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Human Factors of Fire Ignition

Through a logistic regression analysis it was revealed that human ignitions were spatially associated with the following factors:

Proximity to roads - people usually access areas by way of roads and spend more time close to them than far away
Location of campgrounds and picnic areas - people spend more time in these areas
Proximity of urban areas - there are more people in urban areas, and less time is spent the further they have to go from the urban area
Non-forested vegetation layers (GAP)
Urban-wildland border complexity

Fort Huachuca map

Map of human factors of fire ignition in the Fort Huachuca area, with darker colors being higher probability of a fire

Wildland Fire Danger Estimation and Mapping
Edited by Emilio Chuvieco (University of Alcalá, Spain)
This book presents a wide range of techniques for extracting information from satellite remote sensing images in forest fire danger assessment. A web page describing the book on its publisher's site.

Application of GIS in Forest Fire Prevention
Abstract of a paper on research by Maria J. Perestrello de Vasconcelos Mario S. Caetano and Joseé M.C. Pereira to develop an empirical model that estimates spatially distributed probabilities of ignition of wildland fires in central Portugal given at the International Union of Forest Research Organizations XX World Congress, 6-12 August 1995, Tampere, Finland.

Environmental and Social Factors Influencing Wildfires in the Upper Midwest, USA
by Jeffrey A. Cardille, Stephen J. Ventura, and Monica G. Turner
A paper on research investigating the relationship between wildfire activity and environmental and social factors (pdf, 641K) for more than 18,000 reported fires of all sizes between 1985 and 1995.

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The Endangered Species Act of 1973
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