Background
The
2000 and 2001 fire seasons brought to the forefront the
issue of severe wildland fires in the United States. Safe
and effective fire management and the use of fire as a
tool for ecosystem health depend on
understanding
how the atmosphere interacts with fires and
having
state-of-the-art fire management tools that reflect our
understanding of fire-atmosphere interactions.
The 2001
U.S. National Fire Plan (NFP) recognized the need
for new research and for the development of predictive
models for managing wildland fires. It acknowledged that a
key component of this effort must address fire-weather
prediction, fire-atmosphere interactions, and smoke
transport/diffusion prediction.
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