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Title:

Wildfire Risk to Communities: Spatial datasets of wildfire risk for populated areas in the United States

Author(s):

Scott, Joe H.; Brough, April M.; Gilbertson-Day, Julie W.; Dillon, Gregory K.; Moran, Christopher

Publication Year:

2020

How to Cite:

These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation:

Scott, Joe H.; Brough, April M.; Gilbertson-Day, Julie W.; Dillon, Gregory K.; Moran, Christopher. 2020. Wildfire Risk to Communities: Spatial datasets of wildfire risk for populated areas in the United States. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2020-0060

The datasets presented here are the product of modeling, and as such carry an inherent degree of error and uncertainty. Users are strongly encouraged to read and fully comprehend the metadata and other available documentation prior to data use. No warranty is made by the Originator as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data for individual use or aggregate use with other data, or for purposes not intended by the Originator. These datasets are intended to provide nationally-consistent information for the purpose of comparing relative wildfire risk among communities nationally or within a state or county. Data included here are not intended to replace locally-calibrated state, regional, or local risk assessments where they exist. It is the responsibility of the user to be familiar with the value, assumptions, and limitations of these national data publications. Managers and planners must evaluate these data according to the scale and requirements specific to their needs. Spatial information may not meet National Map Accuracy Standards. This information may be updated without notification.

Abstract:

The data included in this publication depict components of wildfire risk specifically for populated areas in the United States. These datasets represent where people live in the United States and the in situ risk from wildfire, i.e., the risk at the location where the adverse effects take place. Related datasets representing components of risk across the entire landscape are available in a separate data publication (Scott et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2020-0016). Likewise, transmitted risk to housing units from the source locations where damaging fires originate will be also be delivered in a separate publication.

Vegetation and wildland fuels data from LANDFIRE 2014 (version 1.4.0) form the foundation for wildfire hazard and risk data included in the Wildfire Risk to Communities datasets. As such, the data presented here reflect wildfire hazard from landscape conditions as of the end of 2014. National wildfire hazard datasets of annual burn probability and fire intensity were generated from the LANDFIRE 2014 data by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (Short et al. 2020) using the large fire simulation system (FSim). These national datasets produced with FSim have a relatively coarse cell size of 270 meters (m). To bring these datasets down to a finer resolution more useful for assessing hazard and risk to communities, we upsampled them to the native 30-m resolution of the LANDFIRE fuel and vegetation data. In this upsampling process, we also spread values of modeled burn probability and intensity into developed areas represented in LANDFIRE fuels data as non-burnable. Additional methodology documentation is provided with the data publication download.

The data products in this publication that represent where people live reflect 2018 estimates of housing unit and population counts from the U.S. Census Bureau, combined with building footprint data from Microsoft (version 1.1), LandScan 2018 where building footprint data were unavailable, USGS building coverage data, and land cover data from LANDFIRE.

The specific raster datasets included in this publication include:

Housing Unit Density (HUDen): HUDen is a nationwide raster of housing-unit density measured in housing units per square kilometer. The HUDen raster was generated using population and housing-unit count and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, building footprint data from Microsoft, and land cover data from LANDFIRE. In Alaska, LandScan 2018 data were used to identify approximate housing unit locations because Microsoft data were not available across the whole state.

Population Density (PopDen): PopDen is a nationwide raster of residential population density measured in persons per square kilometer. The PopDen raster was generated using population count data from the U.S. Census Bureau, building footprint data from Microsoft, and land cover data from LANDFIRE. In Alaska, LandScan 2018 data were used to identify approximate population locations because Microsoft data were not available across the whole state.

Building Coverage (BuildingCover): BuildingCover is a raster of building density measured as the percent cover of buildings within an approximately 5 acre area around each pixel. It includes all buildings and can be used to complement the HUDen raster, which just reflects residential buildings. Building coverage was generated using building footprint data from Microsoft (v1.1), building coverage data from USGS, and land cover data from LANDFIRE. Building Coverage is not available in Alaska because source data were not available across the whole state.

Building Exposure Type (BuildingExposure): Exposure is the spatial coincidence of wildfire likelihood and intensity with communities. The BuildingExposure layer delineates whether buildings at each pixel are directly exposed to wildfire from adjacent wildland vegetation (pixel value of 1), indirectly exposed to wildfire from indirect sources such as embers and home-to-home ignition (pixel values between 0 and 1), or not exposed to wildfire due to distance from direct and indirect ignition sources (pixel value of 0). It is similar to Exposure Type in the companion data publication, RDS-2020-0016, but just where HUDen > 0 or BuildingCover > 0. Pixels where both HUDen and BuildingCover rasters are zero are NoData in the BuildingExposure raster.

Housing Unit Exposure (HUExposure): HUExposure is the expected number of housing units within a pixel potentially exposed to wildfire in a year. This is a long-term annual average and not intended to represent the actual number of housing units exposed in any specific year. It is calculated as the product of wildfire likelihood and housing unit count. Pixels where the HUDen raster is zero are NoData in the HUExposure raster.

Housing Unit Impact (HUImpact): HUImpact is an index that represents the relative potential impact of fire to housing units at any pixel, if a fire occurs there. It incorporates the general consequences of fire on a home as a function of fire intensity and uses flame length probabilities from wildfire modeling to capture likely intensity of fire. HUImpact does not include the likelihood of fire occurring, and it does not reflect mitigations done to individual structures that would influence susceptibility. It is conceptually similar to Conditional Risk to Potential Structures in the companion data publication, RDS-2020-0016, but also incorporates housing unit count and exposure type. Pixels where the HUDen raster is zero are NoData in the HUImpact raster.

Housing Unit Risk (HURisk): HURisk is an index that integrates all four primary elements of wildfire risk - likelihood, intensity, susceptibility, and exposure - on pixels where housing unit density > 0. It is conceptually similar to Risk to Potential Structures (i.e., Risk to Homes) in the companion data publication, RDS-2020-0016, but also incorporates housing unit count. Pixels where the HUDen raster is zero are NoData in the HURisk raster.

Keywords:

environment; geoscientificInformation; society; structure; Ecology, Ecosystems, & Environment; Fire; Fire detection; Fire ecology; Fire effects on environment; Fire suppression, pre-suppression; Prescribed fire; Environment and People; Forest management; Landscape management; burn probability; hazard; fuels management; fire likelihood; fire planning; risk assessment; wildfire hazard potential; United States; conterminous United States; CONUS; Alaska; Hawaii

Related publications:

• Short, Karen C.; Finney, Mark A.; Vogler, Kevin C.; Scott, Joe H.; Gilbertson-Day, Julie W.; Grenfell, Isaac C. 2020. Spatial dataset of probabilistic wildfire risk components for the United States (270m). 2nd Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2016-0034-2
• Scott, Joe H.; Gilbertson-Day, Julie W.; Moran, Christopher; Dillon, Gregory K.; Short, Karen C.; Vogler, Kevin C. 2020. Wildfire Risk to Communities: Spatial datasets of landscape-wide wildfire risk components for the United States. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2020-0016

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