fireexposuR is a free software tool developed by Air Forbes. It provides an easy to use R package implementation of our wildfire exposure and directional vulnerability assessment methods.
fireexposuR is suitable for use by researchers, government agencies, forest industry, consultants, communities, and interested individuals. It's all completely customizable to suit unique local conditions and needs.
Our research generates methods and approaches that are designed to be accessible and easy to use. We offer training at no cost and prioritize attendance by students, researchers, and employees of government or not-for-profit organizations. For profit organizations may apply and are encouraged to also submit a sponsorship application.
Upcoming training events are listed below.
EXP100 Wildfire Exposure and Directional Vulnerability Assessments: Methods and Applications
February 18, 2026, Edmonton, Alberta
This full day, in-person course introduces foundational wildfire exposure and directional vulnerability assessment concepts. The course blends classroom style learning with hands-on guided exercises in R/RStudio with provided example data. This course covers assessments of landscape scale wildfire exposure, community scale wildfire exposure, and directional vulnerability. Participants also learn how to interpret and visualize results in R, and export results for further analysis in other software. Experience working with geospatial data is recommended.
Space is limited, applications close January 9th, selected applicants will be notified by January 16th.
EXP200 Advanced Case Study Applications of Wildfire Exposure and Directional Vulnerability Assessments
February 19, 2026, Edmonton, Alberta
In this full day, in-person course, participants work through analysis of their own datasets with guidance from instructors. Fundamental methods learned in EXP100 are applied independently. Mentoring and advanced approaches for interpreting and summarizing results are introduced. Participants share their results and collective lessons learned through group activities. To fully benefit from this course, participants should have basic proficiency using R packages and troubleshooting R problems. Prerequisite: EXP100.
Space is limited, applications close January 9th, selected applicants will be notified by January 16th.
Methods
Forbes A, Beverly JL (2025) fireexposuR: An R package for computing and visualizing wildfire exposure. Journal of Open Source Software 10 (114): 8479.
Beverly JL, Forbes AM (2023) Assessing directional vulnerability to wildfire. Natural Hazards 117: 831–849.
Beverly JL, McLoughlin N, Chapman E (2021) A simple metric of landscape fire exposure. Landscape Ecology 36: 785-801.
Beverly JL, Bothwell P, Conner JCR, Herd EPK (2010) Assessing the exposure of the built environment to potential ignition sources generated from vegetative fuel. International Journal of Wildland Fire 19: 299-313.
Applications
Kuiper CS, Beverly JL (2025) Assessing telecommunication vulnerabilities to wildfire in Alberta, Canada.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 129: 105761.
Khan S, Colaço C, Sequeira AC, Rego FC, Beverly JL (2025) Validating a landscape metric to map fire exposure to hazardous fuels in Portugal. Natural Hazards 121: 16273–16295.
Khan S, Beverly JL, Colaço C, Rego FC, Sequeira AC (2025) Applying a Fire Exposure Metric in the Artificial Territories of Portugal: Mafra Municipality Case Study. Fire 8(5):179.
Forbes A, Beverly JL (2024) Influence of fuel data assumptions on wildfire exposure assessment of the built environment. International Journal of Wildland Fire 33: WF24025.
Karimi N, Mahler P, Beverly JL (2024) Optimizing fuel treatments for community wildfire mitigation planning. Journal of Environmental Management 370: 122325.
Kim AM, Beverly JL, Zahid AA (2024) Directional analysis of community wildfire evacuation capabilities. Safety Science 171: 106378.
Related
Beverly JL, McLoughlin N. (2019). Burn probability simulation and subsequent wildland fire activity in Alberta, Canada – Implications for risk assessment and strategic planning. Forest Ecology and Management 451: 117490.
