Wildfires and WUI Fire Fatalities

Haynes, Katharine; Short, Karen C.; Xanthopoulos, Gavriil; Viegas, D. X.; Ribeiro, Luís Mário; Blanchi, Raphaële

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_92-1

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…(2015) showed that fires associated with Santa Ana wind events accounted for approximately 80% of direct economic losses associated with fires in southern California during 1980–2009 despite accounting for only half of the burned area. Our finding of fatalities being three times more likely with downslope wind fires is consistent with reports from Australia and Europe showing that most fatalities are associated with being caught unexpectedly, and often due to late evacuation (for civilians) and extreme fire behavior (for firefighters) (Haynes et al., 2019). Given the outsized impact of downslope fires on loss of life and property, advances in both numerical weather predictions and wildfire warning systems should be tuned to this phenomenon (Fovell et al., 2022) both for fire prevention purposes as well as to increase situational awareness for fire suppression personnel and impacted communities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Downslope Wind‐Driven Fires in the Western United States

et al. 2023

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Downslope wind‐driven fires have resulted in many of the wildfire disasters in the western United States and represent a unique hazard to infrastructure and human life. We analyze the co‐occurrence of wildfires and downslope winds across the western United States (US) during 1992–2020. Downslope wind‐driven fires accounted for 13.4% of the wildfires and 11.9% of the burned area in the western US yet accounted for the majority of local burned area in portions of southern California, central Washington, and the front range of the Rockies. These fires were predominantly ignited by humans, occurred closer to population centers, and resulted in outsized impacts on human lives and infrastructure. Since 1999, downslope wind‐driven fires have accounted for 60.1% of structures and 52.4% of human lives lost in wildfires in the western US. Downslope wind‐driven fires occurred under anomalously dry fuels and exhibited a seasonality distinct from other fires—occurring primarily in the spring and fall. Over 1992–2020, we document a 25% increase in the annual number of downslope wind‐driven fires and a 140% increase in their respective annual burned area, which partially reflects trends toward drier fuels. These results advance our understanding of the importance of downslope winds in driving disastrous wildfires that threaten populated regions adjacent to mountain ranges in the western US. The unique characteristics of downslope wind‐driven fires require increased fire prevention and adaptation strategies to minimize losses and incorporation of changing human‐ignitions, fuel availability and dryness, and downslope wind occurrence to elucidate future fire risk.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Downslope Wind‐Driven Fires in the Western United States

et al. 2023

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“…This duty may require firefighters to perceive exposure to risk as an essential element for successfully completing their mission. For example, in the case of wildfires occurring in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas and when faced with a fully engulfed house fire and distressed victims, the inherent risks of burns, explosions, or smoke inhalation may need to be acknowledged by firefighters as integral to their actions, even without full control over the situation [59][60][61][62]. The principle of life-saving justifies categorizing the extreme management context as an operational one.…”

Section: Study Context: the Operational Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

CP2DIMG: An Innovative Research Program Aimed at Preparing Firefighters and Police Officers to Manage Emotions and Stress in Operational Contexts

Antoine-Santoni,

Rossi,

Devichi

et al. 2024

Fire

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This paper presents a research program called CP2DIMG conducted at the Federation of Environment and Society Research at the University of Corsica. The goal of CP2DIMG is to better understand the influence of emotions on operational personnel’s decision-making, aiming to test training systems dedicated to individuals facing high stress during their professional activities. This type of training system is intended to enhance emotional and mental resilience, thereby improving decision-making ability in uncertain situations under the influence of emotions related to the event. For implementation, the method will be tailored to the specificities of two categories of operational personnel: firefighters and municipal police officers. The expected results will address significant demands from operational professionals in the Mediterranean region for firefighting safety but also for large-scale or highly complex interventions. This study fully integrates into the challenges of the Mediterranean region: forest management, risk prevention plans, and preparedness of local actors responsible for crisis management. Furthermore, individuals responsible for crisis management, including local government officials and risk management and security personnel, will be able to use the obtained results for effective decision-making.

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“…In the US, most entrapment documentation is related to firefighters during operations, rather than civilians. Internationally, there are few studies about burnover events involving civilians unless they are focused on fatalities (Blanchi et al 2014;Diakakis et al 2016;Haynes et al 2019;Molina-Terrén et al 2019). In general, the number of entrapments or burnover events involving civilians is likely undercounted because they are not widely publicised, reported, or studied.…”

Section: Entrapments and Burnoversmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burnover events identified during the 2018 Camp Fire

Link

Maranghides

2023

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Background. The Camp Fire burned through communities in Butte County, California, on 8 November 2018. The fire destroyed over 18 000 structures and caused 85 fatalities, mostly within the first 12 h of the incident. Aims. A post-fire case study was conducted to learn from the devastating incident. Methods. The case study was supported by detailed first-hand accounts from 157 first responders, photos and videos, first responder radio logs, and other field data. Subsequent analysis and data integration yielded a timeline reconstruction of the first 24 h of the entire event, as well as additional observations of the fire behaviour. Key results. A total of 23 life-threatening entrapment and burnover events were identified, in which fire trapped or overtook people and compromised escape routes. Conclusions. Seventeen burnovers directly impacted evacuating civilians, 12 of which occurred on major evacuation roadways. These events affected the safety of hundreds of evacuating civilians and dozens of first responders. Implications. Fast-moving fires may require last-minute large-scale evacuations, such as the Camp Fire. The risk of similar types of events is high, particularly in intermix communities where the presence of wildland vegetation along evacuation routes, likely amplified by local topography and wind, can result in significant entrapments or burnovers.

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Wildfires and WUI Fire Fatalities

Abstract: Information collected on fatalities including civilian and firefighters during wildfire and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire. This information is used to better understand the context surrounding fatalities and to support emergency management policies.

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Downslope Wind‐Driven Fires in the Western United States

Downslope Wind‐Driven Fires in the Western United States

CP2DIMG: An Innovative Research Program Aimed at Preparing Firefighters and Police Officers to Manage Emotions and Stress in Operational Contexts

Burnover events identified during the 2018 Camp Fire

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