Introduction to Fire and Prescribed Fire Use

Fire Ecology and ManagementJan. 7, 2011

Outline

• Perspectives on fire

• History of fire in the US

• Florida’s fire imperative– Intro. to fire regimes & fire ecology

• Prescribed burning primer– How to use fire to perpetuate native

ecosystems– SAFETY

1 During

1 After

2 During

2 During

2 After

2…3 months After

3 During

3 After

4 During

4 After

Is fire good or bad?Natural or not?

How did we get to where we are today?

History of Fire in the US and Florida

Plant & animal communities evolved in the presence of intermittent fires.

Lightning-ignited fires have been burning the planet for more than 400 million years.

In North America, Native Americans have been lighting vegetation fires for >12,000 years.

• Stimulate forage production for game, game herding, clearing ag. Land, territory marking, signaling

Brief history of fire in the US & Florida• DeSoto, 1538 landed in Tampa Bay, traveled with 600 men,

and enough swine to feed them to Tallahassee…how? From Lake City to Tallahassee, the forest was open– reports chronicle cleared land, plains, cultivated fields, open forests, and recently-burned lands

– “thickly settled in numerous towns with field extending from one to the other, a pleasant place with fertile soil and good meadows…with many corn fields…”

• Fields alongside most major rivers (Coosa, Mississippi, Tombigbee, Chattahoochee

• Early settlers emulated Native American fire use (1600s-1800s)– Clearing land, stimulating forage production for game, recycling

nutrients, site preparation

Legacy of NA Fire Use in SE Forests: good fires

• Major results of repeated burning– forest structure & composition– Helped perpetuate “park-like” forests, pruned lower branches – Navigable and open with little regeneration or small trees– Selected for fire-resistant or fire-dependent species

Legacy of NA Fire Use: They knew that frequency matters

• Frequency– “Cereal grasses were fired

annually, basket grasses and nuts about every 3 yrs., brush and undergrowth about every 7-10 yrs., large timber every 15-30 yrs. or more; and broadcast fire in the fields on an annual basis got rid of vermin, disease, weeds, and regrowth,” (Williams, 1999)

–Growing season burns stimulate wiregrass seeding–Wiregrass attracts browsing animals and birds, improves habitat for rare species –Fire “selects for” longleaf pine seedlings over other young trees–Fire-maintained, human-maintained, or both? Natural or not?

Legacy of NA Fire Use in SE Forests- Season matters, too (sandhill/ high pine)

The era of fire suppression: Fires are bad!

• Peshtigo, WI fires of 1871 (1200-2400 lives)

• Great Idaho fires 1911 (3 Mil. Acres, 78 people)

• Gifford Pinchot proclaims forests must be protected from fire to preserve grazing and timber

• Propaganda…and science! USFS removes references to beneficial uses of fire

• Weeks Act 1911, provides $ for states to fund firefighting

• 1916 National fire suppression policy instated

• 10 AM Policy of 1935

• “Renegade” prescribed burning programs in SE, early 1900s (HH Chapman- Yale) ~1920-60s (Herbert Stoddard, bobwhite quail, GA)

• Response: Dixie Crusaders in SE US; 1928-1931• USFS propaganda- fires are lower class…

“Land management is an art that builds on history and is based in science." (Stoddard)

Vs.

Herbert Stoddard: “…the magnificent virgin stands of southeastern pines, included frequent burning, carefully controlled fire for the benefit of animal life…In our opinion, to exclude fire permanently from the park-like pinelands of the Southeast is to jeopardize both the flora and fauna and to contribute to their replacement by other and inferior types of animal life and vegetation. How many who are advocating total fire exclusion in this region have seriously considered the consequences of disturbing this age-old adjustment?“ (Tall Timbers Research Station 1961, p.197)

USFS Psychologist Dr. Shea published an article in American Forests 1940, titled "Our Pappies Burned the Woods," where he was quoted:“…burning the woods] has become predominantly a recreational and emotional impulse... the sight and sound and odor of burning woods provide excitement for a people who dwell in an environment of low stimulation.... Their explanations that woods fires kill off snakes, boll weevil and serve other economic ends are something more than mere ignorance. They are the defensive beliefs of a disadvantaged culture group."

