Fire behavior in immature jack pine

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Stocks
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Jack Pine ◽  
Quantitative Prediction ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Forest Fire Management

A series of experimental fires, each 0.4 ha in size, was conducted between 1975 and 1981 in an unthinned stand of immature jack pine (1948 origin) in central Ontario to gather quantitative fire behavior data for forest fire management purposes. Twelve fires were conducted over a broad range of burning conditions. Fire behavior and impact characteristics (i.e., rate of spread, fuel consumption, and frontal fire intensity) were found to be strongly correlated with fire weather severity as expressed through various component codes and indices of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System. This type of experimental fire information, along with wildfire data, is being used in the development of guidelines for quantitative prediction of fire behavior in major Canadian forest fuel types.

Fire behavior in mature jack pine

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 783-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Stocks
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Jack Pine ◽  
Quantitative Prediction ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Forest Fire Management

Between 1973 and 1983 a series of 12 experimental fires, each 0.4 ha in size, was conducted in a mature jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) stand (1899 origin) in north central Ontario. The fires were carried out under a broad range of burning conditions to gather quantitative fire behavior data for forest fire management purposes. Fire weather severity, as expressed through the component codes and indices of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System, was strongly correlated with fire behavior and impact characteristics (i.e., rate of spread, depth of burn, fuel consumption, and frontal fire intensity). Guidelines for the quantitative prediction of the fire behavior in major Canadian forest fuel types are currently being developed, primarily on the basis of this type of experimental fire data combined with information gathered on selected wildfires.

scholarly journals Updated Operational Implementation of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System in Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Padraig Flattery ◽  
Klara Finkele ◽  
Paul Downes ◽  
Ferdia O'Leary ◽  
Ciaran Nugent
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Index System ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Energy Output ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Reference Period ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index

<p>Since 2006 the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System (FWI) has been used operationally at Met Éireann to predict the risk of forest fires in Ireland (Walsh, S, 2006). Although only around 11% or ca 770,000 ha of the total land area of Ireland is afforested, there are also large areas of open mountain and peatlands that are covered in grasses, dwarfshrub and larger woody shrub type vegetation which can provide ready fuel for spring wildfires, when suitable conditions arise. Following winter, much of this vegetation is either dead or has a very low live moisture content, and the flammability of this vegetation can be readily influenced by prevailing weather, most especially following prolonged dry periods. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine is the Forest Protection authority in Ireland and issues Fire Danger Notices as part of this work. These notices permit improved preparedness for fire responses and are based on information provided by Met Éireann on the current status of FWI and FWI components using observation data at synoptic stations and the predicted FWI for the next five days ahead based on numerical weather prediction input data.</p><p>The FWI is based on</p><ul><li>three different types of forest fuel, ie how quickly these dry out/get rewetted. These are the Fine Fuels Moisture Code (FFMC), the Duff Moisture Code (DMC) and the Drought Code (DC).</li> <li>components based on fire behaviour: the Initial Spread Index (ISI), the Build-up Index (BUI), and the Fire Weather Index (FWI) which represents fire intensity as energy output rate per unit length of fire front. It is then used to determine the Daily Severity Rating (DSR) of the fire danger. </li> </ul><p>Of these components, the FFMC and ISI components have been found to provide the most accurate indication of risk under Irish conditions, based on the fuels involved and ignition patterns observed to date.</p><p>The DSR was based on a climatology of 1971 to 2005 at the time of operational implantation of the FWI at Met Éireann. An updated climatology based on the new reference period of 1990 to 2020 will be shown as well as the change of the 98 percentiles of extreme rating using this new reference period.  </p><p><strong>Walsh, S.</strong> “Implementation in Ireland of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System.” In <em>Making Science Work on the Farm. A Workshop on Decision Support Systems for Irish Agriculture</em>, 120–126. Dublin: AGMET, 2007. </p>

An index for tracking sheltered forest floor moisture within the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Wotton ◽  
B. J. Stocks ◽  
D. L. Martell
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Content ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Floor ◽  
Jack Pine ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Moisture Index ◽  
Northern Ontario ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Overstory Trees

The Duff Moisture Code (DMC) component of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System is used by fire management agencies across Canada as an indicator of the susceptibility of the forest floor to lightning fire ignition. However, this model was developed for the moisture content of the forest floor away from the sheltering influences of overstory trees, an area where lightning strikes usually ignite the forest floor. Through destructive sampling of the forest floor in a mature jack pine stand in northern Ontario over several summers, the moisture content of the forest floor in sheltered areas close to the boles of dominant overstory trees was found to be significantly lower than in other less heavily sheltered areas of the stand. Observations from a network of in-stand rain gauges revealed that rainfall penetration through the canopy (throughfall) was correlated with both open rainfall amount and the duration of a storm. Observed throughfall amounts were used to develop a throughfall relationship for extremely sheltered locations (within ~0.5 m of the boles) in a mature jack pine stand. This throughfall model was used, along with differences in forest floor drying rate, to develop a new duff moisture index for strongly sheltered areas of the forest floor. Calculated values of this new moisture model, which has the same daily weather observation requirements as the FWI System’s DMC model, were found to match observed moisture contents quite well.

