Building an operational framework for postfire debris-flow hazard assessments

Recently burned landscapes are often at elevated risk for debris-flows. To address this, the USGS releases over 50 postfire debris-flow hazard assessments each year, and these assessments are used by stakeholders, emergency managers, and the public to inform postfire response. In this talk, we will discuss recent efforts to modernize the operational framework for producing these assessments. Previously, the USGS relied on a collection of research codes, but these were not open source, were prone to breaking, and struggled to handle assessments for large fires. In the last year, we have converted these research codes to a collection of open-source software tools designed for a variety of users and use cases. These include the “pfdf” Python library, the “wildcat” assessment tool, and the USGS’s in-house operational codebase. We’ll provide a brief introduction to each of these tools, and then discuss future planned developments for the operational framework.
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