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The ongoing development of sophisticated fire behavior and effects models has demonstrated the need for a comprehensive system of fuel classification that more accurately captures the structural complexity and geographic diversity of fuelbeds. The Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team (FERA) of the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, is developing a national system of fuel characteristic classification (FCC). The system is designed to accommodate researchers and managers operating at a variety of scales, and who have access to a variety of kinds of input data. Users can generate fuel characteristics by accessing existing fuelbed descriptions (fuelbed prototypes) using generic information such as cover type or vegetation form. Fuelbed prototypes will provide the best available predictions of the kind, quality and abundance of fuels. Users can accept these default settings or modify some or all of them using more detailed information about vegetation structure and fuel biomass. When the user has completed editing the fuelbed data, the FCC system calculates or infers quantitative fuel characteristics (physical, chemical, and structural properties) and probable fire parameters specific to that fuelbed. Each user-described fuelbed is also assigned to one of approximately 192 stylized fuel characteristic classes.
Cataloging Information
- biomass
- cover
- cover type
- crown fires
- duff
- FCCS - Fuel Characteristic Classification System
- FERA - Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team
- fire intensity
- fire management
- fire modeling
- forbs
- fuel accumulation
- fuel characteristics
- fuel classification
- fuel loading
- fuel management
- fuel models
- fuel types
- lichen moss fuels
- litter
- overstory
- rate of spread
- shrubs
- snags
- surface fuels
- understory vegetation
- vegetation surveys
- woody fuels
This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers 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 Tall Timbers.