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Fire behavior is commonly defined as the manner in which fuel ignites, flame develops, and fire spread and exhibits other related phenomena as determined by the interaction of fuels, weather, and topography.

Below are a selection of publications authored or co-authored by Dr. Martin E. Alexander that are not already listed on the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS), Crown Fire Initiation and Spread (CFIS) System, International Crown Fire Modeling Experiment (ICFME) or Crown Fire Behavior Characteristics and Prediction in Conifer Forests: A State of Knowledge Synthesis pages on FRAMES. Dr. Alexander retired from the Canadian Forest Service in November 2010 after nearly 35 years of service. At the time, he was a Senior Fire Behavior Research Officer stationed at the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. His primary research interests still focus on wildland fire behavior and forest/grassland fire danger rating, including the practical and scientific application of such knowledge to fire/fuel management and other disciplines.

Contact

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

Publications

Displaying 1 - 165 of 165
People Title Year Sort ascending Type
Frost, Alexander, Jenkins The application of fire behavior modeling to fuel treatment assessments at Army Garrison Camp Williams, Utah 2022 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Fernandes Evidence for lack of a fuel effect on forest and shrubland fire rates of spread under elevated fire danger conditions: implications for modelling and management 2022 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Kilinc Wildfire rates of spread in grasslands under critical burning conditions 2022 Document
Alexander Estimating Wildfire Rate of Spread in Grasslands 2022 Media
Cruz, Alexander Evaluating the 10% wind speed rule of thumb for estimating a wildfire’s forward spread rate 2021 Document
Alexander, Cruz How Well Does the 10% Wind Speed Rule of Thumb Work for Estimating Wildfire Spread Rates? 2021 Media
Alexander On Looking Back in Time at Wildfire Behavior Research in Western & Northern Canada: A Personal Perspective 2021 Media
Alexander Interview with Marty Alexander Regarding the 3-m Crown Spacing Guideline 2021 Media
Cruz, Alexander The 10% Rule of Thumb for Estimating Wildfire ROS from Wind Speed: Derivation and Limits of Application 2021 Media
Perrakis, Cruz, Alexander, Taylor, Beverly Linking dynamic empirical fire spread models: introducing Canadian Conifer Pyrometrics 2020 Document
Frost, Jenkins, Alexander Wildfire behavior case study of the 2010 Machine Gun Fire, Army Garrison Camp Williams 2020 Document
Frost, Jenkins, Alexander Fire regime analysis of Army Garrison Camp Williams 2020 Document
Fernandes, Sil, Rossa, Ascoli, Cruz, Alexander Characterizing fire behavior across the globe 2020 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Sullivan, Gould, Kilinc Improvements in Australia’s bushfire rate of spread models over time 2020 Document
Alexander, Cruz Evaluating the 3-m tree crown spacing guideline for the prevention of crowning wildfires in lodgepole pine forests, Alberta 2020 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Fernandes, Kilinc, Sil Evaluating the 10% wind speed rule of thumb for estimating a wildfire's forward rate of spread against an extensive independent set of observations 2020 Document
Frost, Alexander, DeRose, Jenkins Fire-environment analysis: an example of Army Garrison Camp Williams, Utah 2020 Document
Alexander Thoughts on Living With Fire in Canada's Forests 2020 Media
Moriarty, Cheng, Hoffman, Cottrell, Alexander Firefighter observations of “surprising” fire behavior in mountain pine beetle-attacked lodgepole pine forests 2019 Document
Cruz, Alexander The 10% wind speed rule of thumb for estimating a wildfire's forward rate of spread in forests and shrublands 2019 Document
Cruz, Alexander Comments on "Evaluating crown fire rate of spread predictions from physics-based models" 2019 Document
Alexander, Cruz A rule of thumb for estimating a wildfire's forward spread rate 2019 Document
Alexander Reflecting on the 1992 Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System 2019 Media
Alexander A Rule of Thumb for Estimating a Wildfire’s Forward Spread Rate from Wind Speed Alone 2019 Media
