Critical Density in a Fire Spread Model with Varied Environmental Conditions

Small changes in spatial pattern on a landscape can sometimes produce dramatic ecological responses. Such transition ranges are associated with critical environmental conditions such as tree density. As the landscape becomes dissected into smaller patches of trees, landscape connectivity may suddenly become disrupted, which may have important consequences for the behaviors of forest fire, i.e., how it spreads. Landscape connectivity depends not only on the tree density but also many other environmental conditions such as land height, flammability, and wind conditions. To determine how the critical densities are affected by the changes in these conditions, we developed a fire spread simulation model that takes into account some major environmental factors that influence fire growth. By varying these variables under controlled conditions, this research aims to show how varied environmental conditions affect the critical density, and hence influence the spread and growth of fire.