The Key to Fire Prevention: A Closer Look

ARS researchers in Boise, ID, are using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) to help prevent wildfires. Currently, wildland fire prevention, suppression, and restoration in the United States costs more than $3 billion annually. By mapping several types of vegetation that serve as the fuel for fires, researchers created publicly available data that will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of efforts to combat the fires.

One way the information is being used is in guiding prescribed fire, which are controlled burns designed to thin out vegetation and other material that could otherwise contribute to larger, uncontrolled future wildfires. The updated maps are available at the Ag Data Commons repository, where they have been downloaded more than 700 times since they have become available. See more about prescribed fire here.

Above is the North facing slope and below is the South facing slope of Johnston Draw within the USDA-ARS Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Idaho. Both are pictured in the springtime, after a prescribed wildfire was performed. ARS researchers found the pre-fire fuel load and fire behavior differed between the mountain’s North and South facing slopes. The North facing slopes burned at a lower intensity than the south facing slopes because of differing fuel types and moisture levels. The dry, woody Western Juniper fuels on the South slopes promoted higher fire intensity, greater severity, and more potential for resource damage than the relatively moist sagebrush fuels on the North slopes. (Photos by Craig Woodruff)