Wildfire emergency management
The examples and perspective in this United States may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (September 2020) |
Emergency management has four distinct phases that create the management process. These phases are mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery.[4] While each phase has a distinct role in the emergency management process, there are aspects of each that interconnect with others. A management process without any one of the four phases could be deemed incomplete and inadequate.[5] Mitigation is easily defined as prevention. Preparedness is the act of changing behaviors or processes to reduce the impact a disaster may have on a population or group.[6] Response is assembling teams or units of emergency service to the area of disaster. Finally, recovery aims to restore the area affected by the disaster to its condition prior to the disaster.[7]
Introduction
In order to exercise efficient
Causes and effects of wildfires
Wildfires are different from other fires in their size, speed, and unpredictability. Wildfires can occur due to natural or man-made elements. The four most common natural elements that can cause a wildfire are lightning, an eruption from a volcano, sparks from a rockfall, and spontaneous combustion.[12][13] The most common man-made causes for wildfires include debris burning or other carelessness and arson. While not as common as arson or intentionally starting a fire, the improper disposal of a cigarette can cause a fire that could become uncontrollable.[14] The most dominant cause of wildfires differs around the globe. Within the United States, the most common natural cause for wildfires has been found to be lightning strikes. Across the world, however, intentional ignition can be identified as the most common man-made cause for uncontrollable fires.[15]
According to the
Whether a wildfire can be contained depends on the intensity at which the
Mitigation
Mitigation efforts are taken to prevent events from becoming disasters and from preventing disasters from occurring completely. Mitigation is the efforts that are taken to ensure that the loss of life and property is limited in the event of a
The NCFS uses a
Preparation
Like with most natural disasters and emergency situations, being prepared is crucial to saving life and property. Wildfires are a natural process of the forest and are ecological beneficial to forests and wildland areas.[26] However, wildfires become a problem when they begin to move to areas that are populated with people. This generally happens in areas that have settlements and other built environments interacting with natural woodland areas or areas that have potential fuel for wildfires and these areas are called the wildland-urban interface (WUI).[27] With this increase of people and property vulnerable to wildfires, policies and programs were developed to better prepare for wildfires.
Most of the
While living in the wildland-urban interface, homeowners must be prepared for wildfires that threaten their homes. People move to the wildland areas for many reasons. These reasons include the naturalness of the area, the aesthetics of the landscape, the wildlife, recreation, and for privacy.[32] With people moving to these areas, there are some procedures and strategies that can be implemented to prepare for wildfires. These strategies include defensible space, planting of fire resistant vegetation, fire-retardant building materials, and sprinklers to slow the progression of the fire.[33] While these measures will help the homeowners to prepare for wildfires, not all homeowners in the U.S. use all of these methods for the properties. Since the U.S. has a wide variety of ecosystems and unique people that live in different places, different parts of the county adopt different preparedness methods based on multiple factors of which includes the value of the forested landscape.[34] An example of the different perceived effectiveness of these measures is that homeowners in Minnesota are more inclined to use water-based technology, While Florida homeowners have higher opinion on the efficacy of fire-retardant building materials.[35] While these differences in perceived effectiveness of preparedness measures vary greatly, many homeowners regard vegetative fuel reduction as the most effective method for preparing for wildfires.[36]
To help homeowners prepare for wildfires, community support and organizations can help provide information, support, and training to help prepare for a wildfire event. For a community to create a preparedness strategy that will work efficiently against wildfires, four elements must be included in the foundation; these are landscape, government, citizens, and community.[37] Landscape is a key element because it describes the local vegetative conditions that can fuel the wildfire, the location of the community which can motivate people to take responsibility for community wildfire preparedness, and the landscape promotes attachment to place which can promote a positive bond between the people and the land.[37] The government is a key element because governmental representatives can collaborate with local officials for community preparedness and thereby opening the communities up to accessing funds, equipment, and training that would otherwise would not be available.[37] Citizens are a key element in community preparedness because citizens apply their knowledge and skills to help the community and thereby empower their neighbors to help out in the preparedness process.[38] The community is the final key element for community preparedness because it takes multiple people and collaborative groups to create to framework for community preparedness.[38] By using these key elements, community can create a community preparedness program to better prepare themselves when wildfires threaten their community. Some issues that must be overcome for community preparedness are developing educational materials that reflect the intended audience and local community, building connections and networks between landowner and agencies, coordination between the different local, state, and federal agencies, and recognize the importance of individual responsibility for preparing their homes.[39] Examples of community preparedness programs distributed throughout the U.S. includes: the Firefree program in Oregon, the Firesafe councils in California, and the nationwide Firewise Communities/USA.[40] Each of these educational programs provides communities with information about how to prepare for wildfires. The goal of these programs is to create awareness about wildfire risk, knowledge about wildfire safety, and stewardship ethic beyond defensible space around individual homes.[41]
The United States is not only country that has wildfires as a natural disaster.
