Research Database
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Can ‘‘Fire Safe’’ Cigarettes (FSCs) Start Wildfires?
Year: 2025
Over the last 20 years, all states within the US have required all cigarettes sold to be ‘‘fire safe’’ or ‘‘fire standards compliant’’ meaning that they must pass ASTM standard E2187. Though these cigarettes are designed to self-extinguish, there have been recent studies suggesting that these ‘‘fire safe’’ cigarettes (FSCs) can still ignite mattresses and other furnishings, but there has been no guidance for fire investigators whether FSCs can ignite natural fuels, such as duff and needles, that can be the source of a wildland fire. This work sets out to investigate whether FSCs can indeed be…
Publication Type: Journal Article
High fire hazard Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) residences in California lack voluntary and mandated wildfire risk mitigation compliance in Home Ignition Zones
Year: 2025
Wildfire structure losses are increasing globally and particularly in California, USA. Losses can be mitigated in part by changes to the Home Ignition Zone (HIZ), including both home hardening and defensible space. In the United States, there are local, nation-wide, and industry-based home mitigation standards that are enforced or recommended. We explore the standards implementation (California code and two voluntary standards) at 176 participating residences in three Santa Cruz Mountains and two Sierra Nevada Mountains sites. Overall most residences had little compulsory or recommended…
Publication Type: Journal Article
The role of fuel treatments during incident management
Year: 2025
BackgroundForest fuel reduction treatments are intended to mitigate negative impacts from wildland fires, protect communities, and support firefighting. Understanding fuel treatment use is important for evaluating treatment effectiveness, which, in turn, can inform the strategic planning and design of treatments. A relatively understudied aspect of fuel treatments is how existing fuel treatments are incorporated into firefighting (i.e., incident management). In this paper, we explore how fuel treatments are used by firefighters and Incident Management Teams during fires …
fuels-reduction treatments, incident command system, firefighting, incident management teams, incident management teams
Publication Type: Journal Article