Development of fuel models for fire behaviour prediction in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stands
Miguel G. Cruz A B D and Paulo M. Fernandes C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Bushfire Dynamics and Applications, CSIRO Forest Biosciences, PO Box E4008, Kingston, ACT 2604, Australia.
B Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia.
C Centro de Estudos em Gestão de Ecossistemas & Departamento Florestal, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Apartado 1013, PT-5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
D Corresponding author. Email: miguel.cruz@csiro.au
International Journal of Wildland Fire 17(2) 194-204 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF07009
Submitted: 11 January 2007 Accepted: 2 October 2007 Published: 18 April 2008
Abstract
A dataset of 42 experimental fires in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stands was used to develop fuel models to describe pine litter and understorey surface fuel complexes. A backtracking calibration procedure quantified the surface fuel bed characteristics that best explained the observed rate of fire spread. The study suggested the need for two distinct fuel models to adequately characterise the variability in fire behaviour in this fuel type. In these heterogeneous fuel beds the fuel models do not necessarily represent the inventoried average fuel conditions.
Evaluation against the modelling data produced mean absolute errors of 0.8 and 0.6 m min–1 in rate of spread, respectively, for the litter and understorey fuel models, with little evidence of bias. The fuel models predicted the rate of spread of a validation dataset with comparable error. Comparison of the behaviour and evaluation statistics produced by the study fuel models with fuel models developed from inventoried fuel data alone revealed an improvement on model performance for the current study approach for the litter fuel model and comparable behaviour for the understorey one.
We examined model behaviour through comparative analysis with models used operationally to predict fire spread in pine stands. Large departures from model behaviour essentially occur when the models are exercised outside the range of the model development dataset. The discrepancies in predicted fire behaviour were hypothesised to arise not from differences in fuel complex structure but from the selected functional relationships that determine the effect of wind and fuel moisture on rate of spread.
Additional keywords: pine plantation, Rothermel model, surface fire, surface fire spread.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the review and thoughtful comments provided by Wendy Anderson, Jim Gould, Phil Cheney, Neil Burrows, Pat Andrews and two anonymous reviewers. This study was partially supported by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) project ‘Development of fuel models to appraise fire hazard in Portuguese wildland areas’ (POCTI/AGR/61164/2004).
References
Albini
FA
(1976) ‘Estimating wildfire behavior and effects.’ USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, General Technical Report INT-30. (Ogden, UT)
Albini FA
(1982) Response of free-burning fires to nonsteady wind. Combustion Science and Technology 29, 225–241.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Anderson
HE
(1982) ‘Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior.’ USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Paper INT-122. (Ogden, UT)
Andrews
PL
(1980) Testing the fire behavior model. In ‘Proceedings of sixth conference on fire and forest meteorology’, 22–24 April 1980, Seattle, WA. (Eds RE Martin, RL Edmonds, DA Faulkner, JB Harrington, DM Fuquay, BJ Stocks, S Barr) pp. 70–77. (Society of American Foresters: Washington, DC)
Andrews
PL
,
Bevins
CD
,
Seli
RC
(2003) ‘BehavePlus fire modeling system, version 2.0: user’s guide.’ USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-106WWW. (Ogden, UT)
Bartelink HH
(1998) A model of dry matter partitioning in trees. Tree Physiology 18, 91–101.
| PubMed |
Burgan
RE
,
Rothermel
RC
(1984) ‘BEHAVE: Fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system – FUEL subsystem.’ USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Paper INT-167. (Ogden, UT)
Burrows ND
(1999) Fire behaviour in jarrah forest fuels: 2. Field experiments. CALM Science 3, 57–84.
Burrows
ND
,
Ward
B
,
Robinson
A
(1988) Aspects of fire behaviour and fire suppression in a Pinus pinaster plantation. WA Department Conservation and Land Management, Landnote 2/99. (Perth, WA)
Burrows
ND
,
Smith
RH
,
Robinson
AD
(1989) Prescribed burning slash fuels in Pinus radiata plantations in Western Australia. WA Department Conservation and Land Management, Technical Report 20. (Perth, WA)
Burrows N, Ward B , Robinson A
(2000) Behaviour and some impacts of a large wildfire in the Gnangara maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) plantation, Western Australia. CALM Science 3, 251–260.
