GIS Needs in Wildfire Emergency Operations

Loren PfauPSU GEOG 588

15 December 2010

OverviewIntroductionBackgroundResearchData Needs of Selected PartiesRecommendations

BackgroundWildfires are major annual events in the US

National Interagency Fire Center Statistics 10-year Average of 72,775 fires impacting 6.39 Milling acres 2010 through 26 November experienced 66,315 fires impacting

6.39 Million acresThe Fourmile Canyon fire that occurred west of Boulder,

CO in September 2010 destroyed 169 homes and caused an estimated $217 Million in damages

Wildfires are challenging emergency operationsDifficult to predictFast-moving, long-lastingSpan multiple jurisdictions and agenciesPotential for significant risks to lives and property

Research FindingsCurrent use of GIS in wildfire operations are highly

traditional in natureTop-down, command & control modelNational Wildfire Coordinating Group Standard: “GIS

Standard Operating Procedures on Incidents”Challenge: current layers needed for situational

awareness

Social media sources are becoming significantSDSU researchBut there are limitations

The challenge, and opportunity, is to bridge the two

Citizen Mashup - Fourmile Canyon Fire

Ramsay, Adam. “Social Media Helps with the Boulder Fire.” 9 September 2010. Retrieved on 12 December 2010 from: http://www.examiner.com/online-media-in-denver/social-media-helps-with-the-boulder-fire

Data Needs of Selected PartiesEmergency Management

NIMS / ICSField CrewsLaw EnforcementGeneral PublicMedia

RecommendationsNew generations of GIS for wildfire management

need to take into account social media applicationsBoth for making information available to the public

and as a means of acquiring information from the public

Systems design needs to Take into account nontraditional usersPlan for flexibility

During wildfire emergencies devote resources to non-traditional GIS tasks such as identifying and monitoring social media sites and traditional media outlets

High-level Architecture