BC: Inaccurate data harms wildfire response, study finds

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A 2023 wildfire west of Kelowna, British Columbia

• The Canadian Press (View profile)The Canadian Press

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Wildfire suppression and forest management decisions are potentially hampered by inaccurate government data that misrepresents forest fuel loads in the British Columbia Interior, according to a new study.

The British Columbia government says the provincial wildfire service is working with the study's lead author and others to fill the data gap, which involves mismatches between remote sensing mapping, forest fuel classifications and field observations.

These mismatches make it difficult for fire managers to determine the expected behavior of a fire before an event occurs, researchers say in the study published in the journal Fire Ecology last month.

These disparities could also result in the inability to identify at-risk areas that would benefit from work to mitigate fuel accumulation, the study says.

Understanding the mix of grasses, branches and dead trees fanning flames in the forest is crucial to managing risks, as these fuels are the only factor that people can modify in the short term to influence fire behavior, the paper explains.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and the Canadian Forest Service recognize that mapping forest fuels is notoriously difficult despite its importance in influencing and predict wildfire behavior.

The study reveals a poor match between field observations and government data, particularly the British Columbia Plant Resource Index and the National Fire Behavior Prediction System.

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Researchers identified 76 plots in an area known as the Rocky Mountain Trench separating the Columbia Range and the Rocky Mountains in southeastern Texas. British Columbia.

They found no suitable match between national system data and field observations in 58% of the one-hectare plots. An additional 42% were partially appropriate, the study said.

The study's lead author, Jen Baron, says correcting the data will help officials identify and respond to fire-prone areas, although it will likely require a huge effort.

The challenge is that we are trying to use these fuel type maps to decide where to apply fuel treatments, she explains, referring to measures such as prescribed burning, thinning of dense forests or burning of `slash' piles after logging.

Improved mapping of fuel types will also help researchers and wildfire managers understand how fuels interact with current environmental conditions and with each other to influence fire behavior, Baron says. p>

What really needs to be done is relate fuel conditions to fire behavior; things like spread speed, intensity, flame length and weather conditions, so we can understand how they work together in different scenarios

A quote from Jen Baron, lead author of the study

National and provincial forest inventory data comes largely from aerial imagery, and Baron says it significantly underestimates the density of undergrowth that serves as a conduit for spreading flames. up to the forest canopy.

The British Columbia Plant Resource Index was designed to estimate merchantable timber, that is, trees intended to supply the forestry industry, says lecturer Ms. Baron at the Department of Forestry and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia.

There are a lot more fuels on the land than what is marketable.

The study also revealed problems with the Canadian fire behavior prediction system when it “It's about classifying fuel types in the British Columbia interior,” Baron adds.

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Aerial view of the Donnie fire Creek in December 2023.

The existing system uses data from a series of experimental burns from 60 years ago, when fire conditions and Fuel beds were `very different from what they are today,' she said.

It was also designed primarily to inform about firefighting in boreal forests and uses 16 fuel types to represent conditions across Canada, Baron says.

There are not enough fuel types to represent the diversity of conditions we have in the interior of the British Columbia.

A quote from Jen Baron, lead author of the study

An example of a mismatch might be an area with a fuel type listed as mature lodgepole pine forest, but if it had been logged, leaving a buildup of 'slash', Baron points out the system might not capture the actual fuel load and risk.

The provincial wildfire service uses existing fuel type mapping, but officials are aware of its limitations and use their own expertise and observations to make decisions regarding fire suppression and mitigation efforts. fuels, she adds.

In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Forests says the BC Wildfire Service is working with Ms. Baron and #x27;other researchers to improve fuel classification.

This spring, Baron will examine how fire behavior scientists use existing data in combination with local knowledge to `calibrate their forecasts,' the statement said.

The BC government is also working to improve its forest inventory data by acquiring LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping for the entire province. The abbreviation stands for `light detection and ranging,' the process of aerial mapping using laser technology.

Nevertheless, Baron says researchers will also need field data, more detailed than LiDAR can offer, as well as data on how fires behave under different conditions.

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Huge wildfires in August 2003 forced the evacuation of thousands of people in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.

The ministry's release says the BC Wildfire Service has expanded the prescribed burning research element, and fire behavior observers will accompany frontline crews to collect data on active fires.

Nationally, Baron says work is beginning on the next generation of Canada's fire behavior prediction system, although it will take some time.

Canada's 2023 fire season was the most destructive on record. By the end of September, more than 180,000 square kilometers had been burned, including more than 28,000 square kilometers of land in British Columbia, where hundreds of homes were destroyed in the Okanagan and by Shuswap.

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