Estimating Wildfire Damage Using Remote Sensing

By: Kevin Lawhon

Background: Cleveland National Forest spans 460,000 acres in
Southern Californias Santa Ana Mountains. It is home to the largest
wildfires in California State history. It is also categorized as a severe
risk zone by the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection. The most recent wildfire in Cleveland National Forest
burned from September 12-17, 2014, consuming nearly 1000 acres in
the Trabuco Ranger District.
This case study seeks to answer the following questions using
remote sensing:
1.

How many total acres were consumed by the fire?

2.

How much total vegetation was consumed by the fire?

3.

How much vegetation by type (Tree Cover and Herbaceous)

was consumed during the blaze?

Significance: Understanding the type and amount of vegetation

consumed by wildfire is a crucial first step in preparing a forest for
stabilization and rehabilitation, especially in mountainous areas.
Understanding what has burned allows responders to make key
decisions for hillslope stabilization, reseeding, and water control
measures

ESTIMATING WILDFIRE DAMAGE USING REMOTE SENSING

Cleveland National Forest (North)

Map Courtesy of the National Forest Service

KEVIN H. LAWHON GIS 512, FALL 2014

Spatial Data Used

Type of Data

Source

URL

Format

Metadata

LandSat 8 Scene,
Southern California
August 29, 2014

US Geological
Survey

http://earthexplorer.usgs.g
ov/browse/landsat_8/2014/
040/037/LC804003720142
73LGN00.jpg

GeoTIFF

Bands 2-4 (Visible)

30x30m
Band 5 (NIR) 30x30
Band 8 (Pan) 15x15
Band 10-11 (TIR) 100x100

LandSat 8 Scene,
Southern California
September 30, 2014

US Geological
Survey

http://earthexplorer.usgs.g
ov/browse/landsat_8/2014/
040/037/LC804003720142
41LGN00.jpg

GeoTIFF

Bands 2-4 (Visible)

30x30m
Band 5 (NIR) 30x30
Band 8 (Pan) 15x15
Band 10-11 (TIR) 100x100

Digital Elevation
Model-ASTER
Global DEM

US Geological
Survey

http://earthexplorer.usgs.g
ov/browse/aster_dem_v2/
N33/ASTGDEMV2_0N33
W118.jpg

Arc/Info

1-Arc Second

Fire Perimeter
Shape File

National Wildlife
Coordinating Group

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/inc
ident/4105/

GeoDataBase (.shp
file)

Digitized at 1:12,000

ESTIMATING WILDFIRE DAMAGE USING REMOTE SENSING

KEVIN H. LAWHON GIS 512, FALL 2014

Methods
Before and After False Color Composite comparison
Image enhancements: Pan-Sharpen, Sub-Set, Topo Norm, Standard Deviation
Stretch
Unsupervised Classification helped determine spectral friction points and inform
Supervised Classification
Results of Supervised Classification of Before and After clipped to spatial
extent of the fire in ArcGIS.
Raster Calculator used to convert pixel count to actual spatial extent (Acres)
Before and after attribute tables compared to determine which classes gained or
lost pixels (acreage).
Major Spatial Operations: Supervised/Unsupervised Classification, Raster
Calculation
Additional Spatial Analysis Tools Used: ArcMap- Extract by Mask and Raster
Calculator

ESTIMATING WILDFIRE DAMAGE USING REMOTE SENSING

KEVIN H. LAWHON GIS 512, FALL 2014

Process
Pan
Sharpen

Topo
Normalize

Sub-Set

Std Dev
Stretch

Supervised

Unsupervised

Extract By
Mask

ArcGIS

Field
Calculator

ESTIMATING WILDFIRE DAMAGE USING REMOTE SENSING

KEVIN H. LAWHON GIS 512, FALL 2014

Results
Key Points

ESTIMATING WILDFIRE DAMAGE USING REMOTE SENSING

Classification Results yielded an estimate of

956-958 acres burned. Forest Service
estimates 968 acres.

An increase of 588 acres of unhealthy

(burned) vegetation in the wake of the fire

A decrease of 23 acres of Healthy Tree Cover

following the fire

A decrease of 357 acres of Healthy

Herbaceous vegetation

Decrease in bare earth by 209 acres

KEVIN H. LAWHON GIS 512, FALL 2014

Interpretation
A Total of 956-958 acres of forest were consumed by the blaze
Between 556 and 765 acres of Tree Cover and Healthy Herbaceous areas were
consumed by the wildfire.
Only 23 acres of Tree Cover was consumed. The remainder was wild land grasses.
Differentiating between bare earth and unhealthy vegetation within the burn
perimeter proved challenging during classification. Scorching makes it nearly
impossible to delineate features that were once highly reflective.
For a fire this smaller, imagery with higher spatial resolution would have yielded
better results. Even with Pan-Sharpening, and Topo Normalization, resolution was
an issue during classification. Data from IKONOS, WORLDVIEW, QUICKBIRD, or
other high resolution platforms may have improved results.
Temporal Resolution was important in this case. Finding images shortly before and
after the fire allowed for a reasonably accurate estimate of the burned area. The
after image was specifically selected during a period that allowed all the smoke
from the fire to clear. This improved results remarkably.

ESTIMATING WILDFIRE DAMAGE USING REMOTE SENSING

KEVIN H. LAWHON GIS 512, FALL 2014