Notes: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology & Management In this - PDF document

NR406 Notes: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology & Management In this lesson we will cover the concepts of fire risk and Lesson 4 hazard, different types of risk and hazard and how we can use Fire Risk, Hazard, and Risk Models GIS and fire behavior models as tools to model risk and hazard. A model is a simplification of the real world. Models are used for better understanding of a system and for prediction. Models can be based on past experiences, research, laws of nature, and expert opinion. Stockwell Fire, 1996 photo from www.wildlandfire.com NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: 5 Mile fire in northw estern W I SCONSI N 5 Mile fire in northw estern W I SCONSI N Reasonably reliable models in the form of computer software Look at flam e height relative to tree height Look at flam e height relative to tree height exist for modeling surface fires such as Behave, Behave Plus, Farsite, FlamMap, Fofem, Firesum, etc. The fire in the picture above is however not amenable to being modeled – at least not yet. Software for fire modeling is available at no cost via the internet: Public domain software for fire - http://www.fire.org/ Fire Research and Management Exchange System (FRAMES)- http://frames.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt Photo from www.wildlandfire.com NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: National W ildland Fire Potential Outlook National W ildland Fire Potential Outlook By September 11 2006, 81,522 fires in the US had burned a total of 8,694,482 acres according to the National Year-to- Data report from NIFC (http://www.nifc.gov/stats/ytd_st.htm). This map is a simple model of fire potential in the USA for a certain time period. What inputs do you think went into creating this map (model)? http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/predictive/outlooks/OutlookMap.pdf NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Fire Behavior Triangle Fire Behavior Triangle Surely you are all familiar with the fire behavior triangle. • Weather Predictive fire behavior models are centered around fuel, topography, and weather. • Topography • Fuel Fire Fire

NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Fuel – the stuff that burns Fuel – the stuff that burns In a forest, fuel is usually the vegetation and the organic • Fuel load material on the forest floor. Dry weight of combustible material per Fuel load tells us how much fuel there is – can’t have a fire unit area without fuel Sometimes categorized according to type – fine woody debris, litter, understory, etc. NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Fuel Moisture Fuel Moisture Fuel moisture and particle size are important properties of Concepts fuels. • Wet things don’t burn • Small things dry more quickly than big things • Fire start with small fuels • Fire spread is the fire starting over and over again Dead fuels • 1 hour – less than ¼ ” diam eter • 10 hour – ¼ ” to 1” diam eter • 100 hour – 1” to 3” diameter • 1000 hour – 3” to 8” diameter NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Fuel Model Fuel Model You are probably familiar with the concept of categorizing • A way to put fuel into categories according to fuels in ‘Fuel Models’. how it burns Fuels are categorized into fuel models according to how they • There are several fuel model systems in use burn. There are several fuel model systems in use for wildland for wildland fire fire. The Anderson (1982) categorization of fuel model is the • Fire behavior software uses the Fire Behavior most widely used system. Fire behavior models use fuel Prediction System models models to predict fire behavior. • Most models of wildland fire fuels initially Anderson, Hal E. 1982. Aids to determining fuel models for classify fuels as grass, shrub, timber, or slash estimating fire behavior. USDA For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-122, 22p. lntermt. For. and Range Exp. Stn., Ogden, Utah 84401 Available at: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_int/int_gtr122.html NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Fuel Model Fuel Model These are fuel properties that affect how fuels burn Considerations: We already discussed Fuel load and moisture. • Fuel load • Fuel moisture • Ratio of surface area to volume • Depth of the fuel bed • Horizontal/ vertical orientation

NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Fuel m odels (Anderson, 1982) Fuel m odels (Anderson, 1982) A few fuel models are listed here. If you are not familiar with the concept of the Anderson fuel models, please take some FM 1 – Short Grass time to read: FM 2 – Open Timber Grass Understory Anderson, Hal E. 1982. Aids to determining fuel models for FM 5 – Short Brush estimating fire behavior. USDA For. Serv. Gen. Tech. Rep. FM 8 – Closed Short Needle Conifer FM 9 – Closed Long Needle Conifer INT-122, 22p. lntermt. For. and Range Exp. Stn., Ogden, Utah FM 10 – Closed Timber Heavy DWD 84401 Available at: FM 11 – Light Logging Slash http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_int/int_gtr122.html NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: BEHAVE Outputs: Fireline I ntensity BEHAVE Outputs: Fireline I ntensity This graph is an output from the fire behavior model BEHAVE. Fireline Intensity for Fuel models at 5 mph wind The model was run at a constant wind (5 miles per hour) for 4000 FuelM 1 the fuel models described on the last slide. Notice the high FuelM 2 3500 Fireline Intensity (kW/ FuelM 5 fireline intensity for Fuel model 2 (open timber grass FuelM 8 3000 FuelM 9 understory) and 5 (short brush) and the low fireline intensity FuelM 10 2500 FuelM 11 for fuel model 8 (closed short needle conifer forest). 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Slope (degrees) NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: BEHAVE outputs: Flam e length BEHAVE outputs: Flam e length Similar to the last slide but here you have flame length on the Flame length for Fuel models at 5 mph winds FuelM 1 y-axis rather than fireline intensity. FuelM 2 4.0 FuelM 5 FuelM 8 3.5 FuelM 9 Flame length (meters FuelM 10 3.0 FuelM 11 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 10 20 30 40 Slope (degrees) NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: BEHAVE outputs: Rate of spread BEHAVE outputs: Rate of spread Here is the rate of spread for different fuel models at varying FuelM 1 Rate of Spread for Fuelmodels FuelM 2 at 5 mph wind slope. Notice the high rate of spread for FM 1 (short grass). FuelM 5 100.0 FuelM 8 Rate of spread (meters / minute) 90.0 FuelM 9 80.0 FuelM 10 70.0 FuelM 11 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 0 10 20 30 40 Slope (degrees)