Transcript CANADIAN WILDFIRES: JUNE 9, 2015

CANADIAN WILDFIRES:
JUNE 9--?, 2015
Walter Hays, Global Alliance for
Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia,
USA
Natural Phenomena that Cause
Disasters
Planet Earth’s
atmosphericlithospheric
interactions
cause:
Wildfires
WILDFIRES
are conflagrations caused by
lightning discharges (and acts of
man) in wilderness areas close
enough to one or more urban
interfaces that they threaten
people, property, infrastructure,
and business enterprise.
THE WILDERNESS AREAS
typically contain national
forests, national parks, or
resorts and the adjacent urban
areas typically contain large,
expensive homes.
LIGHTNING:
A DANGEROUS AND
UNPREDICTABLE GLOBAL
NATURAL HAZARD
LIGHTNING
• Every year, the
Earth
experiences an
average of 25
million lightning
strikes during
some 100,000
thunderstorms.
LIGHTNING
• That means:
some one or
something
somewhere in
the world are at
risk every
second from
more than 100
lightning bolts.
SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES
THE
PHYSICS
cumulonimbus clouds
negative charge in the
cloud - - -
- - - creates positive
charge on ground
LIGHTNING
DISASTER
LABORATORIES
air to ground electrical circuit - - - - - creates a bolt of
lightning reaching - - - - -50,000 degrees F
traveling at 100+ kph
CANADIAN WILDFIRE:
JUNE 9--?, 2015
CANADIAN WILDFIRES
The fires are burning from
Canada's central province
of Manitoba to its
Northwest Territory.
Fifty active wildfires were
burning in Saskatchewan,
west of Manitoba, on
Tuesday alone
Saskatchewan has seen
347 active wildfires, almost
three times the amount
seen by this time last year.
WILDFIRE HAZARDS
WILDFIRE HAZARDS
(AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)
•
•
•
•
FIRE
HOT GASES AND SMOKE
HOT SPOTS
BURNED OUT SLOPES (with
increased susceptibility to insect
infestation, erosion, and landslides)
Northwest winds aloft
spread the Canadian
smoke plumes as far south
and east as the Ohio Valley
by Tuesday morning, then
into the Appalachians and
Mid-Atlantic states
WILDFIRE EXACEBATORS
(AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)
• SUNDOWNER WINDS
• SANTA ANNA WINDS
• LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR
QUALITY
• LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER
CAUSES
OF
DAMAGE
LIGHTNING STRIKES
MANMADE FIRES
PROXIMITY OF URBAN AREA
TO THE WILDLAND FIRE
WILDFIRES
DISASTER
LABORATORIES
WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION
(DAY/NIGHT)
DRYNESS
HIGH TEMPERATURES
LOCAL FUEL SUPPLY
BOOKS OF KNOWLEDGE
Are “TOOLS” that decisionmakers
can use to facilitate the minimization
of the likely impacts of wildfires
through public policies and
professional educational programs.
RISK ASSESSMENT
•HAZARD MAPS
•INVENTORY
•VULNERABILITY
•LOCATION
ACCEPTABLE RISK
RISK
UNACCEPTABLE RISK
WILDFIRE DISASTER
RISK REDUCTION
DATA BASES
AND INFORMATION
COMMUNITY
POLICY OPTIONS
HAZARDS:
GROUND SHAKING
GROUND FAILURE
SURFACE FAULTING
TECTONIC DEFORMATION
TSUNAMI RUN UP
AFTERSHOCKS
•PREVENTION/MITIGATION
•PREPAREDNESS
•EMERGENCY RESPONSE
•RECOVERY and
RECONSTRUCTION