Pulaski County
Fire: Wildland Urban Interface
The wildland-urban interface is the contact zone between undeveloped forested areas and urban areas. These two land uses, wilderness and urban, are fixed; the rural land in between is in a state of flux.
Increasing rural populations, urban sprawl, recreational use of wildland, and increasing forest fuel loads all pose a threat to the interface.
This transitional environment is most susceptible to fire. As people and wildlands come into contact, conflict arises from the threat of wildfire or from emergency services inadequate to protect rural populations.
Many "new" rural homeowners, accustomed to fire protection resources found in cities, are unaware of the potential wildfire risk to their life and property. The wildland-urban interface has the potential to become a major fire problem that will continue to escalate in Virginia.
Learn more about the GIS data used for these maps.
Last modified 2006-05-24