Description

Canopy fuel stratum characteristics determine to a large extent the behavior of crown fires. By linking an extensive forest stand database with foliage dry weight allometric equations, we developed regression equations to estimate the following canopy fuel stratum characteristics: (1) canopy base height (CBH); (2) canopy fuel load (CFL); (3) canopy bulk density (CBD). Equations are available for the following fuel types that commonly occur in western North America: (1) ponderosa Pine; (2) lodgepole Pine; (3) Douglas-fir; (4) mixed conifer. The Cruz et al. (2003) regressions for estimating the CBH, CFL and CBD of these four fuel types are included within the present software. The outputs will serve as inputs in predicting crown fire behavior potential using, for example, the Crown Fire Initiation and Spread (CFIS) software.