Forest fire behaviour in prescribed burns under different environmental conditions in México

2006 ◽  
Vol 234 ◽  
pp. S131 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Germán Flores Garnica ◽  
David A. Moreno González ◽  
Juan de Dios Benavides Solorio
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Prescribed Burns

scholarly journals MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF RUNNING CROWN FOREST FIRES

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Barovik ◽  
Valery Taranchuk
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Computer Modelling ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fire Propagation ◽  
Finite Difference Approximations ◽  
Difference Approximations ◽  
Simplifying Assumptions ◽  
Crown Forest

Adapted mathematical model for simulation of running crown forest fire propagation is considered. Simplifying assumptions, equations of the model, initial and boundary conditions, finite difference approximations are introduced. The results of computer modelling and the peculiarities of forest fire behaviour in heterogeneous forests are discussed.

Forest fire's influence on yellow hedysarum habitat and its use by grizzly bears in Banff National Park, Alberta

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 1513-1520 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hamer
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Fibre Content ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Banff National Park ◽  
Root Quality

Hedysarum (Hedysarum spp.) roots are a primary food of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. I studied the effects of recent forest fire on yellow hedysarum (H. sulphurescens) habitat by comparing root density, mass, fibre content, ease of digging, and use by grizzly bears in and adjacent to two prescribed burns that were conducted in Banff National Park, Alberta, in 1986 (Cascade Valley) and 1990 (Panther Valley). Digging was 12-14% easier in burned than in forested habitat. In the Cascade burn, yellow hedysarum roots were significantly more abundant and heavier than in the adjacent forest. This burn was intensively dug by grizzly bears between 1995 and 1997, but no diggings were found in the adjacent forest. In the Panther burn, no significant differences in root quality or mass were found. Bears dug few roots in the burn and did not dig in the adjacent forest. Their use of these two burns demonstrates prescribed fire's potential to create important yellow hedysarum digging habitat for grizzly bears in Banff National Park.

Flame residence times and rates of weight loss of eucalypt forest fuel particles

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 137 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. D. Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Weight Loss ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Size Composition ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Residence Times ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Eucalypt Forest ◽  
Round Wood ◽  
Fine Fuels ◽  
Fuel Particles

Shape, size, composition and arrangement of fuel particles within a fuel array significantly affect the way in which wildland fires behave. Australian eucalypt forest fire behaviour models characterise fine fuels according to the quantity burnt in the flaming zone, and the upper size limit for fine fuel particles is somewhat arbitrarily set at 6 mm for the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Meter and 10 mm for the Forest Fire Behaviour Tables for Western Australia. Flame residence time and rate of weight loss during combustion of dry eucalypt leaves and different dimensions of round wood were measured to provide a scientific basis for standardising litter fuel sampling in dry eucalypt forests. Eucalypt leaves burnt at a rate equivalent to a piece of 4 mm diameter round wood, with smaller diameter round wood being the most flammable component of the fuel array. Based on flame residence times of individual fuel particles measured in the laboratory, and eucalypt surface fuel arrays observed in the field, fine litter fuel sampling should be standardised to leaves and round wood less than 6 mm in diameter. This study also enables the determination of the contribution of larger fuel particles to flaming zone combustion and intensity.

Behaviour and effects of prescribed fire in masticated fuelbeds

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric E. Knapp ◽  
J. Morgan Varner ◽  
Matt D. Busse ◽  
Carl N. Skinner ◽  
Carol J. Shestak
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Ponderosa ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Flame Length ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Fuel Models

Mechanical mastication converts shrub and small tree fuels into surface fuels, and this method is being widely used as a treatment to reduce fire hazard. The compactness of these fuelbeds is thought to moderate fire behaviour, but whether standard fuel models can accurately predict fire behaviour and effects is poorly understood. Prescribed burns were conducted in young ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Laws.) forests at two sites in northern California where the midstorey layer dominated by shrubs had been masticated. Surface fuels were raked from the base of a subset of trees before burning. Rate of spread and flame length were estimated for both backing and heading fires, soil heating measured with thermocouples and tree fire injury recorded. Standard fuel models often over-predicted rate of spread or under-predicted flame length. Custom models generally provided a better balance between the slow rates of spread and moderate flame lengths observed in prescribed burns. Post-fire tree mortality was most strongly associated with crown scorch and tree size; raking fuels from the base of trees did not improve survival. Under severe fire weather conditions, fire behaviour and effect models as well as observations from wildfires suggest that mastication may be more effective for moderating fire behaviour than reducing residual tree mortality. Treating masticated fuels with prescribed burns could potentially improve the resilience of stands to wildfire.

scholarly journals Defining fire spread event days for fire-growth modelling

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Podur ◽  
B. Mike Wotton
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Fire Growth ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Intensity Spread

Forest fire managers have long understood that most of a fire’s growth typically occurs on a small number of days when burning conditions are conducive for spread. Fires either grow very slowly at low intensity or burn considerable area in a ‘run’. A simple classification of days into ‘spread events’ and ‘non-spread events’ can greatly improve estimates of area burned. Studies with fire-growth models suggest that the Canadian Forest Fire Behaviour Prediction System (FBP System) seems to predict growth well during high-intensity ‘spread events’ but tends to overpredict rate of spread for non-spread events. In this study, we provide an objective weather-based definition of ‘spread events’, making it possible to assess the probability of having a spread event on any particular day. We demonstrate the benefit of incorporating this ‘spread event’ day concept into a fire-growth model based on the Canadian FBP System.

Reformulation of Rothermel’s wildland fire behaviour model for heterogeneous fuelbedsThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Forum on the Fuel Characteristic Classification System.

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 2438-2455 ◽  
Author(s):  
David V. Sandberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Riccardi ◽  
Mark D. Schaaf
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Spread Model ◽  
Fuel Characteristic ◽  
Fire Spread Model

The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) includes equations that calculate energy release and one-dimensional spread rate in quasi-steady state fires in heterogeneous but spatially-uniform wildland fuelbeds, using a reformulation of the widely used Rothermel fire spread model. This reformulation provides an automated means to predict fire behavior under any environmental conditions in any natural, modified, or simulated wildland fuelbed. The formulation may be used to compare potential fire behavior between fuelbeds that differ in time, space, or as a result of management, and provides a means to classify and map fuelbeds based on their expected surface fire behavior under any set of defined environmental conditions (i.e., effective wind speed and fuel moisture content). Model reformulation preserves the basic mathematical framework of the Rothermel fire spread model, reinterprets data from two of the original basic equations in his model, and offers a new conceptual formulation that allows the direct use of inventoried fuel properties instead of stylized fuel models. Alternative methods for calculating the effect of wind speed and fuel moisture, based on more recent literature, are also provided. This reformulation provides a framework for the incremental improvement in quantifying fire behaviour parameters in complex fuelbeds and for modeling fire spread.

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