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Abstract. In recent decades, large wildfires have inflicted considerable damage on valuable Natura 2000 regions in Belgium. Despite these events and the general perception that global change will exacerbate wildfire prevalence, this has not been studied yet in the Belgian context. Therefore, the national government initiated the national action plan on wildfires in order to evaluate the wildfire risk, on the one hand, and the materials, procedures, and training of fire services, on the other hand. This study focuses on the spatial distribution of the ignition probability, a component of the wildfire risk framework. In a first stage, we compile a historical wildfire database using (i) newspaper articles between 1994 and 2016 and (ii) a list of wildfire interventions between 2010 and 2013, provided by the government. In a second stage, we use a straightforward method relying on Bayes' rule and a limited number of covariates to calculate the ignition probability. It appears that most wildfire-prone areas in Belgium are located in heathland where military exercises are held. The provinces that have the largest relative areas with a high or very high wildfire risk are Limburg and Antwerp. Our study also revealed that most wildfire ignitions in Belgium are caused by humans (both arson and negligence) and that natural causes such as lightning are rather scarce. Wildfire prevention can be improved by (i) excluding military activity in fire-prone areas during the fire season, (ii) improving collaboration with foreign emergency services, (iii) concentrating the dedicated resources in the areas that display the highest ignition probabilities, (iv) improving fire detection methods, and (v) raising more awareness among the public.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- Natural Disasters of 2017: Congressional Considerations Related to FEMA Assistance( -- Abstract -- Stafford Act Declarations and Response -- Federal Financial Assistance -- Funding -- Chapter 2 -- 2017 Hurricane Season: Federal Support for Electricity Grid Restoration in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico( -- Abbreviations -- Why GAO Did This Study -- What GAO Found -- Background -- Puerto Rico -- U.S. Virgin Islands -- FEMA's Public Assistance Program -- FEMA's Community Disaster Loan Program -- the Federal Role in Electricity Grid Restoration Was Unprecedented in Puerto Rico, and Various Factors Affected the Support Provided in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- Federal Support Provided to Restore Electricity in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in Response to the 2017 Hurricanes Included an Unprecedented Role for the Federal Government -- Grants, Direct Federal Assistance, and Loans from FEMA -- Coordination and Technical Assistance from DOE -- Temporary Power from USACE -- Unprecedented Roles by FEMA and USACE in Puerto Rico -- Logistical Challenges and Other Factors Affected Federal Support to Restore Electricity -- Agency Comments -- List of Requesters -- Appendix I: Timelines of Federal and Other Efforts to Support Electricity Grid Restoration -- Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Homeland Security -- Chapter 3 -- Puerto Rico Hurricanes: -- Status of FEMA Funding, Oversight, -- and Recovery Challenges( -- Abbreviations -- Why GAO Did This Study -- What GAO Found -- Background -- FEMA's Public Assistance Program -- The Use of Alternative Procedures for Public Assistance Projects in Puerto Rico -- Puerto Rico's Central Recovery Office Oversees Federal Recovery Spending.

An overwhelming majority of Californians say the threat of wildfires is a problem in their part of the state. Around one in three residents have a great deal of confidence in government readiness to respond to wildfires.

Federal policy has embraced risa management as an appropriate paradigm for wildfire management. Economic theory suggests that over repeated wildfire events, potential economic costs and risas of ecological damage are optimally balanced when management decisions are free from biases, risa aversion, and risa seeking. Of primary concern in this article is how managers respond to wildfire risa, including the potential effect of wildfires (on ecological values, structures, and safety) and the likelihood of different fire outcomes. We use responses to a choice experiment questionnaire of U.S. federal wildfire managers to measure attitudes toward several components of wildfire risa and to test whether observed risa attitudes are consistent with the efficient allocation of wildfire suppression resources. Our results indicate that fire managers' decisions are consistent with nonexpected utility theories of decisions under risa. Managers may overallocate firefighting resources when the likelihood or potential magnitude of damage from fires is low, and sensitivity to changes in the probability of fire outcomes depends on whether probabilities are close to one or zero and the magnitude of the potential harm.

The wildfires in California show that incentives matter when it comes to policy.

WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION FEDERAL FUNDING AND SPENDING -- WILDFIRE SUPPRESSION FEDERAL FUNDING AND SPENDING -- Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 WILDFIRE SPENDING: BACKGROUND, ISSUES, AND LEGISLATION IN THE 114TH CONGRESS* -- SUMMARY -- WILDFIRE BACKGROUND -- Wildfire Statistics -- Wildland-Urban Interface -- Federal Assistance for Nonfederal Wildfires -- Disaster Declarations -- Fire Management Assistance Grants -- Disaster Relief Fund -- WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT APPROPRIATIONS -- Suppression Appropriations -- FLAME