Become a Burn Boss: an interactive journey through wildfire mitigation
A immersive exhibition transforming complex wildfire mitigation strategy into tangible experiences to raise public awareness
Introduction: Wildfire on the West Coast
In 2020 alone...
Swept across 10 million acres
Destroying 10,000 structures
Killing dozens of people
Causing $15 billion property damage
Number of Fires Each Year From 2017 - 2022
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
0
2,500
5,000
7,500
10,000
Acres Burned Each Year From 2017 - 2022
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
What is the issue?
Public Understanding of prescribed burns is extremely limited
Who is involved?
Government, businesses, residents, and fire services all have a stake
Why do we care?
Wildfires put lives, homes, and ecosystems at risk
What is Prescribed Burns and Why we need it?
Do you know that nature NEED wildfires?
Fire-adapted ecosystems need wildfires to thrive because they maintain forest health by reducing dense vegetation that is fuel for wildfires. The natural fire circle is shown below:
Dense Forest
Wildfire
New Growth
Burnt Forest
However, policies have focused too much on wildfire suppression for several decades, leading to an accumulation of vegetation and exacerbating the severity of wildfires in the long term. Consequently, the current wildfire risk is elevated due to the fuel loads accumulation on the landscape, compounded by prolonged periods of drought conditions.
Increases Dry Fuel
Risks Severe Wildfires
Prescribed burns as the mitigation strategy
Interview: Learn from Professional Burn Boss
Matt
Wildland Fire Specialist
Started working in fire since 1991
Qualified as Burn Boss in 1999
Conducted hundreds of prescribed burns
“It is always good to show audience the positive outcome!”
*Burn Boss is a state-certificated individual who is responsible for performing and overseeing the procedure of prescribed burns.
Prototyping: Starting from cardboard
The initial cardboard prototype we built out has a five-room exhibition, including one intro room, three VR rooms, and one immersive projection room. We then removed one VR room to make the whole experience smoother.
Rapid Brainstorming: From Divergence to Convergence
At the beginning stage, we brainstormed various ideas, ranging from alert system to public sculptures. Then we selected the designs we liked the most and combined them into a multi-room immersive exhibition design. Besides the six main sketches we pick, we also summarized the six main points we need to address in the exhibition.
Timeline
Jun - Oct 2021
4 months
My Role
Lead Experience/
Visual Designer
UX Researcher
Collaborate with
2 Designers
2 Researchers
5+ Developers
5+ Data Scientists
Method
User Survey
Stakeholder Interview
Physical Prototyping
Game Design
Speculative Design
Tool
Figma
Photoshop
Google Forms
Unreal Engine
Meta Quest