Fire Regime and the Abundance of Red Pine

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
MD Flannigan
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Rare Event ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Red Pine ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Forward Stepwise

Red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) is a fire-dependent species. This study examines the relationship between the fire regime and the abundance of red pine. The fire regime is represented by components of the Canadian Fire Weather Index System and outputs from the Canadian Fire Behavior Prediction System as well as the average area burned and the percentage of conifers of each forest section. Extreme as well as averages values were used in this analysis as a large forest fire is a rare event that can occur on only a few days of the year under extreme fire weather conditions. Results from a forward-stepwise regression explained about 70% of die variance in red pine volume (abundance) data. Variables selected in the regression analysis included extreme headfire intensity, area burned and average drought code. These results suggest that abundance of red pine and other fire affected tree species is directly related to the aspects of the fire regime such as fire intensity.

Fire behavior in aspen slash fuels as related to the Canadian Fire Weather Index

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1028-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Trembling Aspen ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Forest Fire Danger

The characteristics and short-term results of experimental prescribed fires in 2-year-old trembling aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.) logging slash in northern Minnesota have been described by D. A. Perala (1974. Can. J. For. Res. 4: 222–228). The associated burning conditions are expressed here in terms of the weather-dependent numerical fuel moisture codes and fire behavior indexes of the Canadian system of forest fire danger rating.

scholarly journals Temporal variations and change in forest fire danger in Europe for 1960–2012

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1477-1490 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Venäläinen ◽  
N. Korhonen ◽  
O. Hyvärinen ◽  
N. Koutsias ◽  
F. Xystrakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
National Level ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Current Season ◽  
Forest Fire Danger

Abstract. Understanding how fire weather danger indices changed in the past and how such changes affected forest fire activity is important in a changing climate. We used the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), calculated from two reanalysis data sets, ERA-40 and ERA Interim, to examine the temporal variation of forest fire danger in Europe in 1960–2012. Additionally, we used national forest fire statistics from Greece, Spain and Finland to examine the relationship between fire danger and fires. There is no obvious trend in fire danger for the time period covered by ERA-40 (1960–1999), whereas for the period 1980–2012 covered by ERA Interim, the mean FWI shows an increasing trend for southern and eastern Europe which is significant at the 99% confidence level. The cross correlations calculated at the national level in Greece, Spain and Finland between total area burned and mean FWI of the current season is of the order of 0.6, demonstrating the extent to which the current fire-season weather can explain forest fires. To summarize, fire risk is multifaceted, and while climate is a major determinant, other factors can contribute to it, either positively or negatively.

scholarly journals Comparison of Methods for the Assessment of Fire Danger in the Czech Republic

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1285-1295 ◽  
Author(s):  
František Jurečka ◽  
Martin Možný ◽  
Jan Balek ◽  
Zdeněk Žalud ◽  
Miroslav Trnka
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Event ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Fire Danger Indices

The performance of fire indices based on weather variables was analyzed with a special focus on the Czech Republic. Three fire weather danger indices that are the basis of fire danger rating systems used in different parts of the world were assessed: the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), Australian Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) and Finnish Forest Fire Index (FFI). The performance of the three fire danger indices was investigated at different scales and compared with actual fire events. First, the fire danger indices were analyzed for different land use types during the period 1956–2015. In addition, in the analysis, the three fire danger indices were compared with wildfire events during the period 2001–2015. The fire danger indices were also analyzed for the specific locality of the Bzenec area where a large forest fire event occurred in May 2012. The study also focused on the relationship between fire danger indices and forest fires during 2018 across the area of the Jihomoravský region. Comparison of the index values with real fires showed that the index values corresponded well with the occurrence of forest fires. The analysis of the year 2018 showed that the highest index values were reached on days with the greater fire occurrence. On days with 5 or 7 reported fires per day, the fire danger indices reached values between 3 and 4.

scholarly journals Mathematical modeling of the impact of forest fires on buildings and structures

2018 ◽  
Vol 209 ◽  
pp. 00021
Author(s):  
Valeriy Perminov ◽  
Victoria Marzaeva
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Physical Mechanisms ◽  
Important Concern ◽  
Fire Initiation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Fundamental Physical

The protection of buildings and structures in a community from destruction by forest fires is a very important concern. This paper addresses the development of a mathematical model for fires in the wildland-urban intermix. The forest fire is a very complicated phenomenon. At present, fire services can forecast the danger rating of, or the specific weather elements relating to, forest fire. There is need to understand and predict forest fire initiation, behavior and impact of fire on the buildings and constructions. This paper’s purposes are the improvement of knowledge on the fundamental physical mechanisms that control forest fire behavior. The mathematical modeling of forest fires actions on buildings and structures has been carried out to study the effects of fire intensity and wind speed on possibility of ignition of buildings.

The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System as a predictor of total soil moisture content as estimated by the Thornthwaite water balance

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1194-1195
Author(s):  
Robert S. McAlpine ◽  
Thomas G. Eiber
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Moisture Content ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Index System ◽  
Soil Moisture Content ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Total Soil

Weather data from Upsala and Atikokan, Ontario, were used to determine the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System values and to calculate the soil moisture for two soil types using the Thornthwaite water balance. The Duff Moisture Code and the Drought Code were found to give excellent correlations with the total soil moisture content under most weather patterns.

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