Oklahoma is among 12 states where residents can now see their wildfire risk online.
Oklahoma Forestry Services helped launch a new tool for people to figure out their wildfire risk. The Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal — or SouthWRAP — is a free online mapping tool available to public and professional users.
Fire Staff Forester Drew Daily said there’s a lot of data at work, but people shouldn’t be intimidated.
"Most of the application is just rather intuitive, I mean, it's just point and click," Daily said. "It's pretty impressive the amount of data that comes back to you that is also easy to understand."
SouthWRAP pulls data on fuel sources, area development, past fires, weather and terrain, and it shows users their risk in an area they define. Daily said the mapping tool will help people determine whether they need to take steps to protect themselves.
"Those actions are laid out in the portal there," Daily said. "They're laid out in, like, 50 things you can do to reduce your risk around your home or business."
SouthWRAP is the result of several years of collaboration among members of the Southern Group of State Foresters.
