Keyword: wildland fire

Strategic application of wildland fire suppression in the southwestern United States

Much of the western United States is experiencing longer fire seasons with an increased frequency of high-severity fires and fire risk. Fire managers in the southwestern United States have increased efforts to reduce fire risk by managing more fires to meet resource objectives (e.g. thin forests, reduce hazardous fuel loads, and restore the landscape).

Forest soil disturbance: Implications of factors contributing to the wildland fire nexus

Wildfires and prescribed fires cause a range of impacts on forest soils depending on the interactions of a nexus of fire severity, scale of fire, slope, infiltration rates, and post-fire rainfall. These factors determine the degree of impact on forest soils and subsequently the need for post-fire soil management.

Identification of gas-phase pyrolysis products in a prescribed fire: first detections using infrared spectroscopy for naphthalene, methyl nitrite, allene, acrolein and acetaldehyde

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted from many sources, including wildland fire. VOCs have received heightened emphasis due to such gases’ influential role in the atmosphere, as well as possible health effects. We have used extractive infrared (IR) spectroscopy on recent prescribed burns in longleaf pine stands and herein report the first detection of five compounds using this technique.

Effects of drought on wildfires in forest landscapes of the Western Ghats, India

Wildland fire is an understudied yet highly important disturbance agent on the Indian subcontinent. In particular, there is uncertainty regarding the degree to which annual climate variation influences inter-annual variability in fire activity. In this study, we evaluate wildland fire at two complementary spatial scales in the southern portion of the Western Ghats mountain range (hereafter ‘Western Ghats’) in India.

Living on the edge: Trailing edge forests at risk of fire-facilitated conversion to non-forest

Forests are an incredibly important resource across the globe, yet they are threatened by climate change through stressors such as drought, insect outbreaks, and wildfire. Trailing edge forests - those areas expected to experience range contractions under a changing climate - are of particular concern because of the potential for abrupt conversion to non-forest.

Managing wildfire for whitebark pine ecosystem restoration in western North America

Wildfire in declining whitebark pine forests can be a tool for ecosystem restoration or an ecologically harmful event. This document presents a set of possible wildfire management practices for facilitating the restoration of whitebark pine across its range inWestern North America. These management actions are designed to enhance whitebark pine resilience and health, while also being effective wildfire management measures.

An evaluation of NDFD weather forecasts for wildland fire behavior prediction

Wildland fire managers in the United States currently utilize the gridded forecasts from the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) to make fire behavior predictions across complex landscapes during large wildfires. However, little is known about the NDFDs performance in remote locations with complex topography for weather variables important for fire behavior prediction, including air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed.

Smoke management guide for prescribed and wildland fire: 2001 edition.

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group's (NWCG) Fire Use Working Team has assumed overall responsibility for sponsoring the development and production of this revised Smoke Management Guide for Prescribed and Wildland Fire (the "Guide").

Integrating urban and national forest inventory data in support of rural-urban assessments

Due to the interest in status and trends in forest resources, many countries conduct a national forest inventory (NFI). To better understand the characteristics of woody vegetation in areas that are typically not forested, there is an increasing emphasis on urban inventory efforts where all trees both within and outside forest areas are measured.