Response
Wildfires can cause great widespread devastation in short time spans.[45] According to the United States Fire Administration, wildfires were responsible for an average of 12.0 deaths per million populace in 2008. In North Carolina, the death rate was found to be 14.4 per million populace.[46] However, despite their low responsibility in loss of life, wildfires are responsible for a massive amount of property loss. In 2009, the U.S. Fire Administration reported a loss of almost 6 million acres from a total of 78,792 wildfires.[47] In the event of a wildfire, those who live in close proximity are advised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to notify emergency services and, if time and safety permits, secure the following protections to their home before evacuating:
- Fill as many containers (pools, hot tubs, garbage cans, etc. with water).
- Place lawn sprinklers on the roof and near any above-ground fuel tanks.
- Wet the roof.
- Place a ladder against the side of the house.
- Turn on as many lights in the house as possible. This increases the houses's visibility through smoke.
- Close windows and doors but leave them unlocked for firefighters' easy access.[48]
Emergency response occurs among professionals as well as affected individuals. The first aspects of recovery include local agencies that are nearest to the disaster:
In the event of a wildfire,
In the summer of 2011, a wildfire burned in Pender County, North Carolina for almost three months before it was 100% contained. Named the "Juniper Road Fire", this wildfire that ravaged Pender County burned over 31,000 acres. Caused by a lightning strike on June 19, 2011, the fire spread quickly and despite having over 200 individuals fighting to contain it, the fire burned for an excess of almost three months.[51] Fire crews, both local and distant, some from as far as Alaska, offered their aid to contain this wildfire. By focusing their attention on hot spots, the crews were able to contain more and more of the fire, though not nearly as quickly as they would have liked. Had the area not received a downpour of rain in early August, the fire may not have been contained when it was. Fire crews reported that the fire could have burned much longer had the rain not come. When crews determined that the fire was 92% contained, it had cost an estimate of $3.5 million to fight.[52]
Recovery
Recovery, in terms of emergency management, refers to providing immediate support to a community affected by a disaster in order to repair the
- the burn intensity is high
- all the ground cover is consumed
- rain falls rapidly
- the tree canopyis destroyed
- land is located downhill from other burned property
- the slopes are steep
Landowners with these circumstances are advised to spread slashed wood and straw over the burned areas of ground to restrict the impact of rainwater, which allows water to disperse without contributing to erosion. Meanwhile, straw wattles, which are long strands of plastic netting, should be draped over slopes to prevent soil from slipping downhill. In addition to preventing soil slips, landowners are also advised to construct waterbars, which are mounds of rock or logs placed on the slope at a diagonal, to divert water off
In addition to assessing damage to landscape, owners of
Oakland case study
When a wildfire reaches areas that are populated with people, massive damage can occur. This combination of a wildfire threatening a major urban area was shown with the Oakland Wildfire of 1991. The Oakland Wildfire was started by a fire of suspicious origin on October 19, 1991.[59] The fire became out of control on October 20 after the sparks from smouldering embers were carried by strong local winds. The fire began to grow after the embers landed on nearby vegetation and the wind began to move the flames in several directions at the same time.[60] Soon, many homes in the neighborhoods of Hiller Highlands, Buckingham Place, and many others were threatened by the flames and fire crews began to scramble to put out the flames. The fire raged out of control until around 5 pm, when cooler temperatures and decreasing wind speeds slowed the progression of the fire.