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Wildfire Report Series

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These reports identify and analyze the characteristics of wildfire incidents reported to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).

burned homes after a wildfire
Wildfire Report Series program mark

An Analysis of NFIRS Data for Selected Wildfires

The third report in our Wildfire Report Series compares the publicly reported loss metrics (e.g., deaths, injuries, dollar losses and acres burned) from media and government sources for 6 named wildfires between 2016 and 2018 with the data reported by local fire departments to the NFIRS.

Overall, the data in the NFIRS for these wildfires significantly understates the publicly reported losses except for acres burned, which was often overreported in the NFIRS.
Woolsey fire
Wildfire Report Series program mark

Analysis of NFIRS incidents in the WUI

The second report in our Wildfire Report Series examines 2009 to 2011 California wildland urban interface (WUI) incidents reported to NFIRS in terms of travel time, loss measures and fire cause and compares the incidents to those outside WUI areas.

This report presents a novel method for identifying incidents that occur in the WUI: NFIRS data was geocoded and combined with existing U.S. Forest Service WUI shapefiles to identify incidents. This dataset creates a substantial new opportunity for linking local fire department incident responses and wildland fires.
MODIS data points plotted on a map
Wildfire Report Series program mark

Investigation of MODIS-detected fires in NFIRS

The first report in our Wildfire Report Series investigates the feasibility of using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data as a means for identifying wildfire incidents that may be missing from NFIRS.

Our examination of MODIS-detected fires shows that few of these incidents are reported in NFIRS.