Fire Science Management Term Paper

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fuels management in urban areas that might be affected by wildfire. Specifically, it will discuss the education of homeowners, and fuel management techniques that can reduce the risk of loss of property during a wildland fire.

With the proliferation of urban areas encroaching on wilderness areas, wildfire now is a much more common threat to homes and property. "Since 1970, more than 10,000 homes and 20,000 other structures and facilities have been lost to severe wildland fire" (Editors). Drought throughout the country has dried out forests, making them much more susceptible to wildfire. Wildland fires can be caused by any number of events, some natural, and some man-made.

Lightning is a common source of fire in natural vegetation. It is a weather phenomenon that is associated with both frontal and convectional movements of air. Lightning fire depends on the presence of dry organic materials, either in dry climates or in dry seasons (Heady and Child 108).

WILDLAND FIRE DEFENSE FOR HOMEOWNERS

Homeowners must be educated in wildland fire safety to help ensure their property is at less risk during a wildfire. "The principal link between social and biophysical systems is not geographic, he said, but functional, and it consists of how people use natural resources" (Backes 149). Recently, the Structure Ignition Assessment Model (SIAM) has been used as a tool to educate homeowners in fire risk. "The SIAM uses an analytical modeling approach to account for variables such as type of structure, terrain, fuel and local weather patterns to give homeowners a sense of the risk they face and possible ways of protection" (Ewert, Chavez and Magill 10). The authors go on to say, "Reduced to its simplest terms, the wildland-urban interface fire problem is a result of fire-prone homes, other structures, and facilities built and maintained in a manner that leaves them -- and their occupants or users -vulnerable to wildfire" (Ewert, Chavez and Magill 354)

There are numerous measures homeowners can use to protect their property, beginning with removing vegetation in a radius around the house.

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This creates a defensible space around the home. The actual defensible space needed depends on the slope and terrain surrounding the home, and can be calculated at this web site: http://www.extension.unr.edu/fire/creating.html. Ifthere is dense forest surrounding the home, it should be thinned to allow space between trees and shrub growth, so the fire does not have dense fuel. Any dead grasses or undergrowth should be cut down and removed. "Locate firewood and other combustible debris (wood scraps, grass clippings, leaf piles, etc.) at least 30 feet uphill from the house" (Living With Fire).….....

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