Numerical Investigation of Aggregated Fuel Spatial Pattern Impacts on Fire Behavior

Russell A. Parsons, Rodman R. Linn, Francois Pimont, Chad Hoffman, Jeremy Sauer, Judith Winterkamp, Carolyn H. Sieg and W. Matt Jolly
Additional contact information
Russell A. Parsons: US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, 5775 W. Highway 10, Missoula, MT 59801, USA
Rodman R. Linn: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Mail Stop: T003, Los Alamos, NM 87554, USA
Francois Pimont: INRA, UR 629 Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes, Domaine Saint Paul, Site Agroparc, F-84914 Avignon CEDEX 9, France
Chad Hoffman: Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, 1472 Campus Delivery Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Jeremy Sauer: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Research Applications Laboratory, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
Judith Winterkamp: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Mail Stop: T003, Los Alamos, NM 87554, USA
Carolyn H. Sieg: US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Lab, 2500 South Pine Knoll Drive Flagstaff, AZ 86004, USA
W. Matt Jolly: US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, 5775 W. Highway 10, Missoula, MT 59801, USA

Land, 2017, vol. 6, issue 2, 1-22

Abstract: Landscape heterogeneity shapes species distributions, interactions, and fluctuations. Historically, in dry forest ecosystems, low canopy cover and heterogeneous fuel patterns often moderated disturbances like fire. Over the last century, however, increases in canopy cover and more homogeneous patterns have contributed to altered fire regimes with higher fire severity. Fire management strategies emphasize increasing within-stand heterogeneity with aggregated fuel patterns to alter potential fire behavior. Yet, little is known about how such patterns may affect fire behavior, or how sensitive fire behavior changes from fuel patterns are to winds and canopy cover. Here, we used a physics-based fire behavior model, FIRETEC, to explore the impacts of spatially aggregated fuel patterns on the mean and variability of stand-level fire behavior, and to test sensitivity of these effects to wind and canopy cover. Qualitative and quantitative approaches suggest that spatial fuel patterns can significantly affect fire behavior. Based on our results we propose three hypotheses: (1) aggregated spatial fuel patterns primarily affect fire behavior by increasing variability; (2) this variability should increase with spatial scale of aggregation; and (3) fire behavior sensitivity to spatial pattern effects should be more pronounced under moderate wind and fuel conditions.

Keywords: fuel; spatial heterogeneity; canopy cover; fire behavior; variability; FIRETEC (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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