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"Red flag warnings (RFWs) are issued to alert management and emergency response agencies of weather conditions that are conducive to extreme wildfire behavior. Issuance of RFWs also can encourage the public to exercise extreme caution with activities that could ignite a wildfire. Among the ignition causes associated with human activity, some generally reflect short-term behavioral decisions, whereas others are linked to infrastructure and habitual behaviors. From 2006–2020, approximately 8% of wildfires across the western United States were discovered on days with RFWs. We discuss our discovery that although the number of human-caused fires was higher on RFW days than on similar days without RFWs, the warnings appeared to disproportionately reduce the number of ignitions associated with short-term behavioral choices. "

A three-part webinar series in January 2025 produced by the Northwest Fire Science Consortium in collaboration with the other western Fire Science Exchanges (Great Basin Fire Science Exchange, California Fire Science Consortium, Southern Rockies Fire Science Network, Southwest Fire Science Consortium, and the Northern Rockies Fire Science Network). Please note that each webinar requires a separate registration.

Event Details

Jan 30 2025, 10 - 11am
Virtual Event
Presenter(s): John T. Abatzoglou
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