Understanding wildfire risk is only the first step—turning that knowledge into an efficient plan is the real challenge. Designing treatments that reduce fire intensity to manageable levels without over-clearing the landscape is difficult without modeling the expected results.
We can help by identifying primary fire flow paths and proposing targeted fuels treatments that interrupt them. We then adjust the fuels data to reflect post-treatment conditions and re-run the same ignition scenarios to measure the change in fire behavior. This process can be repeated to find the most cost-effective treatments that achieve the desired reduction in risk.
These modeled results carry significant weight when competing for limited fuels grant funding and can also be submitted to federal land managers during public comment periods on land-management plan revisions.
Example Fuels Treatment
Pre-Treatment Flame Lengths
In the pre-treatment landscape, the town (shown with a black-and-white border) is flanked to the southwest by an area that produces extreme flame lengths greater than 15 feet under high-end fire weather.
Post-Treatment Flame Length
A fuels treatment was applied inside the purple boundary, converting the fuel model from TU5 (Very High Load, Dry Climate Timber-Shrub) to TL3 (Moderate Load Conifer Litter), reducing canopy cover to 50% or less, and limbing trees to 8 feet. This is predicted to drop flame lengths to 4 feet or less and greatly reduce torching and ember cast into town.
Pre-Treatment Burn Probability
While fire behavior inside the town itself would still benefit from Firewise practices, the treatment creates more manageable conditions for first responders on the adjacent ground. Before treatment, burn probability in town was very high because of the continuous, readily burnable fuels next to it.
Post-Treatment Burn Probability
After treatment, both flame lengths and burn probability drop sharply in the areas next to town. This reduces the chance that fire will reach properties even when some homeowners have not fully applied Firewise principles.
Check out the 100 Fires Project Treasure Hunt section to learn from our wildfire history. Can your crew be the first to solve it?
