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Montana wildfire observations will increase understanding of fire behavior in changing Western forests
The Saddle Complex fire burned so intensely that it created its own weather, which further fueled the fire. PHOTO COURTESY MAGGIE MILLIGAN.
By Bob Berwyn
SUMMIT COUNTY — Fire experts said they were surprised by the intensity of a pair of fires that burned in Montana this summer during less-than-extreme fire weather. The fire moved through areas of beetle-killed lodgepole faster than some previous fire modeling suggested.
The rapid spread of the two fires was probably the result of a perfect mix of fuels, including recent beetle-killed lodgepole pine with flammable red needles, stands of older beetle-kill in the gray stage. Live trees and an a full-grown understory that provided ladder fuels.
The observations could help experts gain a better understanding of how fires will behave in beetle-killed forests. Some previous fire observations, in Yellowstone, for example, suggested that pure stands of dead gray-stage lodgepoles could actually slow the spread of a blaze, and some fire modeling has also suggested that the gray trees are not as susceptible to fire. (more…)
Filed under: Environment, forest fires, forests, US Forest Service | Tagged: beetle kill, Idaho, Lodgepole Pine, Montana, Mountain pine beetle, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Saddle Complex Fire, Salt Fire, United States Forest Service, Wildfires, William Jolly | Leave a Comment »
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