamphlet. University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Publication #AZ1416-2016. Tucson, AZ. 24 pp.

specialcollections@tulane.edu / Communities situated in high-hazard fire-risk zones are experiencing larger fires even after decades of fire suppression techniques have been implemented. While fire suppression mitigates the dangers short-term, as the cost of suppression rises and fires become more uncontrollable long-term sustainability is lost. Suppression techniques have left more kindling in denser forests while allowing invasive species to take root causing native species suffer due to their dependence on fires. The invasive species feed flames at a faster rate than native species, increasing the likelihood of an uncontrollable fire. The solution: adapt to living in a fire environment. Architecture and controlled fires are tools to making peace with raging wildfires. If a forest is born to burn, let it, and design accordingly. Specifically, this thesis concentrates on design opportunities such as firebreaks, community engagement, technology, and fire festivals for humans to live with wildfire. These elements mitigate wildfires while also resulting in assets for the community. This thesis seeks to redesign a fire devastated community to demonstrate the potential of fire-safe strategies. / 1 / Jacqueline Esmay

Peatland ecosystems in the eastern Georgian Bay, Ontario, region often provide overwintering habitat for the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus c. catenatus), a species considered at-risk across its range. Suitable overwintering habitat requires a resilience zone with peat temperatures above 0°C and a water table position sufficient to provide moisture without risk of flooding and these ecohydrological conditions commonly occur in raised peatland microforms (hummocks). Due to a changing climate, these peatlands are at risk of increased wildfire frequency and burn severity which may threaten overwintering habitat availability and suitability. In 2018, a wildfire burned over 11,000 ha of the eastern Georgian Bay landscape which serves as critical habitat for the massasauga. We monitored water table position, snow depth, rainfall, and peat thermal dynamics in hummocks in three burned and three unburned peatlands to assess the potential impacts of wildfire on massasauga overwintering habitat. We found that hummocks were able to provide unfrozen and unflooded habitat regardless of peat burn severity and that surface complexity and peatland-scale characteristics provided the greatest control on microhabitat suitability. This research highlights the importance of conserving peatland ecosystems that provide resilient species at risk habitat. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The eastern massasauga rattlesnake is a species at risk native to Ontario and parts of the USA. In the eastern Georgian Bay region, massasaugas overwinter in wetlands for up to half the year. This is a sensitive period because flooding or freezing within the hibernacula can be fatal. Due in part to climate change, wetlands in this region are at increased wildfire risk which may threaten the quality of massasauga overwintering habitat. In 2018, a wildfire burned over 11,000 ha of land along eastern Georgian Bay, some of which was massasauga habitat. We monitored the water table position and soil temperature in potential massasauga overwintering habitat to assess its quality after wildfire. We found that wetlands provide unflooded and unfrozen habitat even when burned, and that wetland surface complexity is likely an important regulator of overwintering habitat quality. This research highlights the importance of identifying and protecting wetland ecosystems that provide resilient habitat in the face of a disturbance.