• By 1943, with Stoddard’s help and after farmers’ complaints about losses to wildfires due to fuel load build-up, USFS approved “controlled burning”

• Rx fire re-incorporated into land management in SE earlier than elsewhere

• Leopold Report: 1963 in the Western National Park System: “Let Burn Policy”, 1968

• By 1990s, National Fire Policy included prescribed fire or “wildland fire use”

• Today, the SE leads the nation with >3 Million acres annually burned for fuels mitigation, restoration, & natural resource benefits

Loblolly pine, SC 1958

Ocala NF, FL 2009

Photo: Nobles/ Ramierez

The Legacy of Fire Suppression

• Fuel load build-up

– Larger, less predicable, more costly

– Higher severity, especially of overstory spp.

• From mid-1800s to today, active fire suppression, agriculture, grazing, and intensive land use practices altered historical fire regimes.

• Altered fire regimes have

substantially changed ecosystem composition, structure, and function, along with the effects fires can have on ecosystems.

• Fire type (crown, surface, ground)

• Area burned, spatial extent• Seasonality• Severity• Synergism ? • Fire frequency (fire return

interval)

How do we describe fire?• Fire Regimes: Attributes that describe how fire has influenced

ecosystems fairly consistently over time, and in relation to other factors (e.g. climate)

• Often used to reach the “desired future condition” in restoration

Longleaf pine forestsSoutheastern USFire 1-4 yearsLow intensity, understory, summer

Florida Big Scrub (sand pine) Fire 25-100+ years,high intensity, crown, spring or summer, large areas

Bald Cypress/ tupelo swampFire > 200 years, small areaMixed severity, only during drought (peaty soils)

Randy Cyr

Frequent fire

Infrequent fire

Examples of FL Fire Regimes

Florida’s Fire Imperative • The Florida Natural Areas Inventory lists 23 terrestrial, 19

wetland communities in Florida: 16 of these are considered FIRE DEPENDANT– and will change significantly if historical fire regime is altered

• What are the most important aspects of fire regime in Florida, which often determine the rest of the regime??

– SandhillSandhill FRI 1-7 yrsFRI 1-7 yrs

– Dry & Wet PrairieDry & Wet Prairie FRI 2-7 yrsFRI 2-7 yrs

– Mesic FlatwoodsMesic Flatwoods FRI 3-7 yrs in N. FL, 1-7 in SFLFRI 3-7 yrs in N. FL, 1-7 in SFL

– Scrubby FlatwoodsScrubby Flatwoods FRI 8-25 yrsFRI 8-25 yrs

– SwampSwamp FRI 8-100+ yrsFRI 8-100+ yrs

– ScrubScrub FRI 26-100+ yrsFRI 26-100+ yrs

Lightning is itself an imperative

The basis for (successful) fire management is an understanding of historical fire regimes and the fire ecology on

which they are predicated

Informs how, what, when, and why…and what if fire is NOT applied to a given system

If Fire is Absent?

• Most Florida ecosystems transition to shrub-hardwood communities

• Spatial diversity and mosaic of communities disappears

• Wildfires become more intense– Overstory killed– Soil damage

If Fire is Absent?

• Vegetation– tree density & cover increase– composition shifts to shade tolerant species– growth rates & tree vigor decline– herbaceous forage and shrubs decline

• Soils– organic matter accumulates– nutrient cycles slow

If Fire is Absent?• Animals

– late successional species replace seral species– populations of many species decline– endemic insects & diseases increase

• Ecosystem processes– tend to simplify in structure & function– stream flow & on-site water balance decrease– potential for large fires increases

Fire management is applied fire ecology

Ecological Effects of Fire Basic Premises

1. All ecosystems change over time (even the old-growth!)

2. Fire is neither innately destructive nor constructive, it simply causes change (Wade 1983)

3. Human perception of whether it is good or bad depends on their resource objectives

Fire Ecology…coming soon• Fire effects on soils, water, air, nutrients, carbon,

cycles, geomorphology• Paleoecology and Fire history • Fire adaptations, resistance, and resilience

ATMOSPHERIC CO2

SOIL BOUNDARY

DUFF & LITTER

MASTICATED VEG.

AUTOTROPHIC CO2

SOIL FUNGI, BACTERIA

MICRO/ MACROFAUNA

HETEROTROPHIC CO2

FOREST FLOOR

BREAK TIME!