Cruz, Alexander, Sullivan A response to 'Clarifying the meaning of mantras in wildland fire behaviour modelling: reply to Cruz et al. (2017)' 2018 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Sullivan, Gould, Kilinc Assessing improvements in models used to operationally predict wildland fire rate of spread 2018 Document
Greebe Fire science between the covers 2018 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Sullivan Mantras of wildland fire behaviour modelling: facts or fallacies? 2017 Document
Cruz, Alexander, Plucinski The effect of silvicultural treatments on fire behaviour potential in radiata pine plantations of south Australia 2017 Document
Cruz, Alexander Modelling the rate of fire spread and uncertainty associated with the onset and propagation of crown fires in conifer forest stands 2017 Document
Alexander, Mutch, Davis, Bucks Wildland fires: dangers and survival (7th edition) 2017 Document
Alexander, Taylor, Page Wildland firefighter safety and fire behavior prediction on the fireline 2016 Document
Alexander, Thorburn LACES: Adding an "A" for Anchor point(s) to the LCES wildland firefighter safety system 2015 Document
Cruz, Gould, Alexander, Sullivan, McCaw, Matthews A Guide to Rate of Fire Spread Models for Australian Vegetation 2015 Document
Cruz, Gould, Alexander, Sullivan, McCaw, Matthews Empirical-based models for predicting head-fire rate of spread in Australian fuel types 2015 Document
Instructor Companion Site for the Book 'Fire on Earth: An Introduction' 2014 Website
Vaillant, Ewell, Fites-Kaufman Capturing crown fire behavior on wildland fires - the Fire Behavior Assessment Team in action 2014 Document
Cruz, Alexander Operational prediction of crown fire behavior 2014 Document
Cruz, Alexander The start, propagation, and spread rate of crown fires 2014 Document
Cruz, Alexander Canopy-fuel characteristics of conifer forests 2014 Document
Alexander, Cruz, Vaillant Toward improving our application and understanding of crown fire behavior 2014 Document
Alexander, Cruz, Vaillant Introduction to the special issue on crown fire behavior in conifer forests 2014 Document
Alexander, Cruz The elliptical shape and size of wind-driven crown fires 2014 Document
Alexander, Cruz Energy release rates, flame dimensions, and spotting characteristics of crown fires 2014 Document
Alexander, Cruz The general nature of crown fires 2014 Document
Cruz, Sullivan, Leonard, Malkin, Matthews, Gould, McCaw, Alexander Fire behaviour knowledge in Australia: a synthesis of disciplinary and stakeholder knowledge on fire spread prediction capability and application 2014 Document
Cruz, Sullivan, Alexander Fire behaviour knowledge in Australia: knowledge gaps and Fire Behaviour Analyst (FBAN) training revision plan 2014 Document
Scott, Bowman, Bond, Pyne, Alexander Fire on Earth: An Introduction 2014 Document
Alexander Introduction to the article by H.E. Wright Jr. and M.L. Heinselman: The ecological role of fire in natural conifer forests of western and northern North America - Introduction 2014 Document
Alexander, Baxter, Dakin How much time does it take for a wildland firefighter to reach a safety zone? 2013 Document
Alexander, Heathcott, Schwanke Fire behaviour case study of two early winter grass fires in southern Alberta, 27 November 2011 2013 Document
Alexander, Mutch, Davis, Bucks Wildland fires: dangers and survival (6th edition) 2012 Document
Alexander Update to wildland fire safety chapter in Wilderness Medicine 2012 Document
Alexander Towards the understanding of extreme wildland fire behavior 2012 Document
Alexander Slave Lake Fire another incident in a long line of wakeup calls for Alberta (and Canada) 2012 Document
Alexander, Heathcott, Schwanke Winter wildfires? 2012 Document
Alexander Recounting the wildfire-related fatalities experienced during the surveying of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1871 2012 Document
Alexander On linking the impacts and effects of wildland fires to their behavior 2012 Media
Cruz, Alexander, Vaillant, Peterson Crown fires in conifer forests of the world: do you have something to contribute or would like to know about something? 2011 Document
Cruz, Alexander Use of fire behaviour models to support silvicultural and fuel management decision making in industrial pine plantations (conference abstract) 2011 Document
