The evolution of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS): future direction after five years of implementation

Abstract

The Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) was unveiled to the United States (U.S.) fire community in 2009 to facilitate a flexible, agile and scalable risk-informed decision-making process on complex wildland fires. Composed of a collection of spatial and non-spatial data, economic, fire behaviour, smoke, and weather tools, the WFDSS was designed to guide a decision-maker through a deliberative and thoughtful decision. After five years of operational use on federal wildland fires, user trends suggest greater involvement with the decision-making process and an increase in the number of documented decisions made on wildland fires. Despite these trends, increased wildland fire costs and continued fire-fighter fatalities each year reinforces the need to improve fire management decision-making to achieve better performance. After reviewing the intent, implementation, components and usage statistics of the WFDSS, we discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and further opportunities to support the U.S. fire management community with making risk informed decisions. International audiences who are developing similar wildland fire decision-making systems may find value in evaluating the strengths, opportunities, and lessons learned from a national decision support system like the WFDSS.