Issue 7

Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment

Wildfire is a serious threat to lives, property, and economic and natural resources in the South. To address this threat the Southern Group of State Foresters (SGSF), a nonprofit organization consisting of State foresters from each of the 13 Southern States, contracted with Sanborn, a company which offers photogrammetric (developing maps from photographs) and Geographic Information System mapping services to develop a wildland fire risk assessment for the area covered by the Southern States. Partners in this effort included the Forest Service Southern Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USDI National Park Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

An ongoing process to assess risks as well as values to be protected, the Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment (SWRA) is a tool that will help fire managers predict and target more precisely those areas that are at high risk for wildfire, and allows agencies and organizations at the national, State, and local levels to obtain a clearer picture of the overall potential for wildland fire and associated problems. Some of the elements included in the assessment are fire occurrence, fire behavior potential, suppression effectiveness, fire effects, and communities at risk.

The SRS Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information has partnered with SGSF to develop Fire in the South II, a publication about the top 10 findings of the SWRA. Due for completion in mid-2007, the publication will build on the first Fire in the South, which introduces the risk assessment in its early stages, describes characteristics of the South that contribute to the wildland fire problem, and discusses solutions to the wildland fire problems in the South.

For more information about SWRA:

To download a copy of Fire in the South, go to: dev.sanborn.com/swra/content/deliverables/index.htm.

Back to: Time to Burn: Getting a Step Ahead of Wildland Arsonists