Strategic fuel break assessment for Southern California national forests: process description and data
| Authors: | David R. Weise, Jeffrey A Heys, Chris Clervi |
| Year: | 2026 |
| Type: | General Technical Report |
| Station: | Pacific Southwest Research Station |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.2737/psw-gtr-280 |
| Source: | Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-280. Vallejo, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 103 p. (Online only) |
Abstract
Fuel breaks, areas where vegetation has been modified or removed, are a common feature on national forests in southern California and elsewhere. They provide accessible locations for ground-based firefighters to perform fire-suppression activities. However, the cost to maintain nearly 4,000 miles of fuel breaks in southern California exceeds available funding, and the effectiveness of the fuel breaks varies. From 2012–2016, the Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team (AMSET) developed and applied a process to the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests to aid local national forest fire managers in evaluating the effectiveness of the fuel break networks and the annual maintenance costs. AMSET coupled simulated fire behavior under 90th-percentile weather conditions, historical ignitions, and values at risk with maintenance costs to derive prioritized lists of fuel breaks to maintain. AMSET cataloged additional information on cultural, historical, ecological, and other resources that might influence prioritization. This report presents the developed process and provides a description of the data that AMSET used.