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The International Crown Fire Modeling Experiment (ICFME) was a cooperative international experiment that brought together fire modeling experts from Canada, the United States, and Russia, to address the prediction of high-intensity fire behavior. The goal of the ICFME was to conduct a replicated series of highly instrumented crown fires to quantify parameters essential to modeling the initiation and spread of crowning fires.

The study site was located near Fort Providence, Northwest Territories, in a dense, approximately 80-year old jack pine stand. Aerial, surface, and forest floor fuels were sampled in ten burn plots. Firelines approximately 50 m wide were established around each plot, which involved cutting and removing standing trees, and bulldozing to mineral soil to facilitate access and control. Some fuel manipulation (pruning trees and/or removing surface fuel) was carried out on portions of some plots, but most of the area remained undisturbed. The ICFME project was carried out between 1995 and 2001.

Background

Despite the fact that high-intensity crown fires account for an overwhelming proportion of the area burned by forest fires in Canada, fully understanding and subsequently modeling the initiation, propagation, and spread of crown fires remains an elusive goal for fire research scientists throughout the world. The Canadian approach to the prediction of crown fire phenomena has been largely empirical: an extensive experimental burning program (including many high-intensity crown fires) in major fuel types, accompanied by the monitoring of numerous wildfires, has led to the creation of a large database that is the foundation of the system of fire behavior prediction in Canada. Conversely, fire behavior prediction in the United States has been largely based on a physical surface fire model, which has proven inadequate for predicting high-intensity fire behavior.

Contacts

Mike Wotton
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service
Mike.Wotton@nrcan.gc.ca

Martin E. Alexander
Wild Rose Fire Behaviour
mea2@telus.net
curriculum vitae (pdf)

Publications

Displaying 1 - 24 of 24
People Title Year Sort ascending Type
Alexander On Looking Back in Time at Wildfire Behavior Research in Western & Northern Canada: A Personal Perspective 2021 Media
Stocks, Alexander, Wotton, Stefner, Flannigan, Taylor, Lavoie, Mason, Hartley, Maffey, Dalrymple, Blake, Cruz, Lanoville Erratum: crown fire behaviour in a northern jack pine-black spruce forest (erratum 2) 2011 Document
Stocks, Alexander, Wotton, Stefner, Flannigan, Taylor, Lavoie, Mason, Hartley, Maffey, Dalrymple, Blake, Cruz, Lanoville Erratum: crown fire behaviour in a northern jack pine-black spruce forest 2006 Document
Alexander Long-term experiment takes some of the mystery out of crown fires 2005 Document
Lynch, Clark, Stocks Charcoal production, dispersal, and deposition from the Fort Providence experimental fire: interpreting fire regimes from charcoal records in boreal forests 2004 Document
de Groot, Bothwell, Taylor, Wotton, Stocks, Alexander Jack pine regeneration and crown fires 2004 Document
Cohen Relating flame radiation to home ignition using modeling and experimental crown fires 2004 Document
Butler, Cohen, Latham, Schuette, Sopko, Shannon, Jimenez, Bradshaw Measurements of radiant emissive power and temperatures in crown fires 2004 Document
Butler, Finney, Andrews, Albini A radiation-driven model for crown fire spread 2004 Document
Alexander, Stocks The International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment: background, genesis, overview and summary - abstract 2004 Document
Alexander, Stefner, Mason, Stocks, Hartley, Maffey, Wotton, Taylor, Lavoie, Dalrymple Characterizing the jack pine-black spruce fuel complex of the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME) 2004 Document
Taylor, Wotton, Alexander, Dalrymple Variation in wind and crown fire behaviour in a northern jack pine-black spruce forest 2004 Document
Stocks, Alexander, Wotton, Stefner, Flannigan, Taylor, Lavoie, Mason, Hartley, Maffey, Dalrymple, Blake, Cruz, Lanoville Crown fire behaviour in a northern jack pine-black spruce forest 2004 Document
Stocks, Alexander, Lanoville Overview of the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME) 2004 Document
Putnam, Butler Evaluating fire shelter performance in experimental crown fires 2004 Document
Payne, Stocks, Robinson, Wasey, Strapp Combustion aerosol from experimental crown fires in a boreal forest jack pine stand 2004 Document
Alexander, Lanoville The International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment fuel treatment trials 2004 Document
Alexander, Stocks, Wotton, Lanoville Tracking the spread and intensity of crown fires 2001 Document
Alexander The International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment: an overview and summary to-date 2001 Media
Alexander, Lanoville, Wotton, Stocks Introduction to the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment 2000 Document
Crown Fire in the Boreal Forest 2000 Media
Clark, Radke, Coen, Middleton Analysis of small-scale convective dynamics in a crown fire using infrared video camera imagery 1999 Document
Alexander, Stocks, Wotton, Lanoville An example of multi-faceted wildland fire research: the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment 1998 Document
International Crown Fire Modeling Experiment 1997 Media