Data used to characterize the historical distribution of wildfire severity in the western United States in support of pre-fire assessment of debris-flow hazards

Following wildfire, mountainous areas of the western United States are susceptible to enhanced runoff and erosion and an increased vulnerability to debris flow during intense rainfall. Convective storms that can generate debris flows in recently burned areas may occur during or immediately after the wildfire, leaving insufficient time for development and implementation of risk mitigation strategies. We present a method for estimating post-fire debris-flow hazards prior to wildfire using historical data to define the range of potential fire severity for a given location based on the statistical distribution of severity metrics obtained from remote sensing. Estimates of debris-flow likelihood, magnitude and triggering rainfall threshold [...]