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Type: Conference Proceedings
Author(s): Bulent Saglam; Ertugrul Bilgili; Omer Kucuk; Bahar Dinc Durmaz; Ismail Baysal
Editor(s): Bret W. Butler; Wayne A. Cook
Publication Date: 2007

The prediction of fire behavior is of vital importance to all fire management planning and decisionmaking processes including fire prevention, presuppression planning, and fire use. The effect of slope on fire behavior is well acknowledged, yet its effect on fire behavior is not well accounted for. Determining the effects of slope on fire behavior under field conditions can prove invaluable and will allow for the testing of earlier studies conducted under laboratory conditions and help increase the accuracy of fire behavior prediction models. The present study was carried out in Kesan Forest Enterprise in the province of Edirne, Turkey (40 degrees 35’ N and 26 degrees 31’ E). Although the site was selected for its structural homogeneity, there was an apparent variation in the fuel loadings in different plots. Surface fine fuel (0 to 0.5 cm) loading ranged from 1.07 to 2.10 kg m^-2, coarse fuel (0.6 to 2.5 cm) loading from 0.97 to 1.75 kg m^-2, and total fuel loading from 1.52 to 5.67 kg m^-2. Within the plots burned in this study slope ranged form 1 to 15 percent. Weather conditions during the burns were within the narrow range without wind speed. Air temperature ranged from 25.6 to 33.5 degrees C, relative humidity from 37 to 62 percent, and wind speed from 5.3 to 17 m min^-1. Rate of spread ranged from 0.58 to 8.43 m min^-1, fuel consumption from 1.02 to 2.30 kg m^-2, and fire intensity from 134 to 2847.6 kW m^-1. Of the fire behavior characteristics, rate of spread was related to wind speed, slope and moisture contents of live fuels, and fuel consumption was related to fuel loading and moisture contents of live fuels, whereas fire intensity was related to wind speed, slope and moisture contents of live fuels. Results obtained in this study should be invaluable in overall fire management practices, especially in the Mediterranean Region.

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Citation: Saglam, Bulent; Bilgili, Ertugrul; Kucuk, Omer; Durmaz, Bahar Dinc; Baysal, Ismail. 2007. Preliminary results of fire behavior in maquis fuels under varying weather and slope conditions in Turkey. Pages 249-254 In: Butler, Bret W.; Cook, Wayne (comps.). The fire environment-innovations, management, and policy; conference proceedings. 26-30 March 2007; Destin, FL. Proceedings RMRS-P-46CD. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

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Topics:
Regions:
Keywords:
  • fire management
  • Kesan Forest Enterprise
  • slope
  • Turkey
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 7501