Firewise Virginia Program - Assess, Mitigate, and Reduce Wildfire Risks Statewide

1. The Firewise VirginiaProgramJohn Miller - Chief, Resource ProtectionVirginia Department of Forestry

2. VDOF - 5 Year Average – 1529 Wildfires - 14,458 Acres

3. DOF Emergency Response Resources

4. DOF Incident Management Resources

5. The Firewise VirginiaEffortfirewise logo

6. Wildland Urban Interface

7. Virginia Statistics

8. Virginia’s Woodland Homes Estimate based on some preliminary assessment work in 2003

9. Firewise VirginiaStatewide Risk AssessmentCommunity AssessmentPublic InformationWebsiteHazard Mitigation Projects

10. Statewide Wildfire Risk Assessment Goals - Identify and Quantify Wildfire Risks and Hazards Statewide. - Identify and Assess at-risk communities. - Reduce and/or Mitigate the hazards in identified at-risk communities. - Utilize risk assessment information for agency planning needs.

11. VDOF Wildfire Risk Assessment GIS Model • DOF developed a GIS model to objectively determine Wildfire Risk in Virginia • Used multiple input layers to model potential occurrence of wildfire • Layers were given different weight depending on their relative importance in determining risk • Layers were clipped by physiographic province so model could be run with three sets of parameter weights.

12. VDOF Wildfire Risk Assessment GIS Model Inputs - Landcover, Fuel Type, Resource Information - Topographic Features - Slope, Aspect, - Population Density - Distance to Roads - Cultural Improvements, Values at Risk - Historical Wildfire Density

17. Wildfire Risk Assessment Uses - Woodland Home Communities, Firewise VA - Wildfire Hazard Mitigation - Dry Hydrant Program - Resource Allocation, Grants - Prevention Activities

18. Risk Assessment – New Focus

19. Virginia Forest Resource Information Mapper“ForestRIM” Project funding made possible through grants from

20. Objective To provide DOF field staff and the public-at-large with GIS tools and data for more informed decision-making. ForestRIM is a warehouse for mapped information

21. ForestRIM Data Over 100 Data Layers • Aerial photos - 1990’s DOQQs, 2002 VBMP • Topo quads • Landcover – NLCD, VDOF Forests, Soils, Wetlands • Census - Block data for 1990, 2000 • Hydrography - streams/rivers, waterbodies, watersheds, impaired waterways, public drinking water supply, scenic rivers • Infrastructure - roads, airports, schools, hospitals • Boundaries – counties, fed lands, political districts • Topography - hillshade, slope, contours • VDOF layers - Wildfire Risk, WHC, Dry hydrants, fire incidents, fuels, gypsy moth defoliation, etc.

22. ForestRIM Tools • View information/GIS layers (zoom, pan, etc.) • Query information/GIS layers: • By Attribute (i.e. Fires > 5 ac.) • By Geography (i.e. All Fires in Lee County) • Produce professional-quality maps • Annotate maps with text, points, lines, polys • Calculate polygon acres • Get Lat/Long from cursor position • Upload and view GPS jobs over GIS layers

23. WWW.DOF.FORESTRIM.ORG WWW.VDOF.ORG

24. ForestRIM Interface

25. Map Annotation Options • Add Text, Points, Lines, Polygons • Add GPS data • Edit Symbology for annotations • Save Map View

26. Secondary Search

27. What’s Next? • Regional Workshops • Continuing Push to Raise Awareness • Focus on Hazard Mitigation Projects • Continuous Program Improvements

28. Questions ??MILLERJ@VDOF.ORG