Wildland Fire Risk
Webster's dictionary defines risk as "The possibility of suffering harm or loss." As one can see, there needs to be both a likelihood and effect of an action or event before one can incur a risk. Two primary indices were assigned to each 30- by 30-m cell in all 13 southern States including Florida. These are the Level of Concern (LOC) Index and the Fire Response Accessibility Index (FRAI) (Figure on the right).
Within the risk assessment, the Level of Concern is the best measure of wildland fire risk. The Level of Concern Index is calculated from the likelihood of an acre burning, called the Wildland Fire Susceptibility Index (WFSI) and the expected effects of the fire (Fire Effects Index, or FEI). The FRA Index is a measure of the initial attack response time to a cell from existing initial dispatch locations for fire protection resources. Taken as a pair, these two indices define a cell’s accessibility and its vulnerability to wildland fire occurrence and effects.
- Wildland Fire Susceptibility Index : As used in the Florida and Southern Fire Risk Assessment, the Wildland Fire Susceptibility Index is a value developed to represent an index related to the probability of an acre burning.
- Fire Behavior Prediction Inputs : Surface Fuel Models in FloridaPredicting fire behavior requires knowledge of fuels, weather, and topography.
- Fire Behavior Outputs : Fire behavior outputs are a key component of the model used to estimate the WFSI.
- Fire Suppression Effectiveness--Rate of Spread vs Final Fire Size Relationships : For a cell, the FOA designation provides an estimate of the cell igniting.
- Calculation Example of the Cellular Value for the Probability of an Acre Burning : The cellular value for the probability of an acre burning (CPAB) is calculated for each percentile weather category for each 30- by 30-m cell on burnable acres within the State of Florida.
Encyclopedia ID: p3501
