Toward improving our application and understanding of crown fire behavior

Abstract

The suggestion has been made that most wildland fire operations personnel base their expectations of how a fire will behave largely on experience and, to a lesser extent, on guides to predicting fire behavior (Burrows 1984). Experienced judgment is certainly needed in any assessment of wildland fire potential but it does have its limitations. The same can be said for mathematical models and computerized decision-support systems. Case history knowledge will prove a useful complement to fire behavior modeling and experienced judgment when it comes to appraising potential fire behavior (Alexander and others 2013b). Weighing each type of input in predicting wildland fire behavior is vital and yet is as much an art s a science.

Citation

Alexander, Martin E.; Cruz, Miguel G.; Vaillant, Nicole M. 2014. Toward improving our application and understanding of crown fire behavior. Fire Management Today. 73(4): 46-47.