Publications
Fire Line Production Rate Tables: NWCG Fuels Management Committee. 2021. Fire Line Production Rate Tables. 9 p.
Originally published in: NWCG. 2014. Wildland Fire Incident Management Field Guide. PMS 210. Boise, ID: National Wildfire Coordinating Group. 148 p. (Discontinued 2021).
This publications page has expanded beyond its initial purpose of describing the BehavePlus fire modeling system, the fire models that are included in BehavePlus, and related historical documents. We have created a summary table of BehavePlus models and citations [PDF].
These publications are available in PDF format in several ways:
- PDF files without [OCR] or [PRI] designations were typically generated by the publisher and are fully searchable.
- [PRI] files are PDF files obtained by scanning a paper copy and are retained in a 'pristine' format.
- [OCR] files are scanned copies that have been subjected to 'Optical Character Recognition' conversion. They are searchable, but may contain typographical errors resulting from the OCR capture process.
To download publications, click the link to the FRAMES catalog record. A copy of the publication, if available, may then be downloaded directly from that page. To print PDF and OCR publications without the attached warning label (if it exists), select Document under Comments and Forms on the Print window in Adobe® Reader.
- BehavePlus Fire Modeling System
- Fire Characteristics Chart
- Fire Behavior Prediction
- The Old BEHAVE System
- Surface Fire
- Crown Fire
- Fuel and Fuel Models
- Fuel Moisture
- Fire Shape and Growth
- Midflame Wind Speed
- Spotting Distance
- Scorch and Mortality
- Fire Containment
- Safety Zones
- Probability of Ignition
- Spatial Fire Behavior Systems
- Past Fire Behavior Systems
- Fire Weather
- Fire Fundamentals, Historical
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This paper describes the development history and application of BehavePlus. The design, features and modeling foundation of the current system are described. |
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This paper is an overview of BehavePlus. It includes a description of the relationship of BehavePlus to other fire behavior systems and a table of the mathematical models that form the basis of the system. |
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The Features Paper helps users better understand BehavePlus and use it more effectively. It is based in part on material in the self-study lessons regarding program operation available on the Training page. |
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The Variables Paper is a reference document that describes the 189 variables in BehavePlus, with information on input and output relationships. It is packaged with the program and is accessible via the Help button. |
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The User's Guide describes operation of the BehavePlus program. It does not describe specific modeling capabilities of the system. It is packaged with the program and is accessible via the Help button. The User's Guide was not updated for version 5.0 because basic program operation has not changed; the version 4.0 publication is still valid. |
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Andrews, Patricia L. 2010. Do you BEHAVE? - Application of the BehavePlus fire modeling system. 17 p. In: Wade, Dale D.; Robinson, Mikel L. (eds.). Proceedings of 3rd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference; 25-29 October 2010; Spokane, WA. Birmingham, AL: International Association of Wildland Fire. |
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This BehavePlus (version 5) poster is posted in the hall at the Missoula Fire Lab. It is a brief overview for visitors. |
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This poster is an overview of BehavePlus. It includes a brief description of each module. The poster can be downloaded as a PDF, or a larger version of the poster can be downloaded for Microsoft PowerPoint. |
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This poster is an overview of application of BehavePlus to prescribed fire planning. The poster can be downloaded as a PDF, or a larger version of the poster can be downloaded for Microsoft PowerPoint. |
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Andrews, Patricia L.; Heinsch, Faith A.; Schelvan, Luke. 2011. How to generate and interpret fire characteristics charts for surface and crown fire behavior. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-253. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 40 p. |
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This proceedings paper and accompanying poster provide an overview of the Fire Characteristics Chart. The poster can be downloaded as a PDF, or a larger version of the poster can be downloaded for Microsoft PowerPoint. |
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Andrews, Patricia L.; Rothermel, Richard C. 1982. Charts for interpreting wildland fire behavior characteristics. General Technical Report INT-GTR-131. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 21 p. |
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Roussopoulos, Peter J. 1974. Fire intensity levels, initial summary. National Fuel Management Workshop. 3 p. |
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The basics of fire behavior prediction are described in this publication. |
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This document describes the steps necessary to complete a nomogram for the 13 nomograms shown below. |
