A Quantitative Analysis of Fuel Break Effectiveness Drivers in Southern California National Forests

Author:

Gannon Benjamin1,Wei Yu2ORCID,Belval Erin3ORCID,Young Jesse4,Thompson Matthew3,O’Connor Christopher4ORCID,Calkin David4,Dunn Christopher5

Affiliation:

1. USDA Forest Service, National Office, Fire and Aviation Management, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

2. Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

3. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

4. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, MT 59801, USA

5. Department of Forest Engineering, Resources & Management, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

Abstract

Fuel and wildfire management decisions related to fuel break construction, maintenance, and use in fire suppression suffer from limited information on fuel break success rates and drivers of effectiveness. We built a dataset of fuel break encounters with recent large wildfires in Southern California and their associated biophysical, suppression, weather, and fire behavior characteristics to develop statistical models of fuel break effectiveness with boosted regression. Our results suggest that the dominant influences on fuel break effectiveness are suppression, weather, and fire behavior. Variables related to fuel break placement, design, and maintenance were less important but aligned with manager expectations for higher success with wider and better maintained fuel breaks, and prior research findings that fuel break success increases with accessibility. Fuel breaks also held more often if burned by a wildfire during the previous decade, supporting the idea that fuel breaks may be most effective if combined with broader fuel reduction efforts.

Funder

Joint Fire Science Program

USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Safety Research,Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality,Building and Construction,Forestry

Reference69 articles.

1. U.S.D.A. Forest Service (2022). Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests, Report FS-1187a.

2. Comparing the role of fuel breaks across southern California national forests;Syphard;For. Ecol. Manag.,2011

3. Assessing the effect of a fuel break network to reduce burnt area and wildfire risk transmission;Oliviera;Int. J. Wildland Fire,2016

4. Assessing transboundary wildfire exposure in the Southwestern United States;Ager;Risk Anal.,2018

5. Applications of simulation-based burn probability modelling: A review;Parisien;Int. J. Wildland Fire,2019

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