Skip to Main Content
U.S. Forest Service
Caring for the land and serving people
Caring for the land and serving people
United States Department of Agriculture
-
Severity of an uncharacteristically large wildfire, the Rim Fire, in forests with relatively restored frequent fire regimes
Author(s): Jamie Lydersen; Malcolm North; Brandon M. Collins
Date: 2014
Source: Forest Ecology and Management
Publication Series: Scientific Journal (JRNL)
PDF: Download Publication (1.88 MB)Description
The 2013 Rim Fire, originating on Forest Service land, burned into old-growth forests within Yosemite National Park with relatively restored frequent-fire regimes (¡Ý2 predominantly low and moderate severity burns within the last 35 years). Forest structure and fuels data were collected in the field 3-4 years before the fire, providing a rare chance to use pre-existing plot data to analyze fire effects. We used regression tree and random forests analysis to examine the influence of forest structure, fuel, fire history, topographic and weather conditions on observed fire severity in the Rim Fire, as estimated from an initial fire severity assessment based on the relative differenced normalized burn ratio (RdNBR). Plots that burned on days with strong plume activity experienced moderate- to high-severity fire effects regardless of forest conditions, fire history or topography. Fire severity was also highly negatively associated with elevation, with lower severity observed in plots over 1700 m. Burning index (a composite index of fire weather), time since the last fire, and shrub cover had strong positive associations with fire severity. Plots that had experienced fire within the last 14 years burned mainly at low severity in the Rim Fire, while plots that exceeded that time since last fire tended to burn at moderate or high severity. This effect of time since last fire was even more pronounced on days when the burning index was high. Our results suggest that wildfire burning under extreme weather conditions, as is often the case with fires that escape initial attack, can produce large areas of high-severity fire even in fuels-reduced forests with restored fire regimes.Publication Notes
- You may send email to psw_communications@fs.fed.us to request a hard copy of this publication.
- (Please specify exactly which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)
- We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
Citation
Lydersen, J.M.; North, M.P.; Collins, B.M. 2014. Severity of an uncharacteristically large wildfire, the Rim Fire, in forests with relatively restored frequent fire regimes. Forest Ecology and Management 328, 326-334.Cited
Keywords
Rim Fire, frequent fire regime, mixed conifer forest, fire severity, forest resilience, interacting firesRelated Search
- Mixed severity fire effects within the Rim fire: Relative importance of local climate, fire weather, topography, and forest structure
- Evidence of fuels management and fire weather influencing fire severity in an extreme fire event
- Previous fires moderate burn severity of subsequent wildland fires in two large western US wilderness areas
XML: View XML
Show More
Show Fewer
https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/46372