Wildfire Risk to Communities: Methods for Geospatial and Tabular Datasets

Excerpts: The Wildfire Risk to Communities project was created in response to direction by the U.S. Congress in the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act (i.e., 2018 Omnibus Act, H.R. 1625, Section 210: Wildfire Hazard Severity Mapping). That legislation directed the USDA Forest Service to develop and publish, within two years, national geospatial products depicting wildfire hazard and risk for communities across the United States. The focus of the legislation was firmly on communities. The intent was to help U.S. communities understand components of their relative wildfire risk profile, the nature and effects of wildfire risk, and actions they can take to mitigate risk. The Wildfire Risk to Communities data represent the first time wildfire risk to communities has been mapped nationally with consistent methodology to the level of detail presented here. These data provide foundational information for comparing the relative wildfire risk among populated communities in the United States. This purpose of this white paper is to provide a detailed description of the methods used to: 1) develop spatial data for the Wildfire Risk to Communities project, and 2) to summarize those data for communities in the United States.