The City of Del Mar Fire Department is on the forefront of this trend. With the help of urban foresters and state-of-the-art geographic information system (GIS) based modeling software, fire professionals can analyze hazard areas to clearly identify high-risk zones and prepare an attack plan to remove hazardous fuels, lower potential threats to persons and property, and provide firefighters with "defensible space" with which they can more effectively control a fire's spread.
"Fire prevention is a science," said David Ott, Del Mar Fire Department's fire chief. "It's not about clearing hundreds of feet of vegetation and facing environmental consequences; it's about thorough research to identify target areas and allocating an appropriate level of resources to mitigate risks."
"Fire prevention officers are familiar with the high-risk areas," said Michael Huff, urban forestry manager with Dudek, an Encinitas-based engineering and environmental consulting firm. "We combine their knowledge with our research and analysis, mapping this in GIS databases and running computerized fire behavior modeling programs. This output graphically represents high-risk areas for use in planning and designing environmentally-friendly fuel reduction efforts as well as in educating the community and decision-makers."
As an added benefit, fire departments find the graphical representations assist in communications with city officials and community members. "These visuals are easy-to-understand," added Huff. "It makes the threat very apparent to the average citizen." This helps fire departments secure grants and additional city funds to continue their efforts in maintaining safe communities.