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Nomographs (nomograms) were developed by Albini (1976). They were reformatted by Rothermel (1983) to use midflame rather than 20-ft wind and with an added heat per unit area axis label. A correction was made to the fuel model 7 nomogram in 1991 and is included in this version of the nomograms. Note: The full document may take a long time to load. Individual fuel model nomographs (nomograms) may be downloaded below (a conversion to the OCR form is not meaningful for this document). Grass Group Brush Group Timber Group Logging Slash Group
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A new form of nomographs was developed for the original 13 and the new 40 standard fire behavior fuel models. |
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The surface fire spread model is for steady-state spread. This paper describes considerations when the ignition pattern is used to affect fire behavior. |
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Rothermel, Richard C.; Rinehart, George C. 1983. Field procedures for verification and adjustment of fire behavior predictions. General Technical Report INT-GTR-142. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experimental Station. 25 p. |
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Wells, Gail. 2008. The Rothermel fire-spread model: still running like a champ. JFSP Fire Science Digest. March 2008(2):1-12. |
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Albini, Frank A. 1984. Wildland fires: Predicting the behavior of wildland fires-among nature's most potent forces-can save lives, money, and natural resources. American Scientist. 72(6):590-597. |
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Andrews, Patricia L.; Finney, Mark A.; Fischetti, Mark. 2007. Predicting wildfires. Scientific American August:47-55. |
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The first four chapters of the book "Introduction to Wildland Fire" comprise the section "Fire Environment" (warning: this document may take a long time to load): Links to pdf versions of individual chapters are provided below:
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Andrews, Patricia L.; Bradshaw, Larry S. 1990. RXWINDOW: defining windows of acceptable burning conditions based on desired fire behavior. General Technical Report INT-GTR-273. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 54 p. |
The FUEL subsystem of BEHAVE consisted of the NEWMDL and TSTMDL programs, which were used to develop custom fuel models for surface fire. The information in these papers is still valid for BehavePlus. |
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Burgan, Robert E.; Rothermel, Richard C. 1984. BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system--FUEL subsystem. General Technical Report INT-GTR-167. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 126 p. |
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Burgan, Robert E. 1987. Concepts and interpreted examples in advanced fuel modeling. General Technical Report INT-GTR-238. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 40 p. |
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The 13 standard fire behavior fuel models are described. |
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The 40 additional standard fire behavior fuel models are described. |
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Custom fuel model development. When creating custom fuel models, ensure you understand the inputs required by the surface fire spread model (Rothermel 1972) as well as its sensitivity to fuel model inputs. Fuel measurements taken in the field cannot be entered into BehavePlus directly for modeling purposes. Adjustments are needed to accurately estimate fire behavior. To create custom fuel models, first read the following papers located in The Old BEHAVE System. |
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A special case 'fuel model' was developed for Palmetto-Gallberry. It is an option in BehavePlus. |
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A special case 'fuel model' was developed for western aspen. The publication includes photographs and fire modeling methods. |
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Rothermel, Richard C.; Philpot, Charles W. 1973. Predicting changes in chaparral flammability. Journal of Forestry. 71(10): 640-643. |
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A special case 'fuel model' was developed for chaparral. It is an option in BehavePlus. |
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Five custom chaparral fuel models are available with BehavePlus in the SoCalifornia folder. |
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Information from this paper is used in the BehavePlus Help System description of canopy bulk density. |
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Fahnestock, George R. 1970. Two keys for appraising forest fire fuels. Research Paper PNW-RP-99. Portland, OR: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 26 p. |
BehavePlus offers three methods for modeling spread through two fuel models. The 'area weighted' method (Rothermel 1983) was used in the old BEHAVE system. The '2-dimensional expected spread' is the recommended method. |
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Finney, Mark A. 2003. Calculation of fire spread rates across random landscapes. International Journal of Wildland Fire 12(2):167-174. |
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This paper describes the method of modeling spread through two fuel models called 'harmonic mean'. |
