Citation

Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Fernandes PM, Cruz MG, Alexander ME, Fernandes PM. Int. J. Wildland Fire 2022; 31(5): 471-479.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, International Association of Wildland Fire, Fire Research Institute, Publisher CSIRO Publishing)

DOI

10.1071/WF21171

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The suggestion has been made within the wildland fire community that the rate of spread in the upper portion of the fire danger spectrum is largely independent of the physical fuel characteristics in certain forest ecosystem types. Our review and analysis of the relevant scientific literature on the subject suggest that fuel characteristics have a gradual diminishing effect on the rate of fire spread in forest and shrubland fuel types with increasing fire danger, with the effect not being observable under extreme fire danger conditions. Empirical-based fire spread models with multiplicative fuel functions generally do not capture this effect adequately. The implications of this outcome on fire spread modelling and fuels management are discussed.

Language: en