Development of custom fire behavior fuel models from FCCS fuelbeds for the Savannah River fuel assessment project.

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to create fire behavior fuel models that replicate the fire behavior characteristics (spread rate and fireline intensity) produced by 23 candidate FCCS fuelbeds developed for the Savannah River National Wildlife Refuge. These 23 fuelbeds were created by FERA staff in consultation with local fuel managers. The FCCS produces simulations of surface fire spread rate and flame length (and therefore fireline intensity) for each of these fuelbeds, but it does not produce maps of those fire behavior characteristics or simulate fire growth—those tasks currently require the use of the FARSITE and/or FlamMap software systems. FARSITE and FlamMap do not directly use FCCS fuelbeds, but instead use standard or custom fire behavior fuel models to describe surface fuel characteristics for fire modeling. Therefore, replicating fire growth and fire behavior potential calculations using FCCS-simulated fire characteristics requires the development of custom fuel models that mimic, as closely as possible, the fire behavior characteristics produced by the FCCS for each fuelbed, over a range of fuel moisture and wind speeds.