Firebreaks in a Wildland Urban Interface (wui): Friend or Foe

The annual acres burned in the US has risen since the 1980s and the top five costliest wildfires have occurred in the last five years. As wildfires become more common and cities continue to expand the wildland urban interface (WUI) placing more lives and property at risk. There is the need to develop tools to improve the resilience of communities to wildfire. These tools need to be effective, but also accepted by society. One common tool used to reduce wildfire risks are fire breaks. However, fire breaks alter the landscape in ways that are not always desired by residents. There is a need for actions to reduce wildfire risk while balancing acceptance by the public. Our research evaluated the effects of fire breaks over the span of nearly two decades (1999-2018) on wildfire risk and ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are defined as benefits people reap from an ecosystem. (i.e. berries, mushrooms, moose habitat, etc.). We conducted vegetation surveys in fire breaks around Anchorage, Alaska during the summer of 2019. There was high variability in how fire breaks affected fuel loads and ecosystem services. While some reduced fire risk others increased fire risk by a proliferation of grasses and fine fuels. The ability for firefighters to access areas was increased allowing for easier and quicker response. Some ecosystem services like moose habitat benefited, while others like certain types of berries decreased. Homeowners in general favored fire breaks and enjoy improved sightability, but wished to see debris piles removed in a timely manner. Given the high variability in the response to fire breaks we recommend the continued assessment, development of rapid assessments, and expansion of homeowner input to increase our understanding of how fuel breaks can improve community resilience to wildfires.