Overview

Timmons Group supported the North Carolina Division of Forest Resources and the Alabama Forestry Commission in assessing the potential consequences of reduced staffing and equipment resources that could affect wildland fire fighting capabilities.

To demonstrate the possible consequences of reduced budgets that would result in changes in staffing and equipment resources, fire growth simulations were conducted retroactively for two fires in each state where substantial initial attack and suppression was successfully used to restrict fire growth and impacts.

By using the latest technology available, Wildfire Analyst© software from Technosylva, historical fires were simulated without any suppression so that a comparison of each fire (what was & what could have been), could be undertaken between the real fire perimeter (with suppression) and the simulated fire perimeter (without suppression).

To quantify the possible impacts of the fires without suppression, county parcel, assessor and population data was obtained so that summaries could be generated by overlaying the simulated fire perimeters and determining impact zones. GIS analysis was completed to derive results that were summarized as Powerpoint presentations and timeline simulations in Google Earth and ArcGIS v10. This information was used by NC and AL State Foresters for budget planning and related efforts.

This project was sponsored by the Southern Group of State Foresters as a component of the Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment.

For more information about the project please contact Lowell Ballard.

FEATURES
• Used Wildfire Analyst™ software to create fire spread simulations
• Economic impact analysis by integrating parcel data and timber values data
• Demonstrates potential consequences of reduced staffing and resources
• PPT of summary to support presentation to legislature and leadership
• Helped Alabama FC reduce substantial agency budget cuts