Flagstaff Interface Treatment Prescription

Results in the Wildland/Urban Interface

Introduction

Flagstaff, Arizona, located in north-central Arizona, is a high elevation (7,000 feet) metropolitan area surrounded by a dense ponderosa pine forest (Figure 1 and 2).  The annual number of wildland fire starts in and immediately adjacent to the interface area averages over 200 per year, with some years recording over 300 fires.  Based upon existing hazard and values-at-risk, wildfire is the #1 fire threat to the community.

In the early 1990's, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) began treating high-risk areas adjacent to and within the Flagstaff corporate boundary with the goal of reducing the fire threat to the southwest side of Flagstaff, including historic landmarks such as Lowell Observatory.  The City of Flagstaff Fire Department (FFD) began a fuel management program after the severe 1996-wildfire season.  The Ponderosa Fire Advisory Council, a consortium of fire departments and land-management agencies from the greater Flagstaff area, has also supported and recently initiated fuel reduction projects.  Since the program was started, several thousand acres have been successfully treated with overwhelming public support (Figure 3).

Completed fuel treatments complement the area's suppression system.  With six staffed fire lookout towers that oversee the north end of the Coconino National Forest (including Flagstaff), early wildfire detection is usually possible.  Once a report is received, the Coconino National Forest, which provides wildfire dispatch service to all fire agencies, can rapidly send initial attack units.  An extensive road system usually enables initial attack forces to arrive on the fire scene within fifteen to thirty minutes from the time of the initial report.