Catchpole
WR
,
Catchpole
EA
,
Tate
AG
,
Butler
BW
,
Rothermel
RC
(2002) A model for the steady spread of fire through a homogeneous fuel bed. In ‘Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Forest Fire Research, 2002 Wildland Fire Safety Summit’, 18–23 November 2002, Luso–Coimbra, Portugal. (Ed. DX Viegas) (Millpress: Rotherdam)
Cheney NP
(1990) Quantifying bushfires. Mathematical and Computer Modelling 13(12), 9–15.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cruz
MG
,
Viegas
DX
(1998) Fire behavior in some common Central Portugal fuel complexes: Evaluation of fire behavior models performance. In ‘Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Forest Fire Research – 14th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology’, 16–20 November 1998, Luso–Coimbra, Portugal. (Ed. DX Viegas) pp. 829–875. (University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Cruz
MG
,
Alexander
ME
,
Wakimoto
RH
(2003) Definition of a fire behavior model evaluation protocol: a case study application to crown fire behavior models. In ‘Fire, Fuel Treatments, and Ecological Restoration: Conference Proceedings’, 16–18 April 2002, Fort Collins, CO. (Tech. Eds PN Omi, LA Joyce) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Proceedings RMRS-P-29. pp. 49–67. (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 |
Fendell
FE
,
Wolff
MF
(2001) Wind-aided fire spread. In ‘Forest Fires, Behavior and Ecological Effects’. (Eds EA Johnson, K Miyanishi) pp. 171–223. (Academic Press: San Diego, CA)
Fernandes
PM
(2002) Desenvolvimento de relacoes predictivas para uso no planeamento de fogo controlado em povoamentos de Pinus pinaster Ait. PhD thesis, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal. [in Portuguese]
Fernandes PM , Rego FC
(1998) A new method to estimate fuel surface area-to-volume ratio using water immersion. International Journal of Wildland Fire 8, 121–128.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fernandes
PM
,
Botelho
HS
,
Loureiro
C
(2002) Models for the sustained ignition and behaviour of low-to-moderately intense fires in maritime pine stands. In ‘Forest Fire Research & Wildland Fire Safety’. Proceedings of the IV International Conference on Forest Fire Research/2002 Wildland Fire Safety Summit, 18–23 November 2002, Luso–Coimbra, Portugal. (Ed. DX Viegas) On CD-ROM. (Millpress Scientific Publications: Rotterdam)
Fernandes PM, Loureiro C , Botelho H
(2004) Fire behaviour and severity in a maritime pine stand under differing fuel conditions. Annals of Forest Science 61, 537–544.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Finney
MA
(2004) FARSITE: Fire area simulator – model development and evaluation. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Research Paper RMRS-RP-4 revised. (Ogden UT)
Forestry Canada Fire Danger Group (1992) Development and structure of the Canadian forest fire behavior prediction system. Forestry Canada, Science and Sustainable Development Directorate, Information Report ST-X-3. (Ottawa, ON)
Frandsen
WH
,
Andrews
PL
(1979) Fire Behavior in nonuniform fuels. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Research Paper INT-232. (Ogden, UT)
Geddes
DJ
,
Pfeiffer
ER
(1981) The Caroline forest fire, 2nd February, 1979. Woods and Forest Department, Bulletin 26. (Adelaide, SA)
Gould
JS
(1991) Validation of the Rothermel fire spread model and related fuel parameters in grassland fuels. In ‘Proceedings of Conference on Bushfire Modelling and Fire Danger Rating Systems’, 11–12 July 1988, Canberra, ACT. (Eds NP Cheney, AM Gill) pp. 51–64. (CSIRO Division of Forestry: Yarralumla, ACT)
Hély C, Flanningan M, Bergeron Y , McRae D
(2001) Role of vegetation and weather on fire behavior in the Canadian mixedwood boreal forest using two fire behavior prediction systems. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31, 430–441.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hough
WA
,
Albini
FA
(1978) Predicting fire behavior in palmetto-gallberry fuel complexes. USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Research Paper SE-174. (Asheville, NC)
Johnson MC , Peterson DL
(2005) Forest fuel treatments in western North America: merging silviculture and fire management. Forestry Chronicle 81, 365–368.
Lawson
BD
(1972) Fire spread in lodgepole pine stands. MSc thesis, University of Montana, Missoula, MT.
