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Citation:
Abrahamson, Ilana; Smith, Jane Kapler; and Berkowitz, Caitlyn. 2018. FireWorks curricula featuring ‘generic’ activities that can be used anywhere that wildland fires burn. Missoula, MT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).

This version of FireWorks consists of activities that can be used anywhere that wildland fires burn. Activities in the table below that have blue hyperlinks do not reference specific regions or ecology and can be used anywhere (i.e., ‘generic activities’). Activities that have black font (no hyperlinks) reference specific regions and ecology and may require modification to fit your local ecology.

To modify the FireWorks program for specific regions, we recommend using the generic activities and modifying the non-generic activities from the Northern Rocky Mountain and North Cascades curricula (listed in the table below) or similar activities from the Sierra Nevada curricula. Some of the non-generic activities contain only brief references to local ecology (e.g., M05 and M06) and require minimal modification; whereas, other activities are heavily based on local ecology and require substantial modification (e.g., E08-2, E10, M14, H15).

If you are adapting the curricula to fit your region, one of the first steps is to decide which plants, animals, and fungi to include and to create a FireWorks Encyclopedia similar to the version for the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades or the Sierra Nevada. Another important step is to figure out how to teach about fire history. It is best to locate a published study for which you can obtain original data and photograph original specimens (increment cores, fire-scarred cross sections, or other materials).

If you would like advice about adapting individual activities or the entire curricula, or if you would like to obtain original files so you can edit them, please feel free to contact us!

For more information about these curricula and educational standards, please see the Introduction (from the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades). To access individual activities, select the links in the table below.


This table summarizes the content for each activity at each level. Read across the table to find similar activities for students at other levels.

Unit & Theme ELEMENTARY MIDDLE HIGH
Unit I. Introduction to Wildland Fire E01. Visiting Wildland Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades M01. Visiting Wildland Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades H01. Introduction to Wildland Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and North Cascades
Unit II. Physical Science of Wildland Fire E02. Making Fires Burn or Go Out 1: Introduction to the Fire Triangle M02. Where Does Heat Go? The Heat Plume from a Fire H02. The Fire Triangle: Fuel, Heat, and Oxygen
E03. Making Fires Burn or Go Out 2: Demonstrating the Fire Triangle and Heat Plume M03. What Makes Fires Burn? The Fire Triangle 1—Heat and Fuel H03. The Fire Triangle, Combustion, and the Carbon Cycle
  M04. What Makes Fires Burn? The Fire Triangle 2—Oxygen H04. Heat Transfer
Unit III. The Wildland Fire Environment     H05. Fuel Properties
    H06. Pyrolysis
    H07. Fire Spread Processes: Putting it all together: Heat transfer, fuel properties, and pyrolysis
E04. How Wildland Fires Spread 1: Experiment with a Matchstick Forest M05. How Do Wildland Fires Spread? The Matchstick Forest Model H08A. Fire Environment Triangle and Fire Spread: The Matchstick Model
    H08B. Fire Environment Triangle and Fire Spread: The Landscape Matchstick Model
  M06. Ladder Fuels and Fire Spread: The Tinker Tree Derby H09. Ladder Fuels and Fire Spread
E05. Fuel Properties: The Campfire Challenge M07. Fuel Properties: The Campfire Challenge See H05.
E06. Effect of Wind: How Wildland Fires Spread M08. Fire Behavior, Fire Weather, and Climate H10. Fire Behavior, Fire Weather, and Climate
Unit IV. Fire Effects on the Environment E07. Smoke from Wildland Fire: Just Hanging Around? M09. Smoke from Wildland Fire: Just Hanging Around? H11. Smoke from Wildland Fire: Just Hanging Around?
  M10. Fire, Soil, and Water Interactions H12. Fire, Soil, and Water Interactions
Unit V. Fire’s Relationship with Organisms and Communities E08-1. What’s a Community? All the Living Things in the Ecosystem M11. Who Lives Here? Adopting a Plant, Animal, or Fungus H14. Researching a Plant, Animal, or Fungus
E08-2. Who Lives Here? Adopting a Plant, Animal, or Fungus    
E09. Tree Parts and Fire: The Class Models a Living Tree M12. Tree Parts and Fire: “Working Trees” Jeopardy-style Game  
E10. Tree Identification: Using a Key to Identify “Mystery Trees” M13. Tree Identification: Figure out the “Mystery Trees” H13. Tree Identification: Create a Dichotomous Key
E11. Recipe for a Lodgepole Pine Forest: Serotinous Cones E11. Is appropriate for middle school  
  M14. Who Lives Here and Why? Modeling Forest Communities H15. Forest Communities and Climate Change
  M15. Bark and Soil: Nature’s Insulators  
E12. Buried Treasure: Underground Parts that Help Plants Survive Fire M16. Buried Treasures: Identifying Plants by their Underground Parts  
Unit VI. Fire History and Succession E13-1. My Tree Autobiography: Seeing History through Trees’ Annual Rings    
  M17-H16. Dating Fires Using Dendrochronology M17-H16. Dating Fires Using Dendrochronology
  M18-H17. History of Stand-replacing Fire M18-H17. History of Stand-replacing Fire
E13-2. Tree Biography, Forest Biography M19-H18. History of Low-severity Fire M19-H18. History of Low-severity Fire
  M20. Fire History in Ponderosa, Lodgepole, and Whitebark Pine Forest Communities H19. History of Mixed-severity Fire
E14. Story Time: Fire and Succession M21. Drama in the Forest: Fire and Succession, a Class Production H20. Why Do Historical Fire Regimes Matter?
  M22. Fire Ecology Puzzler  
Unit VII. People in Fire's Homeland E15. Carrying Fire the Pikunni Way M23. Carrying Fire the Pikunni Way H21. Carrying Fire the Pikunni Way
E16. Homes in the Forest: An Introduction to Firewise Practices M24. Homes in the Forest: An Introduction to Firewise Practices  
E17. Revisiting Wildland Fire M25. Revisiting Wildland Fire H22. Northern Rocky Mountain and Northern Cascades Forests Today