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Wildfire Response Benefit Prioritization Dual benefits for forest health and wildfire response It is necessary to conduct treatments to both improve for- est health and reduce fire risk to communities as well as provide conditions where firefighters can safely and effi- ciently conduct fire operations (e.g. suppression, pre- scribed burning, and managed wildfire). The wildfire response benefit metric (WRB; Fig. 10) identifies and pri- oritizes locations where values at risk that are more likely to be the focus of fire operations (homes, infrastructure, sources of drinking water, and commercially managed lands) coincide with areas likely to transmit wildfire to homes and generate severe fire behavior. Because there are positive feedbacks between healthy, resilient forests and safe, effective fire operations, the WRB metric also integrates the landscape treatment priority map (Fig. 9). fuel treatments, treatments along escape routes, resident and community fire mitigation activities (e.g. defensible space, home hardening), and improving signage and road conditions. The WRB metric provides a high-level prioriti- zation, and additional work at the local level will be re- quired to identify appropriate actions and assess their feasibility. WRB is useful for prioritizing Potential Control Lines (PCLs) for fire operations (Fie. 11). PCLs are a part of Potential Operational Delineations (PODs); see page 7, Where WRB is highest, actions may be needed to create and maintain conditions that provide a tactical advantage for fire operations. These actions will vary with the local context and can include landscape-level forest health and ln the Teanaway planning area, wildfire response benefit is highest along the Teanaway Road and Highway 970, re- flecting risk to communities along these road corridors. Wildfire transmission to homes is high throughout the southern and central portions of the planning area (Fig. 8), indicating that ignitions in those locations will expose houses in communities along lnterstate 90. Crown fire po- tential (not shown) is high throughout the planning area with the exception of a few patches with lower crown fire potential in the Jolly Mountain burned area. Defin itions (continued) Wildfire response benefit: Any tactical advantage gained for wildfire response activities from actions on the landscape, including identifying and consoli- dating existing anchor points and control lines and reducing potential fire behavior. Wildfire response benefit is not restricted to any specific fire manage- ment strateg)4 it is centered on conditions that im- prove fire operations safety and efficacy during suppression, prescribed fire, or managed wildfire. Potential Control Lines (PCLs): Boundaries of Po- tential Operational Delineations (PODs) relevant to fire control operations (e.9. roads, ridgetops, and water bodies). Potential Operational Delineations (PODs) for wildland fire: Landscape containers whose bound- aries are potential control lines (PCLs). PODs are useful for planning strategic response to unplanned ignitions, strategic fuel planning, and prioritizing fuel treatments within PODs. Commercially manoged lands.' Commercially managed forestlands include: DNR Trustlands. tribal forests, industrial forests, non-industrial pri- vate forests, and US Forest Service forests where timber is a primary management objective. Figure 10. Wildfire response benefit (WRB) integrates multiple fire risk and forest health components. lt includes four fire risk metrics representing highly valued resources - risk to homes, infrastructure, drinking water, commerciatly managed lands - as well as crown fire potential and wildfire transmission to homes (Fig. 8). Combined, these accountfor 75o/o of the wildfire re- sponse benefit. Landscape treatment priority (Fig. 9) accounts for the remaining 25%o. Also shown are PODs: units bounded by PCLs (open black lines). One use of the WRB metric is to prioritize Potential Control Lines (PCLs) for fire operations (Fig. l l). Wildfire response benefitPOD (interior) PCL (boundary) Teanaway Landscape Evaluation Summary (2020) | Page 6