Fire Behavior
Fuel, Fire and Smoke: Evolving to Meet Our Climate Challenge
Wildfires present an increasing challenge to humanity and the ecosystems and atmosphere we depend on. The ability of societies to respond to larger and more destructive wildfire events and mitigate against further climate impacts is also increasingly challenged. As our climate changes, and the effects are experienced in unique ways across diverse settings and societies, understanding fire behavior and human responses to this is even more critical.
The 7th International Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference offers a forum where past Fire Management experience and lessons learned are documented, current work showcased, and emerging research, innovation and techniques on fire management shared, towards developing integrated solutions to these challenges.
This conference on three continents provides an opportunity to showcase how different countries can implement newly developed fire management policies and frameworks at national, regional and local levels to address fire risks and build resilience. The Conference will unite policy makers, scientists, fire managers and Indigenous land stewards for a shared purpose and a different future living with fire.
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While prescribed fire and mechanical treatments in shrublands experiencing tree expansion restored understory vegetation and prevented continued juniper and pinyon infilling and growth, these fuel treatments also increased modeled surface fire behavior. Thus, management tradeoffs occur between desired future vegetation and wildfire risk after fuel treatments.
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The story of how fire managers slowed a fire and benefited the ecosystem. This was accomplished thanks to previous fires that were managed for resource benefit. This is the story of the 2021 Rafael Fire that started just 20 miles outside of Flagstaff, AZ. On day 2 the fire ran 12 miles towards town, causing evacuations and worry. Things changed on day 3, watch the video to learn more. This video contains beautiful drone footage of unhealthy forests and the benefits of fire. Thanks to a shift in fire management, a bad situation was transformed into a beneficial one.
Webinar registration.
This webinar will provide an overview of the major changes in CO-WRA, including modification of Scott and Burgan (2005) standard fire behavior fuel models to better reflect fuel types in Colorado, incorporating LiDAR to produce higher spatial resolution data products, and advanced wildland-urban interface risk analysis. Presenters will explain how these datasets and information can be used to: (1) increase public awareness about wildfire risk; (2) support wildfire risk reduction efforts, decision-making, and research from state to local scales; (3) identify high priority areas; (4) assist in the development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) and other hazard mitigation plans; and (5) complement forest stewardship and forest management plans.
Webinar recording.
Fires of Unusual Size (FOUS) are large fires that exhibit at least one rapid growth event, and keep growing after that. While “megafire” is widely used and has no specific definition, FOUS are defined by specific characteristics. We can count how many happen each year, and we can ask scientific questions about how they differ from other fires. What makes them so big? What triggered the big growth event(s)? Are they increasing each year? Brian Potter, Research Meteorologist with the Pacific Northwest Research Station, will talk about the trends, look at how weather influences their growth, and give some examples of unanswered questions about them.
Webinar recording.
In an effort to address key capability gaps, the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) has established a Wildland Fire Program focused on impactful service delivery. NESDIS Wildland Fire Program projects, aimed at addressing critical active fire capability gaps, are underway, with product and service demonstrations expected to begin by July 2023. The improved products are generated using the Next Generation Fire System (NGFS), which consists of a sensor agnostic (applicable to geostationary or low earth orbit satellites) active fire algorithm and higher order capabilities, including alerting, incident situational awareness tools that are highly tolerant of cloud cover, and an event-based data model that combines time-resolved satellite fire detections with complementary geospatial data layers. Terrain corrected GOES-R ABI imagery and fire detections have also been developed. In addition, a lightning prediction model, customized for incident management, is under development. With Alaska wildland fire applications in mind, this presentation will introduce the NESDIS Wildland Fire Program, highlight product development and demonstration activities, and facilitate continued dialogue with stakeholders.
Webinar recording.
This webinar will provide an overview of the major changes in CO-WRA, including modification of Scott and Burgan (2005) standard fire behavior fuel models to better reflect fuel types in Colorado, incorporating LiDAR to produce higher spatial resolution data products, and advanced wildland-urban interface risk analysis. Presenters will explain how these datasets and information can be used to: (1) increase public awareness about wildfire risk; (2) support wildfire risk reduction efforts, decision-making, and research from state to local scales; (3) identify high priority areas; (4) assist in the development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) and other hazard mitigation plans; and (5) complement forest stewardship and forest management plans.
After a brief review, presenters will explore discussions and questions from participants to address technical issues.
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This paper provides a synthesis of the key laboratory- and field-based observational studies focused on wildland fire and atmospheric turbulence connections that have been conducted from the early 1900s through 2021. Included in the synthesis are reports of anecdotal turbulence observations, direct measurements of ambient and fire-induced turbulent flow in laboratory and wildland environments, and remote sensing measurements of fire-induced turbulent plume dynamics. Although considerable progress has been made in advancing our understanding of the connections between atmospheric turbulence and wildland fire behavior and smoke dispersion, gaps in that understanding still exist and are discussed to conclude the synthesis.
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Vegetation and substrate burn severity was characterized as moderate across the study site and did not differ among treatments. Contrasting with higher pre-fire shrub density in the mastication + burning treatment, 2-year post-fire live shrub density did not differ among treatments. Higher pre-fire fine woody fuel loading in the mastication treatment did not correspond to post-fire fuel loading among treatments, while the hand thinned treatment was the only treatment where fine fuel loading was not significantly reduced post-fire. Total plant species richness increased in all treatment types following wildfire, largely driven by an increase in exotic species. Native cover decreased, and exotic cover increased in oak and chaparral types, but greater exotic species cover in the mastication + burning treatment in chaparral was maintained following wildfire.