Title:

Fireline engagement from the National Interagency Fire Center Feature Service from 2017-2024

Author(s):

Arkowitz, Alexander P.; Ritter, Scott M.; Thompson, Matthew P.; Young, Jesse D.; Pietruszka, Bradley M.; Calkin, David E.

Publication Year:

2025

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:

Arkowitz, Alexander P.; Ritter, Scott M.; Thompson, Matthew P.; Young, Jesse D.; Pietruszka, Bradley M.; Calkin, David E. 2025. Fireline engagement from the National Interagency Fire Center Feature Service from 2017-2024. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2025-0011

Abstract:

The escalation of wildfires in the USA, coupled with rising firefighting costs and decreasing workforce capacity, underscores the critical need to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of containment measures. However, the existing spatial data that records the locations and types of containment measures and wildfire perimeters contains numerous errors and redundancies. This data publication includes a comprehensive fireline quality assurance and quality control dataset developed from the wildland firefighting operations data reported in the National Interagency Fire Center National Incident Feature Service (NIFC) from 2017-2024. This improved dataset contains reliable spatial locations for fireline built during suppression operations, the associated verified fire perimeters, and identifies where containment was a success or failure. This improved final dataset represents critical information that has not been previously available to assess the success of fireline operations and incident management resource use efficiency.

Keywords:

environment; Environment and People; Impact of people on environment; Fire; Fire effects on environment; Fire suppression, pre-suppression; Wildland/urban interface; Natural Resource Management & Use; Forest management; Landscape management; fireline data; wildfire incidents; NIFC; fire containment; fire containment status; firefighting; operational fireline data; fire suppression effectiveness; fireline engagement; fireline attribution QAQC; suppression outcome evaluation; tactical fireline decisions; resource objective wildfire; wildfire management; United States

Related publications:

• Arkowitz, Alexander; Ritter, Scott M.; Thompson, Matthew P.; Young, Jesse D.; Pietruszka, Bradley M.; Calkin, David E. unknown. Quality assured spatial dataset of wildfire containment firelines and engagement outcomes 2017 to 2024. Scientific Data Report. [In review, Manuscript Number SDATA-25-00118].
• Bayham, Jude; Yoder, Jonathan K.; Champ, Patricia A.; Calkin, David E. 2022. The economics of wildfire in the United States. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 14: 379-401. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-014804 https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/65524
• Moritz, Max A.; Parisie, Marc-André; Batllori, Enric; Krawchuk, Meg A.; Van Dorn, Jeff; Ganz, David J.; Hayhoe, Katharine. 2012. Climate change and disruptions to global fire activity. Ecosphere. 3(6): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES11-00345.1
• More (23 total)

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