WindWizard: A New Tool for Fire Management Decision Support

Bret W. Butler; Mark A. Finney; Larry S. Bradshaw; Jason M. Forthofer; Chuck McHugh; Rick Stratton; Dan M. Jimenez

Treesearch

WindWizard: A New Tool for Fire Management Decision Support

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Bret W. Butler, Mark A. Finney, Larry S. Bradshaw, Jason M. Forthofer, Chuck McHugh, Rick Stratton, Dan M. Jimenez

Year:

2006

Type:

Proceedings

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Source:

In: Andrews, Patricia L.; Butler, Bret W., comps. 2006. Fuels Management-How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings. 28-30 March 2006; Portland, OR. Proceedings RMRS-P-41. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 787-796

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Abstract

A new software tool has been developed to simulate surface wind speed and direction at the 100m to 300 m scale. This tool is useful when trying to estimate fire behavior in mountainous terrain. It is based on widely used computational fluid dynamics technology and has been tested against measured wind flows. In recent years it has been used to support fire management decisions to improve firefighter and public safety, understand the environmental conditions associated with entrapment fires, improve prescribed fire prescriptions, and estimate fire potential. Outputs from this tool include tiff images, GIS shape files, and FARSITE wind input files.

Parent Publication

Fuels Management-How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings

Keywords

fire, fire ecology, fuels management, WindWizard, fire behavior, surface wind speed and direction

Citation

Butler, Bret W.; Finney, Mark; Bradshaw, Larry; Forthofer, Jason; McHugh, Chuck; Stratton, Rick; Jimenez, Dan. 2006. WindWizard: A New Tool for Fire Management Decision Support. In: Andrews, Patricia L.; Butler, Bret W., comps. 2006. Fuels Management-How to Measure Success: Conference Proceedings. 28-30 March 2006; Portland, OR. Proceedings RMRS-P-41. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 787-796