Spruce habitat type where succession or natural disturbance
can produce a heavy downed fuel load
Fuel Model 10 - full description
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Spruce habitat type where succession or natural disturbance
can produce a heavy downed fuel load
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The fires burn in the surface and ground fuels with greater fire intensity than the other timber litter models. Dead-down fuels include greater quantities of 3-inch (7.6-cm) or larger limbwood resulting from overmaturity or natural events that create a large load of dead material on the forest floor. Crowning out, spotting, and torching of individual trees are more frequent in this fuel situation, leading to potential fire control difficulties. Any forest type may be considered if heavy down material is present; examples are insect- or disease-ridden stands, windthrown stands, overmature situations with deadfall, and aged light thinning or partial-cut slash.
Fuel model values for estimating fire behavior:
- Total fuel load, < 3-inch dead and live, tons/acre 12.0
- Dead fuel load, 1/4-inch, tons/acre 3.0
- Live fuel load, foliage, tons/acre 2.0
- Fuel bed 1.0
(Source: "Aids to Determining Fuel Models for Estimating Fire Behavior, Hal Anderson, National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 1982.)