The International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME) in Canada's Northwest Territories: Advancing the Science of Fire Behaviour / L'Expérience internationale de modélisation des feux de cimes (EIMFC) dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest du Canada : Vers de plus vastes connaissances du comportement des feux

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fire Modelling ◽  
Modelling Experiment

Crown fire behaviour in a northern jack pine – black spruce forest

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1548-1560 ◽  
Author(s):  
B J Stocks ◽  
M E Alexander ◽  
B M Wotton ◽  
C N Stefner ◽  
M D Flannigan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Spruce ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fire Modelling ◽  
Crown Fires ◽  
Floor Layer ◽  
Prediction Systems ◽  
High Degree

This paper reports on the behaviour of 10 experimental crown fires conducted between 1997 and 2000 during the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME) in Canada's Northwest Territories. The primary goal of ICFME was a replicated series of high-intensity crown fires designed to validate and improve existing theoretical and empirical models of crown fire behaviour. Fire behaviour characteristics were typical for fully developed boreal forest crown fires, with fires advancing at 15–70 m/min, consuming significant quantities of fuel (2.8–5.5 kg/m2) and releasing vast amounts of thermal heat energy. The resulting flame fronts commonly extended 25–40 m above the ground with head fire intensities up to 90 000 kW/m. Depth of burn ranged from 1.4–3.6 cm, representing a 25%–65% reduction in the thickness of the forest floor layer. Most of the smaller diameter (<3.0 cm) woody surface fuels were consumed, along with a significant proportion of the larger downed woody material. A high degree of fuel consumption occurred in the understory and overstory canopy with very little material less than 1.0 cm in diameter remaining. The documentation of fire behaviour, fire danger, and fire weather conditions carried out during ICFME permitted the evaluation of several empirically based North American fire behaviour prediction systems and models.

Overview of the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME)

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1543-1547 ◽  
Author(s):  
B J Stocks ◽  
M E Alexander ◽  
R A Lanoville
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Western World ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Forest Research ◽  
Fire Propagation ◽  
Fire Modelling ◽  
Crown Fires ◽  
The Us ◽  
Modelling Experiment

The International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment (ICFME), carried out between 1995 and 2001 in Canada's Northwest Territories, involved 18 experimental high-intensity crown fires, with more than 100 participants representing 30 organizations from 14 countries. ICFME has provided valuable new data and insights into the nature and characteristics of crowning forest fires, which will assist in addressing fire management problems and opportunities affecting both people and ecosystems in future decades. ICFME evolved as the result of a number of converging issues: the recognition that the US and Canada could not continue separate approaches to fire behaviour model development, the opening of Russia to the western world, increased communication, and the formation of international associations to facilitate collaboration. While the initial impetus for ICFME was the desire to improve the physical modeling of crown fire propagation and spread, the project also created the opportunity to examine many other aspects and impacts of crown fires. This special issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research devoted to ICFME is intended to summarize most of the major research results from the project.

Fire modelling in Tasmanian buttongrass moorlands. III. Dead fuel moisture

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon B. Marsden-Smedley ◽  
Wendy R. Catchpole
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Model ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fire Modelling

An experimental program was carried out in Tasmanian buttongrass moorlands to develop fire behaviour prediction models for improving fire management. This paper describes the results of the fuel moisture modelling section of this project. A range of previously developed fuel moisture prediction models are examined and three empirical dead fuel moisture prediction models are developed. McArthur’s grassland fuel moisture model gave equally good predictions as a linear regression model using humidity and dew-point temperature. The regression model was preferred as a prediction model as it is inherently more robust. A prediction model based on hazard sticks was found to have strong seasonal effects which need further investigation before hazard sticks can be used operationally.

Modelling the rate of fire spread and uncertainty associated with the onset and propagation of crown fires in conifer forest stands

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel G. Cruz ◽  
Martin E. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Conifer Forest ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Crown Fires ◽  
Deterministic Modelling ◽  
Eastern Australia

Crown fires are complex, unstable phenomena dependent on feedback mechanisms between the combustion products of distinct fuel layers. We describe non-linear fire behaviour associated with crowning and the uncertainty they cause in fire behaviour predictions by running a semiphysical modelling system within a simple Monte Carlo simulation framework. The method was able to capture the dynamics of passive and active crown fire spread regimes, providing estimates of average rate of spread and the extent of crown fire activity. System outputs were evaluated against data collected from a wildfire that occurred in a radiata pine plantation in south-eastern Australia. The Monte Carlo method reduced prediction errors relative to the more commonly used deterministic modelling approach, and allowed a more complete description of the level of crown fire behaviour to expect. The method also provides uncertainty measures and probabilistic outputs, extending the range of questions that can be answered by fire behaviour models.