Introduction to Introduction to Prescribed Fire UsePrescribed Fire Use

Foundations in Forest Resources and ConservationJuly 29, 2008

What is fire?

Oxygen

Heat Fuel

The fire Triangle

Energy release in the form of heat and light when oxygen Energy release in the form of heat and light when oxygen combines with a combustible material (fuel) at a suitably high combines with a combustible material (fuel) at a suitably high temperaturetemperature

What does that mean for you as a fire user? A firefighter?

Fire Science

• Understanding how to use fire, and the effects it has on ecosystems, depends on a basic understanding of fire itself

• Methods of heat transfer– Radiation– Convection– Conduction

• Phases of combustion and their consequences• Fire behavior- rate of spread, flame length, intensity,

residence time, temperature…

What dictates fire behavior–the fire behavior triangle

1. Weather

2. Fuels 3. Topography

1. Weather (preferences for winter Rx fire in SE US)

• Temperature (< 60)• Relative Humidity (30-55%)

– Fine fuel moisture 10-20%

• Wind speed (in stand 1-3 mph)• Mixing height (1700-6500’)• Atmospheric stability (resistance of atmosphere

to vertical motion– slightly unstable or neutral)• Drought indices (KBDI below 400)

Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI)

Okefenokee Swamp/ Big Turnaround Complex, N FL and S GA, May 2007

Season matters!

Red Flag Warning000 WWUS82 KJAX 060930 RFWJAX URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSONVILLE FL 430 AM EST THU JAN 6 2011 FLZ020>025-030>033-035>038-040-062100- /O.NEW.KJAX.FW.A.0002.110107T1800Z-110107T2300Z/ HAMILTON-SUWANNEE-COLUMBIA-BAKER-NASSAU-DUVAL-UNION-BRADFORD-CLAY- ST JOHNS-GILCHRIST-ALACHUA-PUTNAM-FLAGLER-MARION- 430 AM EST THU JAN 6 2011 ...

FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FRIDAY AFTERNOON FOR BREEZY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSONVILLE HAS ISSUED A FIRE WEATHER WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

BREEZY WEST TO NORTHWEST FLOW COMBINED WITH DRY AIR FOLLOWING A FRONTAL PASSAGE MAY SUPPORT RED FLAG CONDITIONS ACROSS INLAND NORTHEAST FLORIDA FRIDAY AFTERNOON. SUSTAINED WINDS WILL NEAR 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 20 TO 25 MPH POSSIBLE.

MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITIES ARE EXPECTED TO NEAR 30 TO 35 PERCENT FOR BRIEF DURATIONS IN CONCERT WITH BREEZY WINDS.

A FIRE WEATHER WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A FIRE WEATHER WATCH MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE FORECAST TO OCCUR. LISTEN FOR LATER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE RED FLAG WARNINGS. &&

Today’s weather…(NWS)

2. Four general fuel groups

Anderson, 1982

Orientation divides 4 groups

Anderson, 1982

The 13 fuel models

3. Topography

Applied Fire Science & Ecology = Prescribed Fire Use

Prescribed Burning- definition

• The application of an understanding of fire science (combustion, heat transfer, fire behavior) combined with a knowledge of fire ecology to achieve pre-determined management goals

• Five Steps: Analysis, prescription, preparation, execution, evaluation

Analysis & Prescription

• 1. Analysis– Why is prescribed fire necessary here and now?– Is it the best option to achieve goals?

• 2. Prescription – What needs to be included in a prescribed fire

prescription?• Objectives and methods to evaluate them• Resources available (engines, crew members)• Desired and critical weather• Acceptable and expected fire behavior• Contingency plans (contact numbers, etc.)• Special precautions, smoke screening

Prescription– special precautions

• Threatened/ endangered species

• Potential for loss of control

• Firefighter/ firelighter safety

• Smoke mapping of sensitive areas

Most deaths caused by fire in FL

Have little to do with the fire itself…Photo: Ramirez

Preparation • Develop burn plan• Notify those who might be impacted• Check weather• Obtain permit from DOF• Walk the lines• Check equipment • Brief the crew, address questions• Check weather!• Test burn

Execution

• Keep the Fire Behavior Triangle in mind at all times!

