Canadian wildland fire interface maps: Tools for wildland fire protection of our communities, industries, and infrastructure

Feb 17, 2017 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Wildland

fires have the potential to destroy communities, industrial buildings, and critical infrastructure and they also put human lives at risk. Wildland firefighting aims to prevent these destructive events, but not all fires can be controlled. Two recent wildfire events, Slave Lake in 2011 and Fort McMurray in 2016, resulted in significant destruction with direct costs of over $1 billion (Slave Lake) and $4 billion (Fort McMurray). In this webinar, Lynn Johnston will review wildland fire as a threat to Canadians and will also provide details of recent research into mapping locations across the country where communities, industry, or infrastructure have the potential to be at risk from wildland fire (known as “interface” areas).

Lynn Johnston is a Forest Fire Research Specialist with the Canadian Forest Service at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She has worked with the CFS since 2007 on a variety of wildland fire topics, including fire behavior, fire risk, and fire and climate change. Lynn recently completed her MSc. at the University of Alberta in Forest Biology and Management, focusing on wildland fires. Her thesis research provided a first national map of interface areas in Canada (i.e. where human-built structures and potentially burnable land meet).

Time and Date: Feb 17, 2017 10:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register Now