Pacific Southwest

Title: Potential fire behavior in California: an atlas and guide for forest and brushland managers

Author: Ryan, Bill C.

Date: 1984

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-77. Berkeley, Calif.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exp. Stn. 15 p

Station ID: GTR-PSW-077

Description: Potential fire characteristics can be estimated as functions of weather, fuel, and terrain slope. Such information is needed by forest and other land managers--especially for anticipating fire suppression needs and planning prescribed burns. To provide this information, an Atlas has been developed for California. The Atlas includes statistical analyses of spread component, burning index, ignition component, temperature, relative humidity, dead fuel moisture, live woody fuel moisture, live herbaceous fuel moisture, precipitation, windspeed and direction for 200 fire-danger rating stations in California. Charts and information for one of the stations included in the Atlas--Mount Hebron in northern California--serve as an example of this application.

Keywords: fire management, prescribed burning, fuel moisture, forest climatology, potential fire characteristics

View and Print this Publication (550 KB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• You may send email to pubrequest@fs.f ed.us to request a hard copy of this publication. (Please specify exactly which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Ryan, Bill C.  1984.  Potential fire behavior in California: an atlas and guide for forest and brushland managers.   Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-77. Berkeley, Calif.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Exp. Stn. 15 p.