[61] During the course of the event, the fire became a firestorm when the heat, gases, and the motion of the fire created its own weather conditions.[62] The fire caused significant damage to Oakland and the surrounding areas. The fire killed 25 people, which included emergency personnel, destroyed 2,449 homes, and caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damage.[63] The response to this fire was swift, however, the fire and winds made it difficult to extinguish.[64] There were also several issues with the response. Communications broke down due to the intensity of the fire, rapid spread of the fire, and the communication systems were jammed due to the volume of telephone and radio traffic [65] The narrow roads of the neighborhoods could not allow both fire crews and civilians to leave or enter the area, which resulted in vehicles being trapped for hours and caused the deaths of eleven victims.[66] Evacuation also caused an issue due to high winds, heavy smoke, and narrow roads, which caused confusion for both fleeing residents and the fire crews. The evacuations were conducted on a one-on-one basis because the Emergency broadcast system was deemed inefficient for the task, this would result in many people being caught off guard by the fire.[67] The combination of the weather factors, intensity of the fire, and the breakdown in communication and evacuation caused the response to the wildfire to be slow and ineffective until the change in weather conditions during the evening. This wildfire event shows the danger of fire in the wildland/urban interface.
See also
- Pyrotron, a device designed to help firefighters better understand how to combat the rapid spread of wildfires
- remote monitoring of wildfires
References
- ^ Federal Fire and Aviation Operations Action Plan, 4.
- ^ Stephen J. Pyne. "How Plants Use Fire (And Are Used By It)". NOVA online.
- ^ "International Experts Study Ways to Fight Wildfires". Voice of America (VOA) News. 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
- ISBN 978-0-87289-460-0.
- ^ a b Sylves, p. 21.
- ISBN 978-0-387-96323-5.
- ^ Sylves, p. 24.
- ^ National Fire Protection Association. "Talking to Your Neighbors About Firewise". Firewise Communities/USA Recognition Program. National Fire Protection Association.
- ^ National Fire Protection Association. "Program Benefits". Firewise Communities/USA Recognition Program. National Fire Protection Association.
- ^ National Fire Protection Association. "Program Criteria". Firewise Communities/USA Recognition Program. National Fire Protection Association.
- ^ National Fire Protection Association. "Firewise Communities/USA Recognized Sites". Firewise Communities/USA Recognition Program. National Fire Protection Association.
- ^ "Wildfire Prevention Strategies" (PDF). National Wildfire Coordinating Group. March 1998. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-09. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
- .
- ^ Causes of Wildfires
- ISBN 978-0-471-54913-0.
- ^ North Carolina Forest Service. "Fires by Cause in North Carolina 1970–2018" (PDF). North Carolina Division of Forest Resources Fire Reporting System. North Carolina Forest Service – via NCFS Statistics.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
(help)|via=
- ^ The Fire Triangle Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine, Hants Fire brigade
- ^ Graham, R., McCaffrey, S., Jain, T.B., "Science Basis for Changing Forest Structure to Modify Wildfire Behavior and Severity", General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-120, 2004
- ^ Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology, 74.
- ^ Billing, P., "Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment.", Otways Fire No. 22 - 1982/83 Aspects of fire behaviour. Research Report No.20, 1983 Archived March 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Shea, N., "Under Fire", National Geographic, 2008
- ^ Albini, Frank. "Estimating Wildfire Behavior and Effects". Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station General Technical Report. USDA Forest Service.
- ^ North Carolina Forest Service. "Smoke Management Guidelines". North Carolina Forest Service.
- ^ North Carolina Forest Service. "Fire Safety Outdoors". North Carolina Forest Service.
