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Fire Behavior and Effects Research under the National Fire Plan

Understand, Model, Monitor, and Predict Fuel Characteristics, Fire Behavior, and fire Effects to achieve objectives of the National Fire Plan – We will develop process-based (mechanistic) approaches to predicting fuel characteristics, predicting and monitoring fire behavior, and understanding fire effects. Although we focus on Appalachian forests, our goal is to develop generally applicable tools and models. We use in-fire and airborne monitoring to characterize fuel consumption and smoke emissions and develop fire modules for process-based ecosystem models. We collaborate to develop predictive models of tree injury and mortality and smoke effects on endangered Indiana bats. Our work contributes to wildland fire forensics.

Selected Research

• Fire Effects in Eastern Forests
• Fuels and Fire Behavior in Eastern Hardwoods