Numerical study of a crown fire spreading toward a fuel break using a multiphase physical model

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Dupuy ◽  
Dominique Morvan
Keyword(s):  
Physical Model ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Vertical Plane ◽  
Solid Particles ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Canopy Layer ◽  
Mediterranean Pine ◽  
Fire Spreading

The propagation of a wildfire through a Mediterranean pine stand was simulated using a multiphase physical model of fire behaviour. The heterogeneous character of the vegetation was taken into account using families of solid particles, i.e. the solid phases (foliage, twigs, grass). The thermal decomposition of the solid fuel by drying and pyrolysis, and the combustion of chars were considered, as well as the radiative and convective heat transfer between the gas and the vegetation. In the gaseous phase, turbulence was modelled using a two transport equations model (RNG k–ϵ) and the rate of combustion, which was assumed to be controlled by the turbulent mixing of fuel and oxygen, was calculated using an eddy dissipation concept. The radiation transfer equation, which includes absorption and emission of both the gas–soot mixture and the vegetation, was solved to calculate the contribution of radiation to the energy balance equations. Numerical solutions were calculated in a two-dimensional domain (vertical plane). Results showed the ability of this approach to simulate the propagation of a crown fire and to test the efficiency of a fuel break with success. The effects of the terrain slope were also tested. Some effects on fire behaviour of vortices resulting from the interaction of the wind flow with the canopy layer are shown.

Simulated fire behaviour in young, postfire lodgepole pine forests

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kellen N. Nelson ◽  
Monica G. Turner ◽  
William H. Romme ◽  
Daniel B. Tinker
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Contorta ◽  
Stand Structure ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fire Initiation ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Simulated Fire

Early-seral forests are expanding throughout western North America as fire frequency and annual area burned increase, yet fire behaviour in young postfire forests is poorly understood. We simulated fire behaviour in 24-year-old lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) stands in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States using operational models parameterised with empirical fuel characteristics, 50–99% fuel moisture conditions, and 1–60kmhr−1 open winds to address two questions: [1] How does fireline intensity, and crown fire initiation and spread vary among young, lodgepole pine stands? [2] What are the contributions of fuels, moisture and wind on fire behaviour? Sensitivity analysis indicated the greatest contributors to output variance were stand structure mediated wind attenuation, shrub fuel loads and 1000-h fuel moisture for fireline intensity; crown base height for crown fire initiation; and crown bulk density and 1-h fuel moisture for crown fire spread. Simulation results predicted crown fire (e.g. passive, conditional or active types) in over 90% of stands at 50th percentile moisture conditions and wind speeds greater than 3kmhr−1. We conclude that dense canopy characteristics heighten crown fire potential in young, postfire lodgepole pine forests even under less than extreme wind and fuel moisture conditions.

scholarly journals Assessment of crown fire initiation and spread models in Mediterranean conifer forests by using data from field and laboratory experiments

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. e02S ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Rodríguez y Silva ◽  
Mercedes Guijarro ◽  
Javier Madrigal ◽  
Enrique Jiménez ◽  
Juan R. Molina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Spread ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Bench Scale ◽  
Fire Experiment ◽  
Fire Initiation ◽  
Scale Experiment

