Wildland Urban Interface and Wildfire Management

   Wildland Urban Interface and Wildfire Management

Fire management is the process of planning, preventing, and fighting fires to protect people, property, and forest resources. It also involves fire to attain forestry, wildlife, and land-use objectives (Hammer, R. B., Stewart, S. I., & Radeloff, V. C. (2009).

Wildland urban interface is the zone in between wildland and human-inhabited areas, those communities living adjacent or in this region are sometimes classified as “risk community” due to their vulnerability to wildfire. “Risk communities” more so classified as those homes and all the structures along with standard amenities and services in the own government land. Mostly conditions within this area are favorable to farming, especially large-scale agriculture, therefore as a result of this, it attracts settlers.

Wildfire is a type of fire which occurs in the wilderness, and wildfire is the primary threat facing people inhabiting wilderness together with their property, other than humans. It also poses a threat to wildlife. Therefore, there is a need for wildfire management. Wildfire management is the process of organizing, presenting, and responding to wildfire to safeguard people, property, and government resources along the affected area. The following are several methods of mitigating fire;

Use of Technology. 

Technology is one of the significant forms of managing wildfire, technology is quite an extensive area, and the following technological methods are majorly used;

Coming up with specialized aircraft together with training firefighters who will be in an excellent position to access this specialized fire equipment. Specialized aircraft are also equipped with technological infrared methods that assist in seeing passed heavy smoke clearly and also monitoring during the night (Calkin, D. E., Cohen, J. D., Finney, M. A., & Thompson, M. P. (2014). The well-trained workforce assists in bringing together the concern parties in case of a wildfire outbreak as well as enhancing the proper approach when the fire situation arises.

Advanced methods in detecting and locating wildfire through dense smoke, especially during the night, is another significant advance in technology towards handling fire crisis.

Creative use of technology may not necessarily be expensive or extremely advanced methods required during implementation. An excellent example of simple technological application in managing wildfire is the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) receivers and transmitters to surveys the region and location of firefighting engines in the event of a fire. This will also assist the firefighters in locating the hot spot as well as help to secure safety when they lost in unknown terrains.

The use of web cameras will enhance all-time surveillance and therefore help in getting the air conditions of a particular place, which is crucial in the event of fire break out.

Other than technological methods, fire can also be easily managed by using explosives to destroyed fallen trees that may hinder movements in an attempt to contain fire, and explosives can also be used to break the trees that enhance the spread of fire. This explosive is only applicable in convenient ways and, as such, saves a lot of time in fighting wildfire. Once the place is bright, a wildfire can then be attacked in various ways, among this is attacking fire aerially using foamed water, this will assist in preventing a fire from spreading, it will also act as an insulator to unburnt fuel. Large fire hot spots may be attacked by giving more attention in order to contained fire within the shortest time possible.

Ecological Chain and Balance

Ecological balance is the state of equilibrium within a community of organisms, whereby genetic and ecosystem diversity remains constant despite the changes in the natural environment. However, the ecological balance may not be kept constant due to the death of organisms, an increase in several new species, and natural disasters. Therefore it results in the ecological chain. On the other side, ecology is the study of the ecosystem (Schmidt, M., & Schwegler, R. (2008). Ecological chain and balances are brought by several factors including the following;

The environmental effects of war, especially when it involves communities bordering the wilderness, lead to loss of habitat to many plants and animal species. As a result, the ecological chain and balance are entirely affected. Some unique features, such as favorable conditions suitable for agriculture in the wilderness, are a significant factor that contributes to an increase in population.

For this reason ecological chain and balance are therefore entirely affected. An increase in urban population and industries also requires a lot of water for both domestic and commercial use, thus affecting the water balance, which is an individual entity in the ecological chain and balance. Additionally, an increase in pavement areas may not only reduces water vapor but also causes water pollution, and this, however, leads to a decline in nature.

Cutting down trees for either commercial or domestic purposes may also affect the ecology of soil and water balance.

Generally an increase in human population and development activities in wilderness may also affect the ecosystem, human beings contribute a lot by clearing the wild bush for cultivation, increase use of pasture and increase buildings and structures destroys the natural appearance of wilderness, such problems have intensified over past years resulting to increased human impacts not only to the specific species but to the whole surrounding.

The fast increase in developmental activities has led to many unwanted impacts on the ecosystem. However, the ancient ecosystem gets disturbed when an exotic ecosystem is introduced in which the strange organism gets destroyed faster. Increasing human population and development activities have triggered the conflict between the wilderness and human development. Despite the conflict between human beings and nature, coexistences need to be established to maintain the ecological chain and balance.