Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > WF > WF06067
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 17(3)

Assessing mitigation of wildfire severity by fuel treatments – an example from the Coastal Plain of Mississippi

Erik J. Martinson A and Philip N. Omi A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.

B Corresponding author. Email: phil@warnercnr.colostate.edu

International Journal of Wildland Fire 17(3) 415-420 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF06067
Submitted: 18 May 2006  Accepted: 6 September 2007   Published: 23 June 2008

Abstract

Fuel treatments such as prescribed fire are a controversial tenet of wildfire management. Despite a well-established theoretical basis for their use, scant empirical evidence currently exists on fuel treatment effectiveness for mitigating the behaviour and effects of extreme wildfire events. We report the results of a fire severity evaluation of an escaped prescribed fire that burned into an area previously treated with repeated prescribed fires. We observed significantly lower scorch heights, crown damage, and ground char in the treated area. We attribute the moderated fire severity in the treated area to a significantly altered fuel profile created by the repeated prescribed fires. Though our results represent just one treatment area in a single wildfire, they add to a depauperate database and bring us a step closer to defining the conditions under which fuel treatments are an effective pre-suppression strategy.

Additional keywords: longleaf pine, Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, prescribed burning, slash pine.


Acknowledgements

We thank Malia Boyum for field assistance and Tony Wilder for facilitating our field visit and providing fire weather and behaviour information. The present research was supported by the Joint Fire Science Program and McIntire–Stennis Cooperative Forestry Funds.


References


Alexander ME, Lanoville RA (2004) The international crown fire modeling experiment fuel treatment trials. In ‘Proceedings – 22nd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference’, 15–18 October 2001, Kananaskis, AB, Canada. (Eds RT Engstrom, WJ de Groot) p. 222. (Tall Timbers Research Station: Tallahassee, FL)

Anderson HE (1982) Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-GTR-122. (Ogden, UT)

Avery TE, Burkhart HE (1994) ‘Forest Measurements, 4th edn.’ (McGraw-Hill: New York)

Carey H, Schumann M (2003) Modifying wildfire behavior – the effectiveness of fuel treatments. National Community Forestry Center, Southwest Region Working Paper 2. (Santa Fe, NM)

Cram DS, Baker TT, Boren JC (2006) Wildland fire effects in silviculturally treated v. untreated stands of New Mexico and Arizona. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Research Paper RMRS-RP-55. (Fort Collins, CO)

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.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Fites-Kauffman J, Henson C (2004) Final report: real-time evaluation of effects of fuel-treatments and other previous land management activities on fire behavior during wildfires. Final report to the Joint Fire Science Program Governing Board, Adaptive Management Services, USDA Forest Service, Project number 01C-2-1-08. (Nevada City, CA)

Graham RT, McCaffrey S, Jain TB (2004) Science basis for changing forest structure to modify wildfire behavior and severity. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-120. (Fort Collins, CO)

Hurlbert SH (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecological Monographs  54, 187–211.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Martinson EJ, Omi PN, Sheppard WD (2003) Fire behavior, fuel treatments, and fire suppression on the Hayman fire. Part 3. Effects of fuel treatments on fire severity. In ‘Hayman Fire Case Study’. (Ed. RT Graham) pp. 96–122. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-114. (Fort Collins, CO)

Omi PN , Kalabokidis KD (1991) Fire damage on extensively versus intensively managed forest stands within the North Fork Fire, 1988. Northwest Science  65, 149–157.
Ottmar RD, Burns MF, Hall JN, Hanson AD (1993) CONSUME user’s guide. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, General Technical Report PNW-GTR-304. (Portland, OR)

Oucalt KW , Wade DD (2004) Fuels management reduces tree mortality from wildfires in south-eastern US. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry  28, 28–34.
Rothermel RC (1972) A mathematical model for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Research Paper INT-RP-115. (Ogden, UT)

Rothermel RC (1991) Predicting behavior and size of crown fires in the northern Rocky Mountains. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Research Paper INT-RP-438. (Ogden, UT)

Ryan KC, Noste NV (1985) Evaluating prescribed fires. In ‘Symposium and Workshop on Wilderness Fire’, 15–18 November 1983, Missoula, MT. (Eds JE Lotan, BM Kilgore, WC Fischer, RW Mutch) pp. 230–238. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, General Technical Report INT-GTR-182. (Ogden, UT)

Sankoh AJ, Huque MF , Dubey SD (1997) Some comments on frequently used multiple endpoint adjustment methods in clinical trials. Statistics in Medicine  16, 2529–2542.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | SAS Institute Inc. (2001) ‘The SAS System for Windows, Release 8.2.’ (The SAS Institute Inc.: Cary, NC)

Skinner CN, Ritchie MW, Hamilton T, Symons J (2004) Effects of prescribed fire and thinning on wildfire severity: the Cone Fire, Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest. In ‘Proceedings of the 25th Vegetation Management Conference’, January 2004, Redding, CA. (Ed. S Cooper) pp. 80–91. (University of California Cooperative Extension: Redding, CA) Available at www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/ecology_of_western_forests/projects/cone_fire_new/Publications/ConeFire-Skinneretal.pdf [Verified 18 May 2008]

Stage AR , Rennie JC (1994) Fixed-radius plots or various-radius plots? Journal of Forestry  92, 20–24.


Van Wagner CE (1973) Height of crown scorch in forest fires. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  3, 373–378.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Van Wagner CE (1977) Conditions for the start and spread of crown fire. Canadian Journal of Forest Research  7, 23–34.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Weatherspoon CP , Skinner CN (1995) An assessment of factors associated with damage to tree crowns from the 1987 wildfires in northern California. Forest Science  41, 430–451.