Abstract

ORTIZ-MENDOZA, Rubén et al. Fire behavior and litter layer consumption in pine-fir and pine-oak forests. Rev. mex. de cienc. forestales [online]. 2024, vol.15, n.86, pp.77-100.  Epub Mar 03, 2025. ISSN 2007-1132.  https://doi.org/10.29298/rmcf.v15i86.1485.

Fuel load, topography, and fuel moisture influence fire behavior. Knowing these relationships allows us to identify the fire behavior according to the tree community, and whether or not their heterogeneity corresponds to different forest fuel beds. This will help define the need to establish different fuel management actions depending on the tree community. This work aimed to evaluate the fire spread, flame geometry, and consumption of the pine-fir and pine-oak litter layers in order to determine whether they correspond to the same fuel bed. Controlled burning of the litter layer was carried out on slopes of 0°, 10°, and 20°. Different fire behaviors were observed among tree communities (p<0.05) but without variation in fuel consumption. The propagation rate, flame length, flame height, and fire Index increased according to the slope, while the flame separation angle decreased. Litter load was positively correlated with flame height, flame length, and fire Index in pine-fir forest. Fitted models indicated that fire intensity increased exponentially with flame length and logistically with the fire spread. Heterogeneous fire behavior among tree communities suggests that they correspond to different fuel beds, with a significant influence of slope on fire behavior.

Keywords : Fuel bed; tree community; wildfire; fire spread; needle burning; Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

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