• Prescribed Fire Safety…

• All fire is inherently dangerous; fatalities have occurred on prescribed burns, during mop-up, and under routine conditions

• Trapped by erratic fire behavior• Equipment rolling over • Smoke/ carbon monoxide• Vehicle accidents• Aircraft (crashes, retardant drops)

• Heat exhaustion, heat stroke• On the fire line (mishandling tools, bee stings,

falls, rolling rocks, burns, falling tree limbs)

• PPE

PRESCRIBED FIRE SAFETY

PRESCRIBED FIRE SAFETY

Alertness - dull sensesAlertness - dull senses

Vision - difficult to discern colors, brightnessVision - difficult to discern colors, brightness

Time Perception - poor judgment of timeTime Perception - poor judgment of time

Fatigue - greater than expected for work productionFatigue - greater than expected for work production

Judgment - often contrary to training and safe Judgment - often contrary to training and safe

practicepractice

Muscular Coordination - difficulty in doing basic Muscular Coordination - difficulty in doing basic

taskstasks

Carbon Monoxide Carbon Monoxide EffectsEffects

Personal Protective Equipment

PRESCRIBED FIRE SAFETY 101

ookoutsookouts

ommunicationsommunications

scape Routesscape Routes

afety Zonesafety Zones

ight fire aggressively but ight fire aggressively but provide for safety first.provide for safety first.

nitiate all actions based on current and expected fire nitiate all actions based on current and expected fire weather.weather.

ecognize current weather conditions and obtain ecognize current weather conditions and obtain forecasts.forecasts.

nsure instructions are given and understood.nsure instructions are given and understood.

10 Fire Fighting Orders

btain current information on fire status.btain current information on fire status.

emain in communications with crew emain in communications with crew members/supervisor and adjoining forces.members/supervisor and adjoining forces.etermine escape routes and safety zones.etermine escape routes and safety zones.

stablish lookouts in potentially hazardous situations.etain control at all times.etain control at all times.

tay alert, keep calm, think clearly, act decisively.tay alert, keep calm, think clearly, act decisively.

10 Fire Fighting Orders

“WATCH-OUT SITUATIONS”

1. Fire not scouted and sized up. 2. In country not seen in daylight. 3. Safety zones and escape routes not identified. 4. Unfamiliar with weather and local factors

influencing fire behavior. 5. Uninformed on strategy, tactics and hazards. 6. Instructions and assignments not clear. 7. No communications link with crew members or

supervisor.

“WATCH-OUT SITUATIONS”

8. Fireline construction without safe anchor points. 9. Building fireline downhill with fire below. 10. Attempting frontal assault on fire. 11. Unburned fuel between you and fire. 12. Cannot see main fire, & not in contact with anyone

who can. 13. On a hillside where rolling material can ignite fuel below. 14. Weather getting hotter and drier.

“WATCH-OUT SITUATIONS”

15. Wind increases and/or changes direction. 16. Getting frequent spot fires across line. 17. Terrain and fuels make escape to safety zones

difficult. 18. Taking a nap near the fireline. 19. Personal protective equipment not available or

properly utilized. 20. Not familiar with equipment being operated.

Burn Unit, Recently Thinned, Compartment 14

LCES

Ignition techniques?

Special Hazards?Compartment 14Prescribed Burn

July ,2008

400 0 400 800 Feet

CompartmentFirelinesRoads

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SAFETY ZONE

SAFETY ZONE

SAFETY ZONE

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Wind

Setting the black line

• Videos from March 21st 2008, Compartment 8

Step 5. Evaluation

• Based on the objectives of your burn plan

• Should be measurable

• Inform future prescribed fire use (all aspects)

Percent Crown Volume ScorchMarch 21, 2008 Rx Burn, Compartment 8 Stand 195

N = 211 Trees Inventoried

0

10

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0 1-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-99 100

PCVS (%)

Fre

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•211 Tree Inventoried•20 trees at 100% PCVS•Predicted Mortality?•Mean PCVS = 35%

Field

References

• Whelan, R. J. 1995. The Ecology of Fire. Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom.

• Rowe, J. S. 1983. Concepts of fire effects on plant individuals and species. In The Role of Fire in Northern Circumplar Ecosystems, ed. Wein, R. W. & MacLean, D. A., pp 135-154. London: Wiley.

• Fire Effects Information Database: Everything you ever wanted to know about a particular species and its fire adaptations/ ecology!– http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/

• Youtube: Search “Wildland fire” and you’ll find all sorts of cool videos made by firefighters on the front line.