Regions: Dehcho Region
Tags: physical sciences, forest fire management, jack pine, international cooperation, fire regimes
| Principal Investigator: | Alexander, Martin E. (4) |
| Licence Number: | 12932 |
| Organization: | Canadian Forestry Service |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2000
1999
1998
1997
|
| Issued: | Jul 16, 1997 |
| Project Team: | 40 fire scientists from 4 countries - Canada, Russia, USA & Germany. |
Objective(s): Forest fire research scientists in Canada and the United States have been working for many years on the development of fire danger and fire behavior prediction systems, which are now in widespread use in North America. Although much is known, much more remains to be accomplished, including the development of a physical model of forest fire behavior that can encompass the full range of fire intensities encountered. Recent developments have brought together fire modelling experts from Canada, the US., and Russia, to address the prediction of high intensity fire behavior. The NWT Fire Experiment has the goal of conducting a replicated series of highly-instrumented crown fires in order to quantify parameters essential to modelling the initiation and spread of crowning fires.
Project Description: With the assistance of NWT Dept. of Renewable Resources fire management personnel, a study site was located approximately 50 km north of Fort Providence. A dense jack pine stand occupies the site. Surrounded by marshland, this site is ideally suited to supporting the high-intensity crown fires required in this study. Ten burning plots were located in this site. Firelines approximately 50 m wide were established around each plot by cutting & removing standing trees and bulldozing to mineral soil to facilitate access and control. Some fuel manipulation was carried out on portions of some plots, but most of the area remains undisturbed. A weather station has been established on-site permitting accurate monitoring of daily fire danger conditions and permitting selection of a burning window to maximize the opportunity for weather conditions conducive to crown fire development. Each research group will conduct different but complimentary measurements on each fire. All plots will be ignited quickly along the windward edge in order to promote the fast development of equilibrium fire behavior and the likelihood of crown fire establishment.
