WWETAC Projects

Project Title: Crown fire behavior characteristics and prediction in conifer forests: A state of knowledge synthesis

JFSP-ID: 09-S-03-1

Principal Investigator: Martin E. Alexander, University of Alberta, Department of Renewable Resources; Miguel G. Cruz, CSIRO-Commonwealth Scientific & Research Organization; David L. Peterson, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station; Nicole M. Vaillant, Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center

Status: Ongoing

E-mail Contact: Nicole M. Vaillant, nvaillant[at]fs.fed.us

**Invitation to My Fire Community Neighborhood**

General Description: The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) glossary indicates that extreme fire behavior involves “a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes methods of direct control action. One or more of the following is usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning and/or spotting, presence of fire whirls, strong convective column. Predictability is difficult because such fires often exercise some degree of influence on their environment and behave erratically, sometimes dangerously.”  The focus of the project is to synthesize available information on crown fire behavior related to conifer forests (e.g., the onset of crowning, type of crown fire and the associated spread rate and fireline intensity, convection column development, spotting, fire-induced vortices). The synthesis will be global in nature and is intended for multiple audiences ranging from the general public to college students to fire and land managers to university professors). The synthesis will include published peer-review articles, non-refereed publications, survey of operational experiences from fire and land managers, and data and information, including video footage, obtained during wildfire monitoring by the USDA Forest Service’s Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team Fire Behavior Assessment Team.

crown fire

Time series photos from a fire proofed video camera during the Black Mountain II Fire in Montana in 2003. (Photo credit: Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team)


End Products:

  1. Book including a multi-media DVD featuring video imagery and other supporting documentation
  2. Special issue of Fire Management Today
  3. Peer-reviewed publication(s)

Current Products:

Publications in the International Journal of Wildland Fire

  • Interdependencies between flame length and fireline intensity in predicting crown fire initiation and crown scorch height (PDF, 1.5 MB)
  • Evaluating regression model estimates of canopy fuel stratum characteristics in four crown fire-prone fuel types in western North America (PDF, 717MB)

The 2nd Pacific Northwest Fire Behavior Workshop, January 17-20, 2012, Vancouver, Washington.

Chapter 8 in Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior

Interior West Fire Ecology Conference: Challenges & Opportunities in a Changing World, November 14-17, 2011, Snowbird, Utah.

Fire Management Today article

  • A Synthesis on Crown Fires in Conifer Forests is Underway (PDF, 342KB)

International Conference on Fire Behaviour and Risk: Focus on Wildland Urban Interfaces, October 4-6, 2011, Alghero, Italy

Wildfire2011, The 5th International Wildland Fire Conference, May 9-13, 2011 - Sun City, South Africa

11th International Wildland Fire Safety Summit, April 4-8, 2011, Missoula, MT

  • What are the safety implications of crown fires? (PDF, 683 KB)

International Association of Wildland Fire, 3rd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, October 25-29, 2010, Spokane, WA

 

This project is partially funded under the Joint Fire Science Program – 09-S-03-1.

 

Background Citations:

Alexander ME, Cruz MG (2012) Interdependencies between flame length and fireline intensity in predicting crown fire initiation and crown scorch height. International Journal of Wildland Fire21: 95–113.

Cruz MG, Alexander ME (2012) Evaluating regression model estimates of canopy fuel stratum characteristics in four crown fire-prone fuel types in western North America. International Journal of Wildland Fire21: 168–179.

Alexander ME, Cruz MG (2011) Crown fire dynamics in conifer forests. Pages 107-142 in Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior: Volume 1 for Fire Managers. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-854.

Cruz MG, Alexander ME (2010) Assessing crown fire potential in coniferous forests of western North America: a critique of current approaches and recent simulation studies. International Journal of Wildland Fire 19: 377–398

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Fernandes PAM (2008) Development of a model system to predict wildfire behavior in pine plantations. Australian Forestry 71:113-121

Alexander ME, Cruz MG (2006) Evaluating a model for predicting active crown fire rate of spread using wildfire observations. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 36: 3015-3028

Cruz MG, Butler BW, Alexander ME, Forthofer JM, Wakimoto RH (2006) Predicting the ignition of crown fuels above a spreading surface fire. Part I: model idealization. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15: 47–60

Cruz MG, Butler BW, Alexander ME (2006) Predicting the ignition of crown fuels above a spreading surface fire. Part II: model evaluation. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15: 61–72

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Wakimoto RH (2005) Development and testing of models for predicting crown fire rate of spread in conifer forest stands. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35: 1626-1639

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Wakimoto RH (2004) Modeling the likelihood of crown fire occurrence in conifer forest stands. Forest Science 50(5): 640–658

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Wakimoto RH (2003) Assessing canopy fuel stratum characteristics in crown fire prone fuel types in western North America. International Journal of Wildland Fire 12: 39-50

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Wakimoto RH (2003) Assessing the probability of crown fire initiation based on fire danger indices. Forestry Chronicle 79: 976-983

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Wakimoto RH (2003) Definition of a fire behavior model evaluation protocol: a case study application to crown fire behavior models. Pages 49-67 in Omi, P.N.; Joyce, L.A. (tech. eds.).  Fire, Fuel Treatments and Ecological Restoration: Conference Proceedings (Apr. 16-18, 2002, Fort Collins, CO). USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO. Proceedings.RMRS-P-29

Project ID: FY10NV87