WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT: Improved Planning Will Help Agencies Better Identify Fire-Fighting Preparedness Needs.

摘要

Each year, wildland fires on federal lands burn millions of acres of forests, grasslands, and desert, and federal land management agencies expend hundreds of millions of dollars to fight these fires. Wildland fires also threaten communities that are adjacent to federal lands areas referred to as the wildland-urban interface. During the 2000 fire season, one of the worst in 50 years, approximately 123,000 fires burned more than 8.4 million acres, or more than twice the 10-year national average, and cost the federal government over $2 billion. At certain times, nearly 30,000 personnel worked on the fire lines, including the military and civilian firefighters from other countries. Calendar year 2001 was not as catastrophic as the previous year, but the more than 84,000 fires that occurred nonetheless burned about 3.6 million acres.