Description: Recent fire seasons in the continental United States have motivated federal agencies to explore scenarios for augmenting current fuel management and forest restoration in areas where fires ignite and spread to buildings in adjacent communities. This data publication contains one (1) geodatabase raster representing a spatial assessment within the continental U.S. of areas at high risk of igniting fires that spread to and expose buildings as a smoothed raster of sources of annual building exposure from wildfire. This raster was created by intersecting simulated wildfire perimeters with building location data over 10,000 to 100,000 fire seasons. These data can be used in scenario planning to helps design fuel treatment program that target wildfire exposure to developed areas. The continental scale of the data support expanded use of scenario planning science to analyze and communicate large scale expansion of current forest and fuel management initiatives.
Copyright Text: Authors:
Ken J. Bunzel, Kingbird Software
Alan A. Ager, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Michelle A. Day, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Cody R. Evers, Portland State University
Chris D. Ringo, Oregon State University, Funding for this project was provided by the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. US Forest Service State & Private Forestry. Additional acknowledgments are extended to Portland State University, Oregon State University, USDA Forest Service International Visitor Program, and Kingbird Software.