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The Alaska Reference Database originated as the standalone Alaska Fire Effects Reference Database, a ProCite reference database maintained by former BLM-Alaska Fire Service Fire Ecologist Randi Jandt. It was expanded under a Joint Fire Science Program grant for the FIREHouse project (The Northwest and Alaska Fire Research Clearinghouse). It is now maintained by the Alaska Fire Science Consortium and FRAMES, and is hosted through the FRAMES Resource Catalog. The database provides a listing of fire research publications relevant to Alaska and a venue for sharing unpublished agency reports and works in progress that are not normally found in the published literature.

Displaying 1 - 25 of 70

Alexander, Thorburn
As an acronym, LACES stands for Lookout(s) - Anchor point(s) - Communication(s) - Escape routes - Safety zone(s) and has gradually become a guideline for wildland firefighter safety in various regions of Canada over the past 15 years or so. LACES constitutes a slight…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Johnston, van Kooten
In an effort to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning, renewable energy policies incentivize use of forest biomass as an energy source. Many governments have assumed (legislated) the carbon flux from burning biomass to be neutral because biomass growth sequesters CO2.…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: TTRS

Waldron, Schary, Cardinal
The aims of this research were to develop and test a scale used to measure leadership in wildland firefighting using two samples of USA wildland firefighters. The first collection of data occurred in the spring and early summer and consisted of an online survey. The second set…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: TTRS

McGee
From the text...'A group of valiant men known as the Triple Nickles, the first African-American smokerjumpers, paved the way for so many in the smokejumping cadre...'
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: TTRS

Rabin, Magi, Shevliakova, Pacala
The global extent of agriculture demands a thorough understanding of the ways it impacts the Earth system through the modification of both the physical and biological characteristics of the landscape as well as through emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. People use fire…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: TTRS

Alba, Skálová, McGregor, D'Antonio, Pyšek
Questions: Wildfire is a natural disturbance that shapes vegetation characteristics worldwide, while prescribed fire is increasingly used to modify vegetation composition and structure. Due to invasion of many ecosystems by exotic species, a concern of land managers is whether…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: TTRS

Hedrick
From the text ... 'Although range fires can and do burn ferociously, they are generally much shorter in duration than large forest fires. While a major forest fire may burn for weeks or even months, large range fires typically burn for only a few days. They don't have the…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: TTRS

Voulgarakis, Field
Fires impact atmospheric composition through their emissions, which range from long-lived gases to short-lived gases and aerosols. Effects are typically larger in the tropics and boreal regions but can also be substantial in highly populated areas in the northern mid-latitudes.…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Massman
Increased use of prescribed fire by land managers and the increasing likelihood of wildfires due to climate change require an improved modeling capability of extreme heating of soils during fires. This issue is addressed here by developing and testing the soil (heat-moisture-…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Rappold
A recent study of simulated forecast-based interventions as a tool to reduce the health and economic burden during smoke episodes. The study illustrated a large health burden associated with these events and the potential benefit an adaptation of current forecasting technologies…
Year: 2015
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES

In a period of great ecological and socioeconomic change, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service recognizes the critical importance of restoration to fulfilling its mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Bixby, Cooper, Gresswell, Brown, Dahm, Dwire
Fire is a prevalent feature of many landscapes and has numerous and complex effects on geological, hydrological, ecological, and economic systems. In some regions, the frequency and intensity of wildfire have increased in recent years and are projected to escalate with predicted…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS

Melvin
Prescribed fire activity is complex and poorly understood when evaluated at a national scale. Most often fire complexity is defined by scale, frequency, season, and location in the context of local and state laws and local community acceptance. In an effort to gain better…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Wonkka, Rogers, Kreuter
Resistance to the use of prescribed fire is strong among many private land managers despite the advantages it offers for maintaining fire-adapted ecosystems. Even managers who are aware of the benefits of using prescribed fire as a management tool avoid using it, citing…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Middlemis-Brown
Recent research by Twidwell and colleagues evaluated the risks of various land management tools used in the private sector, with a focus on the relative risks of prescribed fire. The authors concluded that prescribed fire carried less fatality risk than other land management…
Year: 2015
Type: Document

This issue spotlights the key question: Do More Incident Reports Mean More Learning? The issue’s underlying theme: How do we advance from a “Reporting Culture” to a “Learning Culture”? McCall Smokejumper Ramona Beyuka provides her insights on what learning looks like.
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Rorig, Drury
Weather forecasts can help identify environmental conditions conducive to prescribed burning or to increased fire danger. These conditions are important components of fire management tools such as fire ignition potential maps, fire danger rating systems, fire behavior…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Twidwell, Wonkka, Sindelar, Weir
Fire is widely recognized as a critical ecological and evolutionary driver that needs to be at the forefront of land management actions if conservation targets are to be met. However, the prevailing view is that prescribed fire is riskier than other land management techniques.…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Kovalev, Petkov, Wold, Urbanski, Hao
Lidar-data processing techniques are analyzed, which allow determining smoke-plume heights and their dynamics and can be helpful for the improvement of smoke dispersion and air quality models. The data processing algorithms considered in the paper are based on the analysis of…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Horel, Brown
Software was developed to evaluate National Weather Service (NWS) spot forecasts. Fire management officials request spot forecasts from the NWS to provide detailed guidance as to atmospheric conditions in the vicinity of planned prescribed burns as well as wildfires that do not…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Seielstad
The idea that more wildfires should be allowed to burn for resource benefit is widespread in federal fire management in the United States and the research community is heavily invested in strategies, tools, data, and information to provide decision-making support for these fires…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Loveless, Hernandez
The tragic fatality events of the mid-1990s and subsequent studies led to a concentrated effort to increase safety in the US federal wildland firefighter community beginning in 2000. Addressing human factors (HF) as a causal agent in accidents was a major focal point for this…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Ingalsbee
Past fire exclusion policies and fire suppression actions have led to a historic "fire deficit" on public wildlands. These sociocultural actions have led to unprecedented environmental changes that have created conditions conducive to more frequent large-scale wildfires.…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Butler, Parsons, Mell
Designation of safety zones is a primary duty of all wildland firefighters. Unfortunately, information regarding what constitutes an adequate safety zone is inadequately defined. Measurements of energy release from wildland fires have been used to develop an empirically based…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES

Prato
Applying fuel reduction treatments (FRTs) to forested landscapes can alleviate undesirable changes in wildfire benefits and costs due to climate change. A conceptual framework was developed for determining the preferred FRTs across planning periods, adapting FRTs to future…
Year: 2015
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS