Aerial wildland firefighting resources in fire suppression activities: an example USDA Forest Service

Abstract

Wildfires are a significant social problem affecting millions of people worldwide and causing major economic impacts at all levels. In the US, the severe fires of 1910 in Idaho and Montana galvanized a fire policy excluding fire from the ecosystem by the U.S.Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDAFS). Fire management policy changed in 1935, 1978,1995, and 2001. However, the fire problem remained unabated, in part, because of the large hazardous fuel loads created by the fire-exclusion policies of the past and the tremendous influx of population in the wildland-urban interface. This is not a problem exclusive to the US. Recent wildfire events worldwide have raised awareness of the dangers and seriousness of the problem. Examples of this, in the western United States, are the numerous catastrophic wildland-urban interface fires over the past decade. Most recently this is evidenced by the large disastrous wildfires in Greece in 2007, in Australia in 2009, and in Russia in 2010. These events resulted in significant loss of lives, homes, and economic activity. Global estimates of the area affected by wildfires range anywhere from 3 to 6 million square kilometers annually.

Citation

González-Cabán, A. 2011. Aerial wildland firefighting resources in fire suppression activities: an example USDA Forest Service. In: Batista, A.C., Biondi, C., Giongo, C., eds., Proceedings of the 5th Simpósio Sul-Americano sobre Controle de Incéndios Florestais, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 10-17 April, 2011. Curitiba, Brazil: Universidade Federal do Paraná. pp. 107-114.