Forest Fires

• Classification of Fires
  • Rate of Spread
  • Level
  • Fuel Consumption
  • Head Fire Instensity
  • Source
  • Weather Forcing
  • Growth and Propagation
• Pyrocumulus Development
• Smoke Spread within a Temperature Inversion
• Summary and Exercises

Fuel Consumption

Fires may also be characterized by the fuel they consume. Fuel consumption includes surface fuel and crown fuel:

• Surface fuel consumption estimates are based on experimental fire data and may be derived from indexes like FFMC (Fine Fuel Moisture Code) and BUI (Build-up Index) which account for fuel availability and are integrated in the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI).
• Crown fuel consumption depends, logically, on the crowning of the fire; therefore, it depends on the ingredients for crowning seen above.

(Foresty Canada, 1992, p20-21, p37-38)