Aims of study: To conduct the first full-scale crown fire experiment carried out in a Mediterranean conifer stand in Spain; to use different data sources to assess crown fire initiation and spread models, and to evaluate the role of convection in crown fire initiation.Area of study: The Sierra Morena mountains (Coordinates ETRS89 30N: X: 284793-285038; Y: 4218650-4218766), southern Spain, and the outdoor facilities of the Lourizán Forest Research Centre, northwestern Spain.Material and methods: The full-scale crown fire experiment was conducted in a young Pinus pinea stand. Field data were compared with data predicted using the most used crown fire spread models. A small-scale experiment was developed with Pinus pinaster trees to evaluate the role of convection in crown fire initiation. Mass loss calorimeter tests were conducted with P. pinea needles to estimate residence time of the flame, which was used to validate the crown fire spread model.Main results: The commonly used crown fire models underestimated the crown fire spread rate observed in the full-scale experiment, but the proposed new integrated approach yielded better fits. Without wind-forced convection, tree crowns did not ignite until flames from an intense surface fire contacted tree foliage. Bench-scale tests based on radiation heat flux therefore offer a limited insight to full-scale phenomena.Research highlights: Existing crown fire behaviour models may underestimate the rate of spread of crown fires in many Mediterranean ecosystems. New bench-scale methods based on flame buoyancy and more crown field experiments allowing detailed measurements of fire behaviour are needed.

HISTORY OF A SMALL CROWN FIRE

1964 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Van Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Red Pine ◽  
Energy Output ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Pine Plantation ◽  
Rate Of Spread ◽  
Fast Spreading ◽  
History Of ◽  
Slow Moving ◽  
Extreme Fire

An 80-foot-square plot in a red pine plantation was burned at extreme fire danger as part of a study of fire behaviour and effect. When the wind reversed its direction, the original slow-moving back-fire changed within a few minutes to a fast-spreading crown fire. The transition from surface to crowns is described in terms of rate of spread, fuel weight consumed and energy output.

Modelling canopy fuel variables for Pinus radiata D. Don in NW Spain with low-density LiDAR data

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo González-Ferreiro ◽  
Ulises Diéguez-Aranda ◽  
Felipe Crecente-Campo ◽  
Laura Barreiro-Fernández ◽  
David Miranda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pinus Radiata ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Lidar Data ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fuel Characteristics ◽  
Fire Initiation ◽  
Behaviour Simulation ◽  
Simulation Systems

Crown fire initiation and spread are key elements in gauging fire behaviour potential in conifer forests. Crown fire initiation and spread models implemented in widely used fire behaviour simulation systems such as FARSITE and FlamMap require accurate spatially explicit estimation of canopy fuel complex characteristics. In the present study, we evaluated the potential use of very low-density airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data (0.5 first returns m–2) – which is freely available for most of the Spanish territory – to estimate canopy fuel characteristics in Pinus radiata D. Don stands in north-western Spain. Regression analysis indicated strong relationships (R2=0.82–0.98) between LiDAR-derived metrics and field-based fuel estimates for stand height, canopy fuel load, and average and effective canopy base height Average and effective canopy bulk density (R2=0.59–0.70) were estimated indirectly from a set of previously modelled forest variables. The LiDAR-based models developed can be used to elaborate geo-referenced raster files to describe fuel characteristics. These files can be generated periodically, whenever new freely available airborne LiDAR data are released by the Spanish National Plan of Aerial Orthophotography, and can be used as inputs in fire behaviour simulation systems.

Interdependencies between flame length and fireline intensity in predicting crown fire initiation and crown scorch height

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. Alexander ◽  
Miguel G. Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Stem Bark ◽  
Flame Length ◽  
Flame Height ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Surface Fire ◽  
Crown Scorch ◽  
Fire Initiation ◽  
Bark Char

This state-of-knowledge review examines some of the underlying assumptions and limitations associated with the inter-relationships among four widely used descriptors of surface fire behaviour and post-fire impacts in wildland fire science and management, namely Byram’s fireline intensity, flame length, stem-bark char height and crown scorch height. More specifically, the following topical areas are critically examined based on a comprehensive review of the pertinent literature: (i) estimating fireline intensity from flame length; (ii) substituting flame length for fireline intensity in Van Wagner’s crown fire initiation model; (iii) the validity of linkages between the Rothermel surface fire behaviour and Van Wagner’s crown scorch height models; (iv) estimating flame height from post-fire observations of stem-bark char height; and (v) estimating fireline intensity from post-fire observations of crown scorch height. There has been an overwhelming tendency within the wildland fire community to regard Byram’s flame length–fireline intensity and Van Wagner’s crown scorch height–fireline intensity models as universal in nature. However, research has subsequently shown that such linkages among fire behaviour and post-fire impact characteristics are in fact strongly influenced by fuelbed structure, thereby necessitating consideration of fuel complex specific-type models of such relationships.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document