Fire Management today Volume 63 • No. 4 • Fall 2003 WILDLAND FIRE BEHAVIOR CASE STUDIES AND ANALYSES: PART 2 United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Editor’s note: This issue of Fire Management Today continues a series of reprinted articles, some of them decades old. Although the articles appear in today’s format, the text is reprinted largely verbatim and therefore reflects the style and usage of the time. We made minor wording changes for clarity, added inter- titles and metric conversions where needed, and occasionally broke up paragraphs to improve readability. All illustrations are taken from the original articles. Erratum In Fire Management Today 63(3) [Summer 2003], the article by Banks and Little contains an error noted in Fire Control Notes 26(1) [Winter 1965], page 15. The third sentence in column 3 on page 76 should read: “More recent burns that left some surface fuel remaining only reduced the damage, but others that removed nearly all the fuels did stop the fire.” Fire Management Today is published by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this Department. Fire Management Today is for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, at: Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: 202-512-1800 Fax: 202-512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 Fire Management Today is available on the World Wide Web at <http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fmt/>. Ann M. Veneman, Secretary April J. Baily U.S. Department of Agriculture General Manager Dale Bosworth, Chief Robert H. “Hutch” Brown, Ph.D. Forest Service Managing Editor Jerry Williams, Director Madelyn Dillon Fire and Aviation Management Editor Carol LoSapio Guest Editor Martin E. Alexander, Ph.D., and David A. Thomas Issue Coordinators The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family sta­ tus. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Disclaimer: The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Individual authors are responsible for the technical accuracy of the material presented in Fire Management Today. Fire today Management Volume 63 • No. 4 • Fall 2003 On the Cover: CONTENTS Wildland Fire Behavior Case Studies and Analyses: Other Examples, Methods, Reporting Standards, and Some Practical - Advice . 4 M.E. Alexander and D.A. Thomas The Carolina Blowup . 13 Keith A. Argow Black Wednesday in Arkansas and Oklahoma—1971 . 15 Rollo T. Davis and Richard M. Ogden Jet Stream Influence on the Willow Fire . 17 John H. Dieterich Smoke is drawn into the cen­ Predicting Major Wildland Fire Occurrence. 20 ter of a 3,200-acre (1,300-ha) Edward A. Brotak and William E. Reifsnyder prescribed burn unit on the The Bass River Fire: Weather Conditions Associated With a Fatal Lower Klamath National Fire. 25 Wildlife Refuge in California. E.A. Brotak The growing need for fire use The Mack Lake Fire . 29 Albert J. Simard nationwide makes it more Behavior of the Life-Threatening Butte Fire: August 27–29, 198531 important than ever for land Richard C. Rothermel and Robert W. Mutch managers to fully understand New Jersey, April 1963: Can It Happen Again? . 40 fire behavior. The photo was a Joseph Hughes winner in Fire Management Horizontal Vortices and the New Miner Fire . 45 Today’s photo contest for 2003 Donald A. Haines (see page 85 for more on the An Overview of the 1987 Wallace Lake Fire, Manitoba . 48 contest). Photo: Troy Portnoff, Kelvin G. Hirsch U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Documenting Wildfire Behavior: The 1988 Brereton Lake Fire, Tulelake, CA, 2002. Manitoba . 50 Kelvin G. Hirsch Horizontal Roll Vortices in Complex Terrain . 54 Donald A. Haines and L. Jack Lyon The FIRE 21 symbol (shown below and on the cover) stands for the safe and effective use of Fire Behavior in High-Elevation Timber . 56 wildland fire, now and throughout the 21st cen­ Mark Beighley and Jim Bishop tury. Its shape represents the fire triangle (oxy­ gen, heat, and fuel). The three outer red triangles The Haines Index and Idaho Wildfire Growth. 63 represent the basic functions of wildland fire organizations (planning, operations, and aviation Paul Werth and Richard Ochoa management), and the three critical aspects of Low-Level Weather Conditions Preceding Major Wildfires . 67 wildland fire management (prevention, suppres­ sion, and prescription). The black interior repre­ Edward A. Brotak sents land affected by fire; the emerging green Those Really Bad Fire Days: What Makes Them So Dangerous?72 points symbolize the growth, restoration, and sustainability associated with fire-adapted Dan Thorpe ecosystems. The flame represents fire itself as an ever-present force in nature. For more informa­ A Race That Couldn’t Be Won . 