Fire Types and Fighting Fire
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Transcript Fire Types and Fighting Fire
Teacher Information!
Necessary materials:
PowerPoint Guide
Wildland Fire Types and Fighting
Fire
Pgs 283-289 in Ch.22 of Managing Our Natural
Resources
Rangelands, Forests, & Fire
Students will be able to…
Describe the types of wildland fires.
Discuss fire suppression.
Who started the fire?
Wildfires may be
Natural mainly lightning
or…
Human-caused
Incendiary-the unlawful setting of fire
Includes arson and escaped planned fires
Unattended campfires
Types of Wildland Fires
3 types based on fire intensity
Ground fire
Surface fire
Crown fire
Fire intensity the rate a fire produces heat
measured as temperature or heat yield
Ground Fires
Burn the organic materials beneath the surface
litter of the forest floor
Fuels like peat, coal, tree roots
Common in wet, boggy areas
Smoldering fire, usually no flames
Very high heat kills root systems
Surface Fires
Burn surface litter and small vegetation
Forest canopy is not generally burned
Most fires begin as surface fires
Easiest to control
Crown Fires
Burn from top to top of trees or shrubs
Most dangerous type of fire
Can easily spread due to wind
Anatomy of a Fire
Head the most active part of a fire; a fire
can have more than one
Rear: the slowest burning part of a fire
Flank: the sides of the fire, between the
head and the rear
Flank
Rear
Burned area
Wind
Head
Fire Anatomy Influenced by:
Air movement horizontal & vertical
movement of air & wind speed
Fire season July-September in Idaho
Topography
Steeper slopes = faster fire, more updrafting
winds
Presences of roads, streams = fire barriers
Fire Behavior
These factors that affect fire anatomy result
in fire behavior
The rate of spread or speed of a fire
Fire intensity
Some conditions can decrease the rate of
spread
Rain
Wind reversal
Increased relative humidity
Fuel Types
Influence fire behavior
Two types
Ground fuels peat, duff, tree roots, leaves,
dead grass, weeds, low shrubs
Aerial fuels burnable material in canopies
above 6 ft from the ground
Wildfire Detection
Lookout towers
An alidade determine the azimuth of a
detected fire from two lookout towers
Triangulation 2 azimuths taken from two
towers pinpoints fire location
Telephone reports from motorists
Wildfire Detection
Fire-watch planes
Remote sensing equipment
Satellite imaging systems
Preventing Wildfire
Education campaigns
Smokey Bear
Keep America Green
Thinning
Prescribed burning
National Fire Danger Rating System
Fire danger indices
Suppressing Wildfire
Direct attack
Indirect attack Removes fuel from the
fire triangle
The flames are attacked
Fire lanes
Fire barriers
Backfire
Mopping up Patrolling the fire line
after the fire is under control
Review
Describe the types of wildland fires.
Discuss fire suppression.