Department of Forestry and Fire Management

Arizona At Risk Communities

The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management evaluates all Arizona communities to make certain we are reaching those areas that may have the most potential to be affected by wildfire. One of the tools DFFM develops and uses is the Arizona Communities At Risk (CAR) assessment system. The assessment is a wildfire management-centric process to estimate wildland fire risk for communities, based off the best available data gathered from the Wildfire Risk Assessment wildfire risk and threat model portal.

The CAR list helps identify and prioritize areas for DFFM to target, provide outreach and education through Firewise USA programs, and conduct hazardous fuels assessments and fuels reduction projects. The 2023 list is the most recent, however some GIS layers used to build the CAR data have not been updated by the developer. DFFM is working on a solution to recalculate the data taking into consideration more recent vegetation growth, wildfires and fuels reduction projects - which do not currently reflect within the West Wide Assessment portal which is used to develop the CAR. The recalculation is planned for 2024.