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- Info
The Biswell symposium: fire issues and solutions in urban interface and wildland ecosystems
| Author: |
Weise, D.R.; Martin, R.E. (shown as Technical Coordinators) |
| Date: |
1994 |
| Periodical: |
USDA Forest Service General Technical Report |
| Abstract: |
Fire has been and continues to be both a threat and benefit to humans and ecosystems. Recent large or costly fires have occurred in both the wildland-urban interface and in the wildlands. These phenomena are not new events but merely recurrences of long-standing challenges. The values at risk include, but are not limited to, human life and property, rare or unique cultural and natural resources, and ecosystem health. Much progress has been made during the past several decades regarding fire’s role in wildland systems, but many issues still remain to be resolved.
This volume presents the proceedings of the symposium, “Fire Issues and Solutions in Urban Interface and Wildland Ecosystems” held February 15-17, 1994 in Walnut Creek, California. The primary objective of the symposium was to describe fire issues and problems currently facing land managers and to present state of the art solutions that are currently being implemented by local, State, and Federal organizations concerned with fire management. The focal point of the symposium was the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley Hills “Tunnel Fire”; however, the issues and solutions described are certainly regional and national in scope.
Several key issues regarding the role of fire in wildlands and in the urban interface include social barriers, fire safety, fuel management, legal barriers, multiple jurisdictions, program cost and benefits, wildland health, conflicts between wildland resources and residential structures, air quality, and liability. Social barriers include lack of general knowledge of fire’s role, as well as recognition of its hazards and benefits. Legal barriers include laws, ordinances, and regulations that either restrict fire use or do not provide incentives for fire use. Implementing fire use on an ecosystem level requires cooperation between neighbors. The safety of structures built in urban interface settings or adjacent to wildland boundaries is an issue the owner faces; the liability associated with destruction by wildland fire is an issue that land managers face.
Because of the complexity of the issues regarding fire and its use, many different solutions have been developed. Researchers have identified social barriers and concerns that hinder adoption of fire safe practices by the general public. Educational efforts to prevent the public from forgetting the losses associated with catastrophic wildfires have been developed. Legal solutions to fuel management and fire hazard reduction have been developed in California and Florida to address liability issues. Community and neighborhood-based associations have developed to promote fire-safe wildland-urban interfaces. Interagency agreements were developed to apply prescribed fire at ecosystem levels to mutual benefit. Environmentally safe fire suppression techniques have also been developed.
Many proactive approaches to solving these and other fire issues were presented at the symposium. It is our hope that the symposium attendees as well as readers of these proceedings benefit from the array of topics discussed, and that the information gained from the technical sessions and this proceedings provides a starting point to solving local fire issues. This symposium presents a snapshot of the continually evolving dialogue about fire and its role as a shaper of ecosystems.
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