Matthew Thompson, USDA Forest Service
Benjamin M. Gannon, Colorado State University
Michael D. Caggiano, Colorado State University

Supporting wildfire management activities is frequently identified as a benefit of forest roads. As such, there is a growing body of research into forest road planning, construction, and maintenance to improve fire surveillance, prevention, access, and control operations. Of interest here is how road networks directly support fire control operations, and how managers incorporate that information into pre-season assessment and planning. In this communication we briefly review and illustrate how forest roads relate to recent advances in operationally focused wildfire decision support. We focus on two interrelated products used on the National Forest System and adjacent lands throughout the western USA: potential wildland fire operational delineations (PODs) and potential control locations (PCLs).

In an era of potentially increasing fire hazard and risk, the importance of decision around suppression resource productivity and effectiveness support tools to support safe and effective fire control is growing. As previous research has indicate3d, roads can strongly influence fire activity and fire control tactics, highlighting the critical role for forest road network analysis and planning in wildfire management. 

Key Findings:

• We reviewed the literature on road use in fire management to highlight key functions of roads for firefighting and remaining research needs to better incorporate wildfire management concerns into forest roads planning.
• Roads are important for firefighter accessibility, they serve as pre-made firebreaks, and they facilitate burnout operations. 
• Using Northern Colorado as a case study, we demonstrated that both fire managers and empirical analyses of historical fires identify roads as useful features for fire containment.