Chapter 9: Landscape Fire Simulation and Fuel Treatment Optimization

Fuel treatment effects on the growth and behavior of large wildland fires depend on the spatial arrangements of individual treatment units. Evidence of this is found in burn patterns of wildland fires. During planning stages, fire simulation is most often used to anticipate effects of fuel treatment units. Theoretical modeling shows that random patterns are inefficient in changing large-fire growth rates compared to strategic designs. For complex landscapes, computational methods are being developed to identify optimal placement of fuel treatment units that collectively disrupt fire growth similarly to the strategic patterns. By combining these algorithms with forest simulations over long periods (say 50 years), the long-term effects of various treatment strategies can be compared.