Document

Title

Using modeled surface and crown fire behavior characteristics to evaluate fuel treatment effectiveness: a caution
Document Type: Journal Article
Author(s): Miguel G. Cruz; Martin E. Alexander; Jelmer E. Dam
Publication Year: 2014

Cataloging Information

Keyword(s):
  • active crown fire spread
  • Alberta
  • Canada
  • crown fires
  • dead fuels
  • fine fuels
  • fire intensity
  • fire management
  • fireline intensity
  • fuel loading
  • fuel moisture
  • litter
  • lodgepole pine
  • onset of crowning
  • overstory
  • pine forests
  • Pinus contorta
  • ROS - rate of spread
  • size classes
  • surface fires
  • surface fuels
  • treatment effectiveness
  • wildfires
  • wind
Topic(s):
Region(s):
  • International
Partner Site(s):
JFSP Project Number(s):
09-S-03-1
Record Maintained By:
FRAMES Staff; https://www.frames.gov/contact
TTRS Staff; https://talltimbers.org/contact-us
Record Last Modified: October 8, 2020
FRAMES Record Number: 18063
Tall Timbers Record Number: 30055
TTRS Location Status: In-file
TTRS Call Number: Journals - F
TTRS Abstract Status: Fair use, Okay, Reproduced by permission

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of the Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

Description

The relative variation in predicted fireline intensity and the wind speed thresholds for the onset of crowning and active crown fire spread in a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud.) stand subjected to a commercial thinning operation were examined. This involved seven distinct scenarios, each with different assumptions regarding fine dead fuel moisture contents and fire behavior models. This case study illustrates that widely varying results can be expected, depending on how the environmental inputs are handled and which fire behavior characteristic is analyzed.

Online Link(s):
Link to the article on the journal's website
Download the article (106 KB; pdf)
Citation:
Cruz, Miguel G.; Alexander, Martin E.; Dam, Jelmer E. 2014. Using modeled surface and crown fire behavior characteristics to evaluate fuel treatment effectiveness: a caution. Forest Science 60(5):1000-1004.