Evaluating the effectiveness of wildfire mitigation activities in the wildland-urban interface

This report identifies successful approaches to reducing the wildfire hazard in  the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and presents strategies for creating successful Community Wildfire Protection Plans. The authors assessed wildfire mitigation activities in the WUI of New Mexico, USA to identify which strategies are most effective.

First, they modeled how fuel treatments change wildfire behavior in 12 WUI areas. The second element of their analysis used data from over 2,000 assessments of home wildfire hazard to better understand how those hazards are distributed and change over time. The authors further examined the Firewise communities in New Mexico because of the important role the Firewise program plays in public wildfire education nationally. The Firewise program is an effective tool that builds on the power of neighbors encouraging neighbors to undertake mitigation efforts. The fourth element of the assessment examined nine Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) case studies, which integrate the different elements of wildfire mitigation. The final section of this report synthesizes the lessons learned from WUI mitigation in New Mexico.