Pacific Southwest Research Station

Assessment of fire hazard/risk in the Wildland Urban Interface "WUI" and stream environment zones "SEZs"

Principal Investigators:
David Saah, Spatial Informatics Group, LLC
Jason Moghaddas, Spatial Informatics Group, LLC
Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne, Spatial Informatics Group, LLC
Qi Chen, Spatial Informatics Group, LLC

Proposal [pdf]

Final Report [pdf]

Spatial Informatics Group website

Please contact Dr. David Saah with questions regarding the final report.

Project Summary

Around Lake Tahoe, sections of the Stream Environment Zone (SEZ), especially those that contain the terminal portions of streams feeding into the lake, are within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) where potential impacts from wildfire are a key concern. A considerable effort has been underway within the Lake Tahoe Basin to mitigate these potential impacts. An understanding of how wildfire can impact both the WUI and SEZ, along with an assessment of mitigation efforts to date, is therefore critical.

This study characterized conditions in the WUI and assessed the current potential for crown fire initiation and probability of burning for all mapped SEZ and WUI areas in the Lake Tahoe Basin under extreme or "problem" fire weather conditions.