- ^ North Carolina Forest Service. "Wildfire Statistics". Signal 14 Database. North Carolina Forest Service.
- .
- ^ Jakes, Pamela; Kruger Linda; Monroe Martha; Nelson Kristen; Sturevant Victoria (2007). "Improving Wildfire Preparedness:Lessons form Communities across the U.S". Human Ecology Review. 14 (2): 188–197.
- ^ Davis, p.98.
- ^ Davis, p.102.
- ^ Davis, p. 109.
- ^ Davies, p. 109–110.
- S2CID 153537694.
- ^ Nelson, p. 323.
- ^ Nelson, p.333.
- doi:10.1071/WF03067.
- ^ Nelson, p. 420.
- ^ a b c Jakes, p. 194.
- ^ a b Jakes, p. 195.
- ^ Kruger, Linda E.; Agrawal, Shruti; Monroe, Martha; Lang, Erika; Nelson, Kristen; Jakes, Pamela; Sturtevant, Victoria; McCaffrey; Everett, Yvonne (2002). "Key to Community Preparedness For Wildfire". St Paul, Minn.: Proceedings of the Ninth International symposium on society and management; 2002 June 2–5: Bloomington, Indiana General Technical Report NC-231. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station: 10–17.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Sturtevent, Victoria; McCaffey Sarah (2006). "Encouraging Wildand Fire Preparedness:Lessons Learned from Three Wildfire Education Programs". The Public and Wildand Fire Management: 125–136.
- ^ Sturtevant p. 125.
- S2CID 154743334.
- ^ McCaffrey, Sarah; Rhodes Alan (2009). "Public Response to Wildfires: Is the Australian "Stay and Defend or Leave Early" Approach an Option for Wildfire Management in the United States". Journal of Forestry (107): 9–15.
- ^ a b McCaffrey, p. 10.
- ^ "Fire Information - Wildland Fire Statistics". National Interagency Fire Center. Archived from the original on May 14, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-26.
- ^ U.S. Fire Administration. "State Fire Death Rates". U.S. Fire Administration/FEMA. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ U.S. Fire Administration. "Total Wildland Fires and Acres". U.S. Fire Administration/FEMA. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ FEMA. "During a Wildfire". FEMA. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ U.S. Fire Administration. "About NFIRS". U.S. Fire Administration/FEMA. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ FEMA. "Hazards After Wildfires: Floods and Landslides". FEMA. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ InciWeb. "Juniper Road". InciWeb Incident Information System. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- ^ Herrera, Ramon (1 August 2011). "Rain Helps after Pender Co. Fire Lingers Into Third Month". ABC News. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
- JSTOR 3134992.
- ^ Oklahoma Forestry Services. "Recovering From Wildfire: a Guide for Oklahoma Forest Owners" (PDF). Oklahoma Forestry Services. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Deneke. "Recovering From Wildfire: A Guide for Arizona's Forest Owners" (PDF). The University of Arizona: Cooperative Extension. University of Arizona.
- ISBN 9781601073556.
- ^ American Redcross. "Returning Home After a Wildfire". PreparednessFast Facts: Wildfires. American Redcross.
- ^ "Recovery". Preparedness Fast Facts: Wildfires. American Red Cross.
- ^ National Fire Protection Association (1991). "The Oakland/Berkeley Hills Fire" (PDF). National Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Protection Initiative.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ NFPA, p. 11.
- ^ NFPA, p. 12.
- ^ NFPA, pg. 12.
- ^ NFPA, p. 3.
- ^ NFPA, p. 13.
- ^ NFPA, p. 14
- ^ NFPA, p. 15.
- ^ NFPA, p. 16.
External links
- NFPA
- Firewise Communities
- Firewise Landscapes
- Wildfire Management: Federal Funding and Related Statistics Congressional Research Service
- ^ West, South. "Fire Response and Recovery". CalEPA. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ "Fire Response and Recovery | CalEPA".