M. Ramsey and T. Misner, Department of Geology and Planetary Science, 200 SRCC Building, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260

The amount of area burned, and the intensity of forest fires have nearly doubled over the past 10 years in the western United States. For example, the resulting costs of fires in 2002 totaled more than $1 billion dollars, with an increasing amount of damage occurring in rural or wildland/urban interfaces. Urban areas, such as the city of Phoenix, Arizona continue to increase in size and population, with a majority of the development occurring in rural areas that have burned, or are threatened by brush fires. As people move into these environments there is an increased risk of damage to human property and lives from fire hazards. Therefore, the ability to predict and control fires is increasingly important as urban centers encroach upon rural lands. Remote sensing is one tool that can be utilized to characterize fire scarred areas, as well as predict future regions that have an increased risk for burning. Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER), Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), and Spaceborne Imaging Radar - C (SIR-C) remote sensing data have been combined with a geographic information system (GIS) to characterize the fire scarred landscape north-east of Phoenix. Combining remote sensing data with the GIS database and field-based studies has resulted in the first-ever fire hazard risk map for the area, which may permit city officials and urban planners to better calculate potential future risks. This study is also applicable to similar urban environments that have an appropriate amount of data coverage are at high risk for fire.

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Submitted: Fourth Annual ASTER Science Workshop, Tokyo, Japan
Date: June 15, 2004