| Wildfires are a natural element of many ecosystems and have a great impact on society by destroying property and sometimes by taking lives. In the United States alone, thousands of individual fires occur every year and the number of both burned hectares and destroyed buildings are higher than ever since recorded fire history. Six of the 10 fires with the largest losses of lives and homes of the 20th century occurred in the wildland urban interface (WUI), and all of them occurred within the last 20 years. Given that billions of dollars are being allocated to fuel management and fire suppression and that the main fire suppression goal is to protect people and property, it is necessary to obtain a clear picture and understanding of WUI losses and recovery. Therefore, the goal of my dissertation was to understand the factors related to vegetation, terrain and spatial arrangement that contribute to building loss from wildfires, and examine nationwide spatial patterns of vulnerability and rebuilding. In my first chapter, I looked at two fires that burned more than 100 buildings, and learned that each community was unique in what contributed to building loss. In Colorado, topography was one of the most important factors influencing building loss, while in California, spatial arrangement and in some cases topography and how connected the vegetation around buildings is, were significant factors. In my second chapter, I expanded the analysis to the conterminous United States and looked at all the fires that occurred between 2000 and 2010. I divided the analysis into ecoregions and the general trend that was captured in chapter one was present in this chapter as well. Overall, variables related to topography and the spatial arrangement of buildings were more frequently present in the best 20 regression models than vegetation-related variables. In chapter three I used MaxEnt to provide a vulnerability map for the conterminous United States. Finally, in chapter four I characterized rebuilding and new development patterns after wildfires that occurred between 2000 and 2005. The overall trend was that rebuilding is low and new development occurs after wildfires. |
