Use Wildfire Protection Planning

In this topic, you will learn how to use the solution by assuming the role of a user and performing the following workflows.

Note:

Use your organization's data to follow these workflows.

Get started

First, you will download and unzip the Wildfire Protection Planning ArcGIS Pro project.

1. Sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Wildfire Protection Planning item.
2. From the item page, click Download.
3. Unzip the downloaded folder, and then from the unzipped folder, open the ArcGIS Pro project.
4. On the View tab, in the Window group, click Catalog Pane.
5. In the Catalog pane, expand the Tasks folder.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Catalog pane, from the View tab, in the Windows group, click Catalog Pane.

6. Expand the Tasks folder, and then double-click the Wildfire Protection Planning task item.
7. In the Tasks pane, expand the Getting to Know Wildfire Protection Planning task group to see the collection of tasks.

   Tip:

   Click a group heading or task name to view its description at the bottom of the Tasks pane.
Each task group includes a set of steps for using the solution.

Review the Wildfire Protection Planning project

This Wildfire Protection Planning ArcGIS Pro project is used by GIS analysts to assess wildfire risk and understand the impact on structures to identify defensible spaces and plan mitigation efforts.

These tasks introduce the solution and walk through the project structure and the capabilities of Wildfire Protection Planning solution.

This task group includes the following tasks:

• Project structure
• Sign in with your organizational account

Prepare Data

You must create and prepare your data as part of the Wildfire Protection Planning ArcGIS Pro project for analysis. The Prepare Data task group contains support for creating and preparing required data that will be used in the subsequent task groups.

This task group includes the following tasks:

• Organize your data
• Establish area of interest
• Add and prepare Imagery
• Detect building footprints using deep learning (optional)
• Append building footprints
• Obtain Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) data

Analyze Wildfire History

Analyzing historical wildfire incidents and the time and location of each wildfire start helps inform spatial and temporal risk patterns. This task group will guide you through the process of analyzing the historical occurrence of wildfire in the area of interest.

This task group includes the following tasks:

• Historical fire occurrence
• Analyze wildfire starts

Understand Wildfire Risk

The Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) represents where human development and undeveloped wildland vegetation meet, forming a high-risk zone for wildfires.

Understanding the number of structures within the wildlands, ember zone, or ignition zone allows firefighters to understand the level of exposure of structures within the area of interest. This task group will guide you through the process of identifying which structures are most at risk because of their location in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) within the Area of Interest.

This task group includes the following task:

• Wildland-urban interface (WUI)

Analyze Defensible Space

Defensible space is the buffer between a structure and the surrounding area. Adequate defensible space acts as a barrier to slow or halt the progress of fires that could destroy property.

Many jurisdictions have rules on how much vegetation or trees can be within a certain distance of buildings or structures; the recommended distance is denoted by different zones of defensible space. This task group will guide you through determining which structures have the most tree canopy within defensible space for your area of interest.

This task group includes the following tasks:

• Detect trees
• Determine as risk defensible space

Publish Wildfire Protection Planning Layer

Finally, the results from the Analyze Wildfire History, Understand Wildfire Risk, and Analyze Defensible Space task groups will be published as a feature layer. This task group will guide you through the publication process. The published layer will then be added to the Wildfire Mitigation Planner app.

This task group includes the following tasks:

• Publish data
• Add layer to web map

Assess and plan mitigation

Visualizing disparate data sources in a single location can produce targeted, evidence-based insights for identifying and prioritizing wildfire risk areas. After the risk areas are identified, you can create appropriate mitigation and prevention activities.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a firefighter who conducts wildfire risk assessment to create mitigation strategies.

Note:

To generate an infographic and complete the following steps, you must be assigned a User, Publisher, Facilitator, or Administrator role, or be granted a custom role that includes the privilege to conduct GeoEnrichment and Network Analysis.

1. In a browser, sign in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Wildfire Mitigation Planner app.
2. From the item page, click View.
3. Expand the layer lists on the right and turn different layers on and off to assess wildfire risk to your community.
4. Turn layers on and off to deepen your understanding of the risk to the area you have identified. For example, the Topography and Vegetation layers will give you more insight into locations that have a higher likelihood of wildfire occurrence.
5. Identify an area that should be prioritized to mitigate and click the Plan tab.
6. Click New Feature under the Wildfire Mitigation Areas heading and draw an area around your assessed risk on the map.
7. Complete the feature details and click Create, and then click the Back button.
8. Click the Analyze tab and click the area you created.
9. Click the Fullscreen button, and then click the Next page button to review the infographic.

   Note:

   Print the infographic using the Export Infographic button, if desired.

10. Click the Close button.

Export maps

Maps are a major component of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP) and Hazard Mitigation Plans. These standard reports and spatial analysis are required to understand risk and identify mitigation activities. Producing maps of location and community authorities, population information, land use and ownership, topography and vegetation, historical wildfires, and wildfire risk and wildland-urban interface helps illustrate the geography of the area of interest and communicate plans clearly.

In this workflow, you will assume the role of a firefighter who is producing maps of the area of interest to be included in a CWPP or Hazard Mitigation Plan. To export these maps, complete the following steps:

1. In a browser, verify that you are signed in to your ArcGIS organization and browse to the Wildfire Mitigation Planner app.
2. From the item page, click View.
3. Click the Export Maps tab at the top of the app.
4. Click Map layers and choose the layers that you want to appear in the exported map.
5. Click Save, choose which format you would like to download your map image from the Save pop-up and then set your options in the subsequent pop-up that appears.
6. Choose Preview and click Download image.
The image will be available in the downloads folder of your browser.
7. Repeat these steps until you have all the exported maps needed for your plan.