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Burgan, Robert E. 1979. Estimating live fuel moisture for the 1978 National Fire Danger Rating System. Research Paper INT-RP-226. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. Ogden, Utah. 16 p. |
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Nelson Jr., Ralph M. 2000. Prediction of diurnal change in 10-h fuel stick moisture content. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 30(7):1071-1087. |
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This method for predicting fuel moisture was used in the old BEHAVE system, but is not used in BehavePlus. |
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Anderson developed a double ellipse method for estimating fire shape. BehavePlus uses a simple ellipse. |
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Rothermel, Richard C.; Hartford, Roberta A.; Chase, Carolyn H. 1994. Fire growth maps for the 1988 Greater Yellowstone Area fires. General Technical Report INT-GTR-304. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service Intermountain Research Station. 64 p. |
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NWCG Fuels Management Committee. 2021. Fire Line Production Rate Tables. 9 p. Originally published in: NWCG. 2014. Wildland Fire Incident Management Field Guide. PMS 210. Boise, ID: National Wildfire Coordinating Group. 148 p. (Discontinued 2021). Note: These tables have been compiled from a number of sources as identified in table footnotes. |
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Used in the CONTAIN module of BehavePlus. |
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Used in the CONTAIN module of BehavePlus. |
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Schmidt, R. Gordon; Rinehart, George C. 1982. Line Production Estimating Guides for Fire Behavior Fuel Models. Fire Management Notes 43(3):6-9. |
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Used in the CONTAIN module of the old BEHAVE system. |
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Albini, Frank A.; Chase, Carolyn H. 1980. Fire containment equations for pocket calculators. Research Note INT-RN-268. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 18 p. |
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Probability of ignition from lightning. |
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Probability of ignition from firebrands. |
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FlamMap does BehavePlus-type calculations for every pixel on the landscape. FlamMap also includes modeling for optimum fuel treatment location. |
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FARSITE models fire growth across the landscape. |
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Links to pdf versions of individual chapters are provided below:
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Barrows, Jack S. 1951. Fire behavior in Northern Rocky Mountain Forests. Station Paper 29. Missoula, MT: USDA Forest Service, Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 134 p. |
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This is a historical document, and some of the content may be considered offensive many years later. If you read it, please consider the times and spirit in which it was written. It is suspected that it was developed during the World War II era because of the following statement, found on page 1: "The fellow who used to fight fires has gone to war.... IT'S UP TO YOU. IT'S YOUR WAR JOB." More specifically, the document was most likely written between 1942 and 1945, since the first operational smokejumper fire jumps were made in 1940 (U.S. Forest Service Smokejumpers) and cuffless "victory" trousers were mandated by the War Production Board, which was established in 1942. (Goodwin, 1994. No Ordinary Time. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II). The War Production Board was disbanded in 1945, shortly after the war ended (Wikipedia). |
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Jones, Stuart E.; Johnston, Jay. 1968. Forest fires: the devil's picnic. National Geographic July: 100-127. |
The following 13 publications are part of a group designed to describe important concepts of fire behavior and the application of these concepts to wildland fire problems. The level of difficulty is signaled by the color of the cover: the blue cover group is generally elementary and the yellow cover group is generally intermediate. |
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Countryman, Clive M. 1971. This humidity business: what it is all about and its use in fire control (blue cover). Berkeley, CA: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 18 p. |
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Countryman, Clive M. 1971. Fire whirls...why, when, and where (blue cover). Berkeley, CA: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 14 p. |
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Countryman, Clive M. 1971. Carbon monoxide: a firefighting hazard (yellow cover). Berkeley, CA: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 8 p. |
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Countryman, Clive M. 1972. The fire environment concept. Berkeley, CA: USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 15 p. |
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Countryman, Clive M. 1975-1976. Heat — its role in wildland fire (blue cover). Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. |
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Countryman, Clive M. 1977-1978. Heat and wildland fire (yellow cover). Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. |