How do we know that fuels require management?
Analysis
-Review of existing and forecasted issues relating to fuels buildup: Legislative or policy requirement
Observation
-Observed changes in fuel structure
Experience
-Wildfire occurrence in fuel types that dictate treatment
How do fuel management concerns arise?
- Changes in stand structure
- anthropogenic disturbance such as harvesting or land clearing
- pathological or entomological effects
- Cataclysmic event
- From existing fire risks
- From emerging fire risks (Climate change)
How are key assessment elements weighted?
- Need to look at past fire occurrences and resultant fire behaviour for specific types.
- May need to look beyond the site to assess fuels at a landscape level.
What is fire hazard relative to fuel management?
-degree to which the fuels present on a given site will support fire ignition and contribute to wildfire spread
What are some fire hazard considerations by fuel type?
- Ease of ignition
- Difficulty to control a fire once it starts
- Area and shape of the “fuel polygon”
- species/volume/age/etc
give some examples of hazard relative to fuel management
- Slash created by harvesting or land clearing
- Slash or limbs created by pruning, juvenile spacing or similar silvicultural treatment
- Large area of insect attack (beetle kill)
- Large area of pathological attack (root rot)
- Major natural events (windstorm/quake)
- Encroaching species (Non native invasives)
- Fuel loading (from cumulative effect of years of fire suppression)
-Risk of Fire ignition on an area is related to?
- Dry lightning
- Wet lightning
- Frequency of high risk
- Frequency of human activity
- Aspect and slope of an area
- A spike in the frequency of one type of ignition. (serial arson)
- Change in access to an area
- Power lines through an area
- Rail lines
How can Hazard and Risk determination assist in fuel management?
- Determining hazard describes species, type, volume arrangement.
- Determining risk describes the likelihood of fire ignition on present and adjacent fuels.
- Combining hazard and risk provides a clear picture of how easily a fire will start.
What are risk reduction strategies?
-Practices that will reduce the impact of risks.
What is abatement?
CIFFC Definition: treatment of living or dead forest fuels to diminish the likelihood of a fire starting, and to lessen the potential rate of spread and resistance to control.
How is abatement carried out?
Mechanically or by controlled burns
Where is abatement most necessary?
- Near roadsides and landings
- near community values
- In known fire prone areas
- In high public use area
- Where industrial activities will be ongoing
- where there has been extensive pathological or insect infestation
- In areas where prolonged serious fire weather is expected
Outline mechanical abatement
- Physical manipulation of the fuel
- Entails use of heavy equipment
- -Bunching, Piling, Windrowing, chipping, grinding, removal
- Entails hand tools
- -Lop and scatter, fall and buck etc
- Costly
- Must not degrade site
Outline abatement by burning
- Arrangement of fuels is very important
- must be in accordance with regulations
- Must not degrade site
- Requires fire fighting resources to control burn
- May require burn plan and contingency plan
Outline combination use of mechanical and burning abatement
- Very effective
- very costly
- Reduced risk of fire escape
- Not suitable for large areas
What must be done after abatement?
Must assess the abatement to determine whether objectives were met or not.
- Re evaluation of hazard and risk
- must identify improvements in practices
- Must be documented and satisfy regulations in Wildfire act
describe some harvest methods related to fuel management.
Full Tree Yarding
-skid full tree length and buck at landing
-majority of debris concentrated at landings (Tops and Limbs)
High lead/Cable yarding
-Bucked timber prior to yarding
-Typically means slash distributed across the cutblock and usually large landings
-large timber
Hoe Forwarding
-bucked and limbed across block
-many piles scattered throughout block
Feller Buncher/ Processor
-large accumulations of wood across block from mobile processors where they are set up
Heli Logging
-No road access
-bucked and limbed on site
-Hard to access debris for piling and abatement.
