Philip Camp. MSc | 2015. Human-fire interactions in British Columbia: varying constraints of human-caused wildfire occurrence and geography of the wildland-development interface

Human-caused wildfires are controlled by human and natural influences, and determining the key drivers is critical for understanding wildfire ecology and implementing effective management. A synthesis of the spatial constraints of human-caused fire is lacking as fire occurrence tends to vary among different ecosystems. During his thesis, Philip attempted to synthesize the spatial constraints of contemporary human-caused wildfire ignitions among fire-prone biogeoclimatic zones in British Columbia (BC) by examining an array of explanatory variables through multiple regression models. He found that fires in zones with high human development were strongly controlled by biophysical variables explaining conditions conducive to burning, while fires in remote zones were controlled by metrics of human activity. A coarse metric representing wildland-urban interface (WUI – areas of urban development intermingled with wildlands) was a key factor explaining human-caused ignitions throughout BC, but fails to capture non-residential human development that also might be influential to fire. Philip developed a simple-but-accurate method to map an area defined as the wildland-development interface (WDI) that accounts for a broad class of human development intermingled with wildlands. The WDI explains more variability in human-caused fire than does WUI, and quantifies a new geography of the human-fire interface.

Phil now works as a scientist at AIR Worldwide in Boston Massachusetts, in their Wildfire Risks Group