Wildfire Risk to Structures
The communities of Island Park, ID, and West Yellowstone, MT, are situated just outside the western entrance to Yellowstone National Park amid grasslands, sagebrush, and aspen and conifer forests. As part of the broader interagency Cohesive Wildfire Management Strategy policy created in response to the FLAME Act of 2009, a collaborative group called the Island Park Sustainable Fire Community (IPSFC) formed to develop a dynamic long-term strategy for a 314,000-ha (750,000-acre) area encompassing the two communities. The IPSFC recognized the need to evaluate the existing wildfire risk in the area to facilitate prioritization efforts for future fuels treatment projects designed to modify fire behavior.
In collaboration with the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, LaWen Hollingsworth (Fire Behavior Specialist, Fire Modeling Institute) and Russ Parsons (Research Ecologist, Missoula Fire Sciences Lab) assisted the IPSFC in developing a wildfire risk assessment. They evaluated and classified risk based on three components: likelihood, intensity, and effects. Likelihood of wildfire was classified using burn probabilities from the Large Fire Simulator (FSim), a system used to estimate burn probability and variability in fire behavior across large landscapes. Fire intensity is summarized using flame lengths from the geospatial fire behavior system, FlamMap. Burn probabilities and flame length data were combined to produce a map of wildfire potential across the landscape. The effect, or value, is supplied by structure hazard assessments within the project area conducted in the Island Park and West Yellowstone communities. These data detailed ingress, egress, building materials, and hazards adjacent to structures such as overhanging vegetation or propane tanks. The structure assessment data were classified into low, moderate, or high structure hazard classes, which were then combined with the landscape wildfire potential data to create a matrix displaying the wildfire risk to structures. The risk assessment data will be used by IPSFC to evaluate and prioritize fuels projects and inform homeowners of potential risks from wildfires and their responsibilities to mitigate those risks.
Principal Investigator:
LaWen Hollingsworth
Russell Parsons
Funding Contributor(s): RMRS Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program, and USFS Fire and Aviation Management
Project Years: 2015-2016
The wildfire risk assessment map for the Yale Creek area, part of the IPSFC project area located directly north of Island Park Reservoir.
People
Principal Investigators and Project Contacts
-
Person
LaWen Hollingsworth
Fire Behavior Specialisthttps://research.fs.usda.gov/about/people/lawen.t.hollingsworth -
Person
Russell A. Parsons, PhD
Research Ecologisthttps://research.fs.usda.gov/about/people/russell..parsons
Collaborators
- Craig Glazier
- Bob Albano
- Liz Davy
Funding Contributors
- Rocky Mountain Research Station Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program
- USDA Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management
Data and Tools
-
Tool
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/products/dataandtools/flammap -
Dataset
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/products/dataandtools/fsim-wildfire-risk-simulation
Related Links
Publications
- Don Helmbrecht, Julie Gilbertson-Day, Joe H. Scott, LaWen Hollingsworth. 2016. Wildfire risk to residential structures in the Island Park Sustainable Fire Community: Caribou-Targhee National Forest