Fuel Model 5 - full description

Chaparral along the western slope of the Sierra-Nevada Mountain Range.

Photo by Dave Sapsis

green, low shrub fields within timber stands.

regeneration shrublands after fire or other disturbances have a large green fuel component

Fire is generally carried in the surface fuels that are made up of litter cast by the shrubs and the grasses or forbs in the understory. The fires are generally not very intense because surface fuel loads are light, the shrubs are young with little dead material, and the foliage contains little volatile material. Usually shrubs are short and almost totally cover the area. Young, green stands with no dead wood would qualify: laurel, vine maple, alder, or even chaparral, manzanita, or chamise.

Fuel model values for estimating fire behavior:

- Total fuel load, < 3-inch dead and live, tons/acre 3.5
- Dead fuel load, 1/4-inch, tons/acre
- Live fuel load, foliage, tons/acre 2.0
- Fuel bed 2.0

(Source: "Aids to Determining Fuel Models for Estimating Fire Behavior, Hal Anderson, National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 1982.)

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