![]() The urban sprawl caused by the migration of population to the suburbs has intensified the ingression of human structures into wildlands, forests, and habitats 3. The process of suburbanization in the United States, which has continued since World War II, has dramatically increased the impact of human activities on natural ecosystems 1, 2. Therefore, this method is suitable for local governments to map local WUI areas, as well as formulating detailed wildfire emergency plans, evacuation routes, and management measures. Besides, the new method has the capability of updating the WUI map in real-time according to the operational needs. Moreover, this approach designates the adjacent areas of each building with large and dense parcels of vegetation as WUI, which can not only refine the scope and resolution of the WUI areas to individual buildings, but also avoids zoning issues and uncertainties in housing density calculation. This method removes the reliance on census data in WUI mapping, and does not require the calculation of housing density. To accommodate the new type of datasets, we developed a threshold criteria for mapping WUI based on statistical analysis, as opposed to using more ad-hoc criteria as used in previous mapping approaches. ![]() WUI areas in California were directly mapped using building footprints extracted from remote sensing data by Microsoft along with the fuel vegetation cover from the LANDFIRE dataset in this study. Recent developments in remote sensing technology and data analysis algorithms pose new opportunities for improving WUI mapping methods. Due to the ever-changing dynamic nature of California’s population and housing, the update frequency and resolution of WUI maps that are currently used can no longer meet the needs and challenges of wildfire management and resource allocation for suppression and mitigation efforts. Therefore, WUI areas warrant more attention during the wildfire season. The behavior of wildfires occurring in the WUI often leads to severe hazards and significant damage to man-made structures. Pictured: The Flat Fire, which started in June of 2018 near Weaverville.Due to the mixed distribution of buildings and vegetation, wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas are characterized by complex fuel distributions and geographical environments. The Mendocino Complex Fire burned more than 459,000 acres, becoming the largest complex fire in the state's history, with the complex's Ranch Fire surpassing the Thomas Fire and the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. ![]() It destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record. This new batch of wildfires included the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people. In November 2018, strong winds aggravated conditions in another round of large, destructive fires that occurred across the state. On August 4, 2018, a national disaster was declared in Northern California, due to the extensive wildfires burning there. In mid-July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state, including the destructive Carr Fire and the Mendocino Complex Fire. The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season on record in California, with a total of over 7,500 fires burning an area of over 1,670,000 acres, the largest area of burned acreage recorded in a fire season.
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