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The Southern Group of State Foresters has embarked on the development of two publications that describe the fire situation in the South. Fire In The South 1, completed prior to conducting the SWRA in April 2005, describes the historical use of fire in the South, including a review of characteristics of the fire problem, associated impacts on the forestry economy, and potential solutions and recommendations. This report provided the baseline for the Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment project.
With the recently released Fire In The South 2 report (released December 2008, updated on March 2, 2009), the results and findings of the SWRA project provide a quantitative analysis of wildfire risk in the South. Some of these findings include:
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Wildfire risk is widespread across the South with more than 5 million acres at high risk of wildfire, based on the likelihood of each acre burning |
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There are 118,083 communities at risk of wildfire damage in the South and of those, 43 percent, or more than 50,000 communities, are at high to very high risk. |
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Wildfire occurrence across the South is high; there are an average of 68,000 wildfires that burn a total of approximately 938,000 acres per year. |
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The wildfire risk assessment classifies more than 100 million acres in the South as having moderate to extreme fire occurrence per year based on historical wildfire ignition data. |
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In the South, more than 88 million acres are classified as wildland-urban interface (WUI), areas where communities and homes are next to or within fire-prone natural areas. |
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The wildfire risk assessment mapped fuels consistently in each southern state for the first time, which enhances wildfire management and protection planning. |
In the fire-adapted ecosystems of the South, the issue is not whether an area will burn but when it will burn and at what intensity. The SWRA is being used to address this issue by state and federal agencies to support wildfire planning and protection efforts. At the local level, the assessment is being used to increase awareness of the fire problem in the South and help the public understand fire management issues.
The assessment also demonstrates the necessity for fuel reduction treatments, generates awareness of and support for wildfire protection planning, and helps agencies determine how they can work together to deploy limited firefighting resources. Additionally, it demonstrates the necessity for funding to implement regulatory actions, and it supports budget requests with concise and equitable state information about wildfire risk.
For more informatmon please refer to the contacts listed in the Fire In The South documents available on this page.
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| FIS 2 Executive Summary (PDF) |
| FIS 2 Complete Report (6.8mb PDF) |
| An update on the wildfire situation in the South based on findings of the SWRA. This document supplements the Fire in the South 1 reports with a quantitative analysis of wildfire risk across the region. |
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| FIS 1 Complete Report (6.5mb PDF) |
| A comprehensive review of fire in the South describing cultural uses, landscape characteristics, and the associated impact of fire on the forest economy. FIS 1 is the starting baseline for the SWRA project. |
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