Fire Behavior

Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists are worldwide leaders in the study of wildland fire behavior. Fire behavior variables, including spotting distance, rate of fire spread, flame length, and the effects of wind and topography, help drive wildfire and prescribed fire objectives and decision making. A better understanding of fire behavior helps help firefighters, fire managers, and decision makers make informed choices that reduce risk, increase safety, and manage fire and its effects for the benefit of natural resources and human communities. We translate fire behavior science into tools and applications that are readily available to firefighters and fire managers and routinely used in wildfire operations. 

Featured Work

• Developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Station, the Behave Fire Modeling System has been one of the most utilized computer programs for modeling both wildfire and prescribed fire behavior since 1984. We recently released a new version of Behave with more intuitive user interfaces and better connections with FlamMap, another widely used program developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Station that models spatial fire behavior.
• WindNinja is a high-resolution wind model that helps describe wind patterns in mountainous or complex terrain. It is used on nearly every large fire incident in the United States. WindNinja was recently updated to version 3.12.0 with several new features.
• Researchers at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab are developing a new fire spread model to more accurately predict how far and fast fires can move – even under extreme conditions. The Fire Lab partnered with Google Research to bring AI and machine learning expertise into the project, along with substantial computing power.
• The book Wildland Fire Behaviour: Dynamics, Principles, and Processes, authored by Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists, was written for fire practitioners, firefighters, managers, and anyone else interested in how wildland fires spread and behave, providing relatively straightforward explanations of wildfire dynamics. The book includes a description of a new fire spread model that incorporates physical processes that drive fire behavior. Read key highlights from the book in this Science You Can Use.
• In a recent study, Rocky Mountain Research Station scientists examined extreme fire spread events and area burned under recent climates and future climate projections in the western U.S.
• Rocky Mountain Research Station fire scientists found that the usual nighttime dampening of fire activity may be changing. Using satellite remote sensing data, our researchers found that nighttime fire activity has increased as wildfires have grown larger.