Schedule fuel treatments to fragment high fire hazard fuel patches

Abstract

Fuel treatment is an important component of wildland fire management. This research revised and applied a mathematical programming model to schedule fuel treatment to fragment fuel patches with high fire intensity hazard. It differs from many previous fuel treatment scheduling models that aimed at detailed fire spread control. This new approach does not rely on the accurate prediction of future fire spread direction, speed and duration. Preliminary analyses suggested that scheduling fuel treatment to fragment high fire hazard fuel patches has similar effects as scheduling fuel treatment to control fires with very long fire duration. Both modeling strategies could effectively lower the risk of future fires with various spread directions, spread speeds and durations. Tests also suggested that fuel treatment layouts designed to control fires with short durations might not perform well when the actual fire duration is much longer that it is planned for. This research presented a new and practical approach in patch oriented fuel management.