Rogue Valley Fire Prevention

Fuels & Fire

Fuel, weather, and terrain are all elements affecting fire behavior. 

Fuel is basically any potentially burnable material—trees, bushes, leaves, needles, dry grasses, firewood, shake roofing, wooden decks and other burnable structures. 

FUEL TYPES:

  • Surface Fuels: include dry grass, shrubs, pine needles, dead branches and twigs.  Surface fires tend to be relatively low-intensity fires, but homes are at risk if there are continuous fuels that can burn right up to the house.

  • Ladder Fuels: include tall brush, low branches, and other fuels that can carry fire from a low-intensity ground fire up into the tops of the trees, known as the crowns or canopies.
  • Crown Fuels: are flammable tops of trees and tall shrubs, also called canopies.  Once a wildfire becomes a crown fire, it spreads rapidly and reaches extreme intensity… During a high-intensity wildfire, homes are far more likely to be threatened by firebrands (burning embers) that can be carried more than a mile by strong winds and start separate fires that lead right up to the home.” 

WEATHER:

Dry, windy weather contributes significantly to the spread of wildfire.  Drought conditions accompanied by low humidity lead to dry vegetation that burns easily.  Wind can cause wildfires to grow quickly, to die down, or to change direction.  Wind can also carry firebrands long distances—up to a mile or more.

TERRAIN: 

Generally, fire moves more quickly uphill and has longer flames than on level ground or when spreading downhill.  Even the direction of the slope and how much sunlight or wind an area receives can impact fire behavior.

Info from: Firewise--Communities with nature

illustration: Ian Keusink