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Fire Behaviour

Fire behavior refers to how fuel, weather, and topography influence how fires start and spread. Three elements - heat, oxygen, and fuel - make up the fire triangle and are necessary for continued burning. There are three types of wildfires: crown fires that burn entire trees, surface fires that burn surface litter, and ground fires that burn underground. Lightning causes around half of Canadian wildfires but burns more land, while human-caused fires threaten property and safety. Tools help predict fire risk, behavior, effects, and occurrence.

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64 views4 pages

Fire Behaviour

Fire behavior refers to how fuel, weather, and topography influence how fires start and spread. Three elements - heat, oxygen, and fuel - make up the fire triangle and are necessary for continued burning. There are three types of wildfires: crown fires that burn entire trees, surface fires that burn surface litter, and ground fires that burn underground. Lightning causes around half of Canadian wildfires but burns more land, while human-caused fires threaten property and safety. Tools help predict fire risk, behavior, effects, and occurrence.

Uploaded by

Firezky Cu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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10/02/2023, 06:21 Fire behaviour

Canada.ca > Natural Resources Canada > Our Natural Resources

> Forests and forestry > Wildland fires, insects, and disturbances > Forest Fires

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Fire behaviour
Fire behaviour refers to the manner in which fuel
ignites, flame develops and fire spreads. In wildland
fires, this behaviour is influenced by how fuels (such
as needles, leaves and twigs), weather and
topography interact.

Once a fire starts, it will continue burning only if


heat, oxygen and more fuel are present. Together,
these three elements are said to make up the “fire
triangle.”

To put out a fire requires eliminating one or more of the fire triangle’s
elements. Firefighters work to do that by:

cooling fuels below the combustion temperature through the use of


water, foam, retardant or dirt
cutting off the oxygen supply through the use of water, retardant or
dirt

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10/02/2023, 06:21 Fire behaviour

removing fuel by clearing a swath of trees and brush ahead of the


advancing fire

Types of wildland fires


There are three basic types of forest fires:

Crown fires burn trees up their entire length to the top. These are the
most intense and dangerous wildland fires.
Surface fires burn only surface litter and duff. These are the easiest
fires to put out and cause the least damage to the forest.
Ground fires (sometimes called underground or subsurface fires)
occur in deep accumulations of humus, peat and similar dead
vegetation that become dry enough to burn. These fires move very
slowly, but can become difficult to fully put out, or suppress.
Occasionally, especially during prolonged drought, such fires can
smoulder all winter underground and then emerge at the surface
again in spring.

Causes of wildland fires


The fire season generally runs from April to October, with the peak of
activity occurring from mid-May to August. Catastrophic fires tend to occur
during periods of extended drought or wind storms.

Lightning strikes cause slightly less than half of all wildland fires in Canada,
but account for nearly 67% of the land area burned. There are two main
reasons for this:

Lightning-caused fires often occur in remote areas where human life,


property and timber values are not threatened. Fire suppression in

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these areas may therefore be intentionally limited, leaving fire to play


its natural role.
Several lightning fires can be ignited simultaneously, leaving agencies
with difficult decisions about where to send available firefighting crews
and equipment.

Humans cause slightly more than half of all wildland fires in Canada,
typically in populated forest and grassland areas. Because of where these
fires occur, they are usually spotted early and can be reached quickly by
firefighting crews. Still, the threat they pose to human safety and property
makes them a major concern for firefighting crews.

Canada’s main fire management tools


Research into wildland fire as a physical, biological and socio-economic
phenomenon continues to increase our understanding of its behaviour,
costs and benefits, and of how it can best be managed. Research has also
improved our predictive capabilities and led to the development of many
practical tools for evaluating fire risks, analyzing fire behaviour and
predicting where fire may threaten forest values.

For more than four decades, Canadian Forest Service researchers have
been developing and refining several national systems for identifying
where and when the risk of wildland fire is greatest. This work has played a
crucial role in protecting Canadians, their property and forest resources.

The main national system is the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System
(CFFDRS).

Tools developed to support the CFFDRS include:

Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System (FWI) — a system used


across Canada to assess day-to-day changes in the potential for fires to
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ignite and spread


Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System — a system
used to estimate potential fire spread rate, fuel consumption and fire
intensity for a range of forest fuel types in Canada
Canadian Fire Effects Model (CanFIRE) — an extension model of the
CFFDRS used to analyze the immediate physical effects of fire on
stands and the resulting ecological effects on forest vegetation

As well, government and university researchers have developed several fire


occurrence prediction models for predicting the number of lightning-
caused and human-caused forest fires in a given area.

Date modified:
2021-04-16

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