The wildland/urban interface (WUI) is constantly growing and changing. As a result, more and more homeowners are putting themselves at risk of experiencing a large, and potentially deadly, WUI fire. Fire departments, along with state and federal agencies, have had to come together on several occasions in the recent past to battle some of the largest wildland/WUI fires ever seen in this country. Add to that the fact that several other countries around the world are experiencing these same types of “megafires,” and you’ve got a major issue—which encompasses everything from rate of spread to structure protection to mass evacuation procedures—in need of immediate and continual attention.

FireRescue magazine recently reached out to Dan Bailey, director of Wildland Fire Programs for the International Code Council in Washington, D.C., for the latest news, information and happenings in D.C. that affect WUI areas. Below we provide a summary of his findings.

Fed & State Agencies Brace for Huge 2010 Budget Problems
As 2010 begins, discussions on the high cost of suppressing wildfires are taking place in Washington, D.C., and across the United States. The budget toll on federal and state agencies alike is escalating at a phenomenal rate. Large wildland “megafires”—which are increasing—are complex, costly events influenced by a vast array of physical, climatic and social factors. During 5 of the last 8 years, the U.S. Forest Services’ (USFS) wildfire suppression expenditures have topped more than $1 billion, and total federal wildland suppression expenditures have reached nearly $2 billion.

Wildfire suppression costs have grown to the extent that they now account for close to 50 percent of the USFS budget, which is already constrained. States like California, Oregon, Washington, Texas and others are finding that soaring costs are impacting programs and staffing levels.

Predictions over the next couple of years are not indicating much relief. Many federal and state agency officials are looking at numerous alternatives for dealing with the impending financial crisis. Congress and state legislatures have begun analyses and discussions on how to best deal with the crisis, while also looking at maintaining public safety. Several bills in Congress have addressed the issue, but only provide stopgap measures that are a short-term fix.

Congress Still Considering the National Wildfire Infrastructure Improvement & Cost Containment Act
The National Wildfire Infrastructure Improvement & Cost Containment Act would serve to strengthen the federal infrastructure and require organizational and policy changes in the management of federal fire programs. It would also reform personnel and pay policies currently encumbering wildland firefighters.

The existing policies have led to a significant loss of federal wildland firefighters to non-federal agencies because non-federal agencies are offering better pay and benefits. Strengthening the federal infrastructure will reduce, if not entirely eliminate, the losses of wildland firefighters to non-federal agencies.

U.S. Wildfire Cost-Plus-Loss Economics Paper Stirs Debate
The U.S. Wildfire Cost-Plus-Loss Project was established to provide a more appropriate cost structure analysis for the monetary cost of wildfire suppression. The project, founded by Bob Zybach, Michael Dubrasich, Greg Brenner and John Marker, estimates that the cost of suppressing wildfires for all levels of government ranges from $20–$100 billion annually.

The current cost estimates for wildfire suppression in the United States is estimated at only $2 billion annually. Why the difference? The USFS records and publishes suppression costs of wildland fires only. Not included in USFS figures are possible losses of human lives, homes and livestock, as well as damage to infrastructure and the environment (both long- and short-term).

To establish a means quantifying these ancillary wildfire costs, the Cost-Plus-Loss Project created a one-page checklist that can be used by government, media and citizens to better account for damages resulting from a large-scale wildland fire (those that involve loss of life, large acreage and high suppression costs). The checklist contains 11 categories of fire cost, which includes suppression, property, public health, vegetation, wildlife, water, air and atmospheric effects, soil-related effects, recreation and aesthetics, energy and lastly, heritage.

According to the Cost-Plus-Loss Project figures, currently reported wildfire costs represent a mere 10 percent of actual wildfire costs to taxpayers. Using the 11 categories of cost analysis, a better “total loss” figure can be estimated.

Release of Wildfire Database for the State of Texas
As residential and commercial development in Texas continues to expand into the WUI, the threat of property and infrastructure loss due to WUI fires increases. First American Spatial Solutions has provided the state of Texas with the Texas Wildfire Database (TWD), which provides the information needed by the insurance industry to identify an individual property’s risk vulnerability.

The TWD takes into account the type of vegetation, topography and historical frequency of burns to generate brushfire risk scores. The data are modeled at a highly granular, 30-meter grid level and produce wildfire risk scores ranging from low to very high.

The TWD differs from other states’ datasets in that the historical frequency of burns is used to define characteristics of Texas wildfires, but not burn perimeters. The TWD also doesn’t identify a temporary reduction in risk for recently burned areas since the primary or secondary vegetation in many of these cases is grass, which tends to return to its pre-burn condition within 1 year. The TWD is updated annually to capture changes from the previous wildfire season and to account for expanded urban growth.

“As urban areas in Texas continue to grow, it’s important to understand the impact wildfires could potentially have,” says Howard Botts, executive vice president and director of database development at First American Spatial Solutions. “Texas is a major concern for insurance companies, given the prolonged drought and high rate of vegetative growth. Of particular concern are the large areas of the state where the predominant fuel source is grass, which grows back very quickly after it burns.”