Fire potential rating for wildland fuelbeds using the Fuel Characteristic Classification SystemThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Forum on the Fuel Characteristic Classification System.

Abstract

The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) is a systematic catalog of inherent physical properties of wildland fuelbeds that allows land managers, policy makers, and scientists to build and calculate fuel characteristics with complete or incomplete information. The FCCS is equipped with a set of equations to calculate the potential of any real-world or simulated fuelbed to spread fire across the surface and in the crowns, and consume fuels. FCCS fire potentials are a set of relative values that rate the intrinsic physical capacity of a wildland fuelbed to release energy and to spread, crown, consume, and smolder under known or benchmark weather and fuel moisture conditions. The FCCS reports eight component fire potentials for every fuelbed, arranged in three categories: surface fire behaviour (reaction intensity, spread rate, and flame length), crown fire potential (torching and active crown fire), and available fuel potential (flaming, smouldering, and residual smouldering). FCCS fire potentials may be used to classify or compare fuelbeds that differ because of location, structure, passage of time, or management action, based on expected fire behavior or effect outcomes. As a classification tool, they are offered as an objective alternative to categorizing bulk properties of fuelbeds or stylized model inputs.

Fire Behavior Simulation from Global Fuel and Climatic Information

“…FCCS uses fuel characteristics (e.g., percentage cover, loading, depth) to calculate and report nine fire potentials, organized into three categories: surface fire behavior potential, crown fire potential and available fuel potential [39]. Based on input environmental variables, FCCS also predicts surface fire behavior parameters using a reformulation of the Rothermel [40] fire behavior model [41].…”

Examining Landscape-Scale Fuel and Terrain Controls of Wildfire Spread Rates Using Repetitive Airborne Thermal Infrared (ATIR) Imagery

“…The GFFC percentage of each LSU was quantified on a scale of 0.0-1.0. GFFC estimates were also used to assign a "LSU Fuel Class" type to each sample unit (Table 2 a), based on combinations of fuel/vegetation classification schemes derived from prior studies including Anderson [34], Sandberg et al [81], and Blodgett et al [53]. GFFC were stratified into one of two separate slope orientation groups: Slope angle > 0 • (upslope), Slope angle < 0 • (downslope) based on the mean directional slope ( Table 2 b).…”

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“…Fuelbed data are input into fire behavior models to predict fire potentials-surface fire behavior, crown fire potential, and available fuel potential (Riccardi et al, 2007;Sandberg et al, 2007). Each dimension of fire potential can be broken down into component parts.…”

“…Each dimension of fire potential can be broken down into component parts. Surface fire behavior potential consists of surface reaction, spread, and flame length (Sandberg et al, 2007). Crown fire potential ranks the potential for surface fire to move into the canopy-it comprises crown initiation, transmissivity, and spread.…”

“…Crown fire potential ranks the potential for surface fire to move into the canopy-it comprises crown initiation, transmissivity, and spread. Available fuel potential is an estimate of combustible biomass, assuming extremely dry conditions, which consists of flame, smolder, and residual components (Goodrick & Stanturf, 2012;Sandberg et al, 2007). Each subcomponent is measured on a scale of 0 to 9.…”