Alexander A synthesis on crown fires in conifer forests is underway 2011 Document
Alexander, Buxton-Carr Wildland fire suppression related fatalities in Canada, 1941-2010: a preliminary report 2011 Document
Alexander, Cruz What are the safety implications of crown fires? 2011 Document
Alexander, Cruz Introducing the Canopy Fuel Stratum Characteristics Calculator 2010 Document
Lavoie, Alexander, Macdonald Photo guide for quantitatively assessing the characteristics of forest fuels in a jack pine - black spruce chronosequence in the Northwest Territories 2010 Document
Alexander, Taylor Wildland fire behavior case studies and the 1938 Honey Fire controversy 2010 Document
Alexander, Taylor The contributions of The Forestry Chronicle to wildland fire management in Canada - poster 2010 Document
Cruz, Alexander Crown fires 2010 Document
Alexander Fire behavior in moderately heavy logging slash: documenting the past with photographs 2010 Document
Alexander Foliar moisture content input in the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction System for areas outside of Canada 2010 Document
Alexander How big was Dodge's escape fire? 2010 Document
Alexander, Cruz, Vaillant, Peterson Towards a crown fire synthesis: what would you like to know and what might you be able to contribute? 2010 Document
Alexander 'Lest we forget': Canada's major wildland fire disasters of the past, 1825-1938 2010 Document
Alexander Some pragmatic thoughts on the prediction of spotting in wildland fires - powerpoint 2009 Document
Alexander Are wildland-urban interface fire disasters avoidable? 2009 Document
Alexander, Cruz Recent advances in modelling the onset of crowning and crown fire rate of spread (abstract) 2009 Document
Alexander, Baxter, Ackerman Is a wellsite opening a safety zone for a wildland firefighter or a survival zone or neither? - abstract 2009 Document
Alexander Are we abusing our use of models and modelling in wildland fire and fuel management? 2009 Document
Alexander Wildland fire behaviour and 'The Course of Science' flowchart: is there a connection? 2009 Document
Alexander, Ackerman, Baxter An analysis of Dodge's escape fire on the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire in terms of a survival zone for wildland firefighters 2009 Document
Alexander The 1988 fires of Yellowstone and beyond as a wildland fire behavior case study 2009 Document
Alexander Living with fire in the boreal forest 2009 Media
Alexander Forest fire protection and management in Nova Scotia: Reflecting on the past, the present, and the future 2008 Document
Alexander Some random thoughts on fire behavior research and operational fire behavior considerations - powerpoint 2008 Document
Alexander, Butler Proceedings of the wildland fire safety summits 2008 Document
Alexander Wildland fire safety featured in wilderness medicine book 2008 Document
Alexander Proposed revision of fire danger class criteria for forest and rural areas in New Zealand 2008 Document
Alexander A fuels management bibliography with subject index 2007 Document
Alexander Software can assess fuel treatment effectiveness on crown fire behavior 2007 Document
Alexander Surviving a wildland fire entrapment or burnover 2007 Document
Alexander How much fuel is in that pile or windrow? 2007 Document
Alexander Simple question; difficult answer: How much fuel is acceptable? 2007 Document
Alexander Improving wildland firefighter safety and public safety through fire behavior research and development 2007 Document
Alexander, Mutch, Davis Wildland fires: dangers and survival (5th edition) 2007 Document
Alexander, Thomas Prescribed fire case studies, decision aids, and planning guides 2006 Document
Otway, Bork, Anderson, Alexander Predicting ground fire ignition potential in aspen communities 2006 Document
Alexander, Baxter, Hsieh Software under development for predicting the effectiveness of grassland firebreaks 2006 Document
Alexander Stand structure modification to reduce fire potential: Simulation vs. reality 2006 Document
Thomas, Alexander Fire Management Today offers its services to wildland fire safety 2006 Document
Cruz, Butler, Alexander, Viegas Development and evaluation of a semi-physical crown fire initiation model 2006 Document