Post-Wildfire Debris Flows: Mapping and Analysis of Risk Factors in Western North America

Abstract: Climate change is leading to in an increase in frequency and severity of wildfires, which in turn can result in the formation of runoff-initiated post-wildfire debris flows. This type of debris flows is, like most debris flows, triggered by heavy precipitation events. Debris flows have the potential to cause much damage, and therefore it is important to analyse when and where the risk of these flows exists. This study aims to identify shared characteristics of basins that experienced post-wildfire debris flows in order to improve future risk analyses regarding such flows. These characteristics were studied through the analysis of 42 basins in 10 burned areas across western North America, which experienced a total of 67 post-wildfire debris flows between 2000 and 2018. Literature research and existing databases revealed the bedrock, soil texture and the timing of the flows compared to the wildfires. Spatial analysis using ArcMap allowed for the analysis of the burn severity of the basins, the hypsometry of the basins, and the mean slope of the basins. Analysis of these characteristics revealed the importance of the hypsometric integral, the soil texture, and the mean slope angle of the basins. In general, the hypsometric integral tends to fall between 0.50 and 0.60 and only soils with a coarse texture were identified for the basins. The mean slope angle of the basins is commonly between 25-30o, with a wider range of slopes being able to generate debris flows shortly after the fire. If multiple basins in a small area are burned, those with steeper slope angles have a higher potential to generate debris flows, while basins with steeper slopes do not have a higher risk on large regional scales. In order to generate post-wildfire debris flows the basin also needs to be burned at a large extent at low to medium severity, resulting in an extensive and strong water-repellent layer required to generate the runoff that is needed to generate a debris flow. Seasonal wetting during winters and drying of the soil during summers can reduce or enhance runoff respectively as well. As a result, post-wildfire debris flows occur mostly during the late summer months shortly after a wildfire when precipitation is increasing through summer storms, or a year later when the soil is dried and primed during the summer followed by such a summer storm. Fires during winter and thus outside the traditional wildfire season can lead to post-wildfire debris flows during winter as well due to the strength of the fresh water-repellent layer. Climate change which will lead to more fires during late autumn and winter months can thereby result in post-wildfire debris flows during winter, rather than only during the summer months following wildfires in the traditional fire season.