Detecting critical nodes in forest landscape networks to reduce wildfire spread.

ABSTRACT: Although wildfires are an important ecological process in forested regions worldwide, they can cause significant economic damage and frequently create widespread health impacts. We propose a network optimization approach to plan wildfire fuel treatments that minimize the risk of fire spread in forested landscapes under an upper bound for total treated area. We used simulation modeling to estimate the probability of fire spread between pairs of forest sites and formulated a modified Critical Node Detection (CND) model that uses these estimated probabilities to find a pattern of fuel reduction treatments that minimizes the likely spread of fires across a landscape. We also present a problem formulation that includes control of the size and spatial contiguity of fuel treatments. We demonstrat

SUBMITTER: Yemshanov D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8496796 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature