Mitigating Wildfire Disaster: Early Detection and Commitment

Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 September 2010 08:45 Written by Site Admin Wednesday, 01 September 2010 08:40

This article presents a discussion on wildfire and the technical and organizational efforts to mitigate wildfire disasters. Wildfire not only causes loss of life, property, and ecosystems but creates other disasters such as erosion and economic degradation. There is a global awareness of the catastrophic consequences caused by wildfire. Accordingly, there is an ongoing effort to mitigate wildfire by early detection and preparedness planning, which translates into the ability to respond quickly. The logic is the sooner a wildfire is detected, the sooner resources can be activated to respond to the emergency and prevent an incident from becoming a disaster. This article explores why wildfire has become a globally recognized natural hazard and explores recent technological advances to detect wildfire. The human equation and its relation to preparedness planning is also explored. In conclusion, wildfire threats are globally recognized as having significant detrimental economic and environmental impacts. The fact that preparedness planning efforts are not subjugated by media exposure usually reserved for tsunami and earthquake disasters is a testament of the global commitment to prioritize wildfire mitigation.

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