Presented by Jun Zhuang, Ph.D., and Esther Jose, University of Buffalo

Sponsored by the Southern Fire Exchange

Burning prescribed fires is a strategy for protecting forests from wildfires. Prescribed fires have been carried out by more than 48 states in USA.- more than 40 million acres in prescribed fires have been burned from 2003-2017 by various federal and state government agencies. The researchers developed a data driven model to calculate the effectiveness of prescribed fires in different states and agencies. They also developed an optimization model to determine the optimal amount of prescribed fires for managing risk. Following the presentation there will be time for audience Q/A with the speakers.