The Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Problem:
A Consequence of the Fire Exclusion Paradigm
In the Fall 2008 issue of Forest History Today, Jack Cohen -- a research physical scientist at the Forest Service Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT -- examines the Forest Service's organizational mindset that persistently frames the wildland-urban interface fire problem in terms of fire suppression and control, to the exclusion of potentially more effective alternatives.
You can read Cohen's entire article at:
http://www.foresthistory.org/Publications/FHT/FHTFall2008/Cohen.pdf
Below are snips from "The Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Problem: A Consequence of the Fire Exclusion Paradigm" by Jack Cohen (406-329-4821 or jcohen@fs.fed.us)
"By definition, wildland-urban interface fire disasters depend on homes igniting during wildfires. If homes do not ignite and burn during wildfires then the WUI fire problem largely does not exist. We would have extreme wildfires without WUI fire disasters."
"If homes are sufficiently resistant to ignition and do not ignite during the extreme wildfire exposure, then the homes survive without firefighter protection: we have an extreme wildfire but not a WUI fire disaster. Thus, WUI fire disasters principally depend on home ignition potential. Research shows that a home's ignition potential during extreme wildfires is determined by the characteristics of its exterior materials and design and their response to burning objects within one hundred feet (thirty meters) and firebrands (burning embers). This area-a home (see illustration) and its immediate surroundings is called the home ignition zone."
"The above research suggests an alternative for preventing disastrous home destruction without the necessity of controlling wildfires under extreme conditions. Addressing conditions within the home ignition zone can significantly reduce the home ignition potential. Thus, given ignition-resistant homes, extreme wildfires can spread to residential areas without incurring WUI fire disasters. However, WUI ignition resistance (a wildfire compatibility approach) is largely not the primary method used for disaster prevention. Although the home ignition zone approach for preventing WUI fire disasters has been adopted by the national Firewise program, fire suppression remains the principal approach."
"The wildland fire management approach for preventing WUI fire disasters largely addresses the wildfire outside the home ignition zone rather than a home's ignition potential as determined by the conditions within the home ignition zone. Since 2000, agency fire management policy initiatives have emphasized fire suppression."
"The evidence from policy documents, fire management operations, and manual directives indicates that wildfire suppression and activities in support of suppression constitute the principal approach for preventing disastrous residential fire destruction. Yet the evidence suggests that reasonable levels of fire suppression cannot prevent WUI fire disasters."
"The continued focus on fire suppression largely to the exclusion of alternatives that address home ignition potential suggests a persistent inappropriate framing of the WUI fire problem in terms of the fire exclusion paradigm."
"Preventing WUI fire disasters requires that the problem be framed in terms of home ignition potential. Because this principally involves the home ignition zone, and the home ignition zone primarily falls within private ownership, the responsibility for preventing home ignitions largely falls within the authority of the property owner. Preventing wildfire disasters thus means fire agencies helping property owners mitigate the vulnerability of their structures. The continued fire management focus on fire suppression suggests the WUI fire problem persists largely as a consequence of framing the WUI fire problem primarily in terms of the fire exclusion paradigm."