Lopes AMG, Cruz MG , Viegas DX
(2002) FireStation – An integrated software system for the numerical simulation of wind field and fire spread on complex topography. Environmental Modelling & Software 17, 269–285.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McAlpine
RS
,
Xanthopoulos
G
(1989) Predicted vs Observed fire spread rates in ponderosa pine fuel beds: a test of American and Canadian systems. In ‘Proceedings of the 10th conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology’, 17–21 April 1989, Ottawa, ON. (Eds DC Maciver, H Auld, R Whitewood) pp. 287–294. (Forestry Canada and Environment: Ottawa, ON)
McArthur AG , Cheney NP
(1966) The characterization of fire in relation to ecological studies. Australian Forest Research 2, 36–45.
McArthur
AG
,
Douglas
DR
,
Mitchell
LR
(1966) The Wandilo fire, 5 April 1958. Fire behaviour and associated meteorological and fuel conditions. Forest and Timber Bureau, Leaflet No. 98. (Canberra, ACT)
McCaw
LW
(1997) Predicting fire spread in Western Australian mallee-heath shrubland. PhD thesis, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University College – University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT.
Nunes M, Vasconcelos M, Pereira JC, Dasgupta N, Alldredge R , Rego F
(2005) Land cover type and fire in Portugal: do fires burn land cover selectively? Landscape Ecology 20, 661–673.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rothermel
RC
(1972) A mathematical model for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Paper INT-115. (Ogden, UT)
Rothermel
RC
,
Rinehart
GC
(1983) Field procedures for verification and adjustment of fire behavior predictions. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Paper INT-142. (Ogden, UT)
Scott
JH
,
Burgan
RE
(2005) Standard fire behaviour fuel models: a comprehensive set for use with Rothermel’s surface fire spread model. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-153. (Ogden, UT)
Sneeuwjagt RJ , Frandsen WH
(1977) Behavior of experimental grass fires vs. predictions based on Rothermel’s fire model. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 7, 357–367.
Sneeuwjagt
RJ
,
Peet
GB
(1985) Forest fire behaviour tables for Western Australia. Department of Conservation and Land Management. (Perth, WA)
Stocks BJ, Alexander ME, Wotton BM, Stefner CN, Flannigan MD, Taylor SW, Lavoie N, Mason JA, Hartley GR, Maffey ME, Dalrymple GN, Blake TW, Cruz MG , Lanoville RA
(2004) Crown fire behaviour in a northern jack pine–black spruce forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 34, 1548–1560.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Systems for Environment Management (1986) BLDMDL Users’ manual version 1.6. Systems for Environmental Management and Intermountain Forest Research Station. (Missoula, MT)
Tapias R, Climent J, Pardos J , Gil L
(2004) Life histories of Mediterranean pines. Plant Ecology 171, 53–68.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Van Wagner
CE
(1968) Fire behaviour mechanisms in a red pine plantation: field and laboratory evidence. Canadian Department of Forestry and Rural Development, Publication 1229. (Ottawa, ON)
Van Wagner CE
(1977) Effect of slope on fire spread rate. Bi-monthly Research Notes, Canadian Forest Service 33, 7–8.
Van Wagner
CE
(1987) Development and structure of the Canadian forest fire weather index system. Canadian Forest Service, Forest Technical Report 35. (Ottawa, ON)
Van Wilgen BW , Wills AJ
(1988) Fire behaviour prediction in savanna vegetation. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 18, 41–46.
Weicheng
F
(1996) A computer system for boundary prediction of ground fire spread. In ‘Proceedings of the Workshop on Forest Fire Behaviour – Modeling and Testing’, 6–7 May 1996, Luso, Portugal. (Ed. DX Viegas) pp. 55–63. (Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Aerodinâmica Industrial, University of Coimbra, Portugal)
Willmott CJ
(1982) Some comments on the evaluation of model performance. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 63, 1309–1313.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
A The correspondence between the within stand and the 10-m open windspeed can induce some artificial discrepancies in the model comparison. The C-6 fuel type model was fitted using an observed 3 : 1 wind ratio (
McAlpine and Xanthopoulos 1989). In Western Australia, a ratio of 5 : 1 is suggested for well stocked pine plantations (
Sneeuwjagt and Peet 1985).