75 tion on FIRE 21 and the science, research, and Richard C. Rothermel and Hutch Brown innovative thinking behind it, contact Mike Apicello, National Interagency Fire Center, 208­ The South Canyon Fire Revisited: Lessons in Fire Behavior . 77 387-5460. Bret W. Butler, Roberta A. Bartlette, Larry S. Bradshaw, Jack D. Cohen, Patricia L. Andrews, Ted Putnam, Richard J. Mangan, and Hutch Brown Fire Management Today Announces Winners of 2003 Photo Contest . 85 Madelyn Dillon SHORT FEATURES Firefighter and public safety is Websites on Fire . 84 our first priority. Guidelines for Contributors . 90 Volume 63 • No. 4 • Fall 2003 3 WILDLAND FIRE BEHAVIOR CASE STUDIES AND ANALYSES: OTHER EXAMPLES, METHODS, REPORTING STANDARDS, AND SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE M.E. Alexander and D.A. Thomas ase studies done in one country can be applied to another, if The most important thing to record is the position Cfuel type characteristics are rel­ of the head fire at various times—the more evant, by interpreting burning con­ observations, the better. ditions through the other country’s fire danger rating system. case studies. In the last issue of the Lower Michigan (Simard and This special issue of Fire Manage­ journal, we cited some examples of others 1983); ment Today constitutes the second other sources (Alexander and • 1990 Dude Fire, northern installment of articles involving Thomas 2003). Others are cited Arizona (Goens and Andrews fire behavior case studies and below. 1998); and the analyses of wildland fires. All arti­ • 1994 South Canyon Fire, west- cles in this series appeared in past USDA Forest Service fire research­ central Colorado (Butler and oth­ issues of Fire Management Today ers, in collaboration with other ers 1998).* or its predecessors. The 18 articles investigators, have published a in this issue are in chronological number of case studies in the form In the 1990s, the National Fire order, from 1967 to 2001. of journal articles, conference Protection Association (NFPA) pro­ papers, and in-house station publi­ duced several case studies, in very In the lead article to the first cations. Notable examples include glossy formats, on the following installment (Fire Management studies on the: wildfires: Today, volume 63(3) [Summer 2003]), we overviewed the value, • 1965 Hellgate Fire, western • 1989 Black Tiger Fire, central approaches, and practical uses of Virginia (Taylor and Williams Colorado (NFPA 1990); fire behavior case studies and 1968); • 1990 Stephan Bridge Road Fire, analyses (Alexander and Thomas • 1966 Gaston Fire, central South northern Lower Michigan (NFPA 2003). Here we point out examples Carolina (DeCoste and others 1991); of case studies published elsewhere 1968); • 1991 Spokane area fires, north­ (both nationally and international­ • 1966 Loop Fire, southern eastern Washington (NFPA ly) and offer some general thoughts California (Countryman and oth­ 1992a); and on wildland fire behavior observa­ ers 1968); • 1991 Oakland–Berkeley Hills tion and documentation. • 1967 Sundance Fire, northern Fire, west-central California Idaho (Anderson 1968); (NFPA 1992b). Other Examples of • 1968 Canyon Fire, southern Case Studies California (Countryman and oth­ A few of these U.S. case studies are Fire Management Today and its ers 1969); available on the World Wide Web predecessors have certainly not • 1971 Little Sioux Fire, northeast­ or in hard copy for a nominal fee been the only source or outlet for ern Minnesota (Sando and through the National Fire Haines 1972); Equipment System (NFES 2003). Marty Alexander is a senior fire behavior • 1971 Air Force Bomb Range Fire, research officer with the Canadian Forest eastern North Carolina (Wade Service at the Northern Forestry Centre, and Ward 1973); * For an overview of this excellent publication, see the Edmonton, Alberta; and Dave Thomas is the very fine summary prepared by Butler and others regional fuels specialist for the USDA Forest • 1980 Mack Lake Fire, northern (2001) on page 77 in this issue of Fire Management Service, Intermountain Region, Ogden, UT. Today. Fire Management Today 4 The challenge of writing a case study report is to distill the mass of information into a coherent summary. Canadian Forest Service fire • 2002 Atawhai Fire, South Island 1. Detection, researchers have also formally pre­ of New Zealand (Peace and 2.