Abstract
AbstractI analyzed the spatiotemporal patterning of intentional, unauthorized landscape fires in the state of Georgia, USA, for the years 1987 through 2010 with the aim of delineating socioecological constraints on and firesetter preferences for the timing and placement of ignitions. Unauthorized fires represent complex phenomena through which actors compete over social and ecological outcomes that transcend the spatiotemporal confines of individual fires themselves. Current classificatory systems define unauthorized firesetting behavior as irrational, destructive, and malicious. Because landscape fires cause both positive and negative consequences for biological diversity and ecosystems services, perceived costs and benefits of fires are contestable and relative to point of view. The locational and temporal patterns of unauthorized landscape fires examined in this study do not show firesetter preferences for maximizing damage to landscapes. Instead, unauthorized fires in Georgia potentially contribute to the maintenance of landscapes adapted to frequent, dormant- and early growing-season fire regimes.
Highlights
This paper examines of the spatiotemporal patterns of unauthorized firesetting in Georgia, USA, using wildfire data compiled by the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) for the years 1987 through 2010
On a statewide level, unauthorized fires followed a fairly pronounced seasonal pattern with a peak from February through April with 44 % of fires and 54 % of area burned for the total 24 yr period occurring during those months
The spatial and temporal patterns in unauthorized ignitions presented here suggest that these types of fire regimes differ by location, time of year, climate and weather conditions, and land cover
Summary
This paper examines of the spatiotemporal patterns of unauthorized firesetting in Georgia, USA, using wildfire data compiled by the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) for the years 1987 through 2010. In the state of Georgia, as in much of the United States, unauthorized fires are officially classified as “incendiary wildfire,” a type of arson subject to legal prosecution as a criminal felony. Beyond anecdotal evidence, the destructive intent or general malfeasance of unauthorized firesetting remains unsubstantiated in either social or ecological research. I explored 24 years of unauthorized firesetting in Georgia with the objective of characterizing the phenomenon as a socioecological disturbance. From a socioecological perspective (Coughlan and Petty 2012), ignitions, as intentional acts, represent the outcome of firesetter decision processes. Spatiotemporal patterns of unauthorized fire provide information about the social and ecological preferences and constraints for unauthorized firesetting
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