| BehavePlus
fire modeling system |
| This
paper is an overivew of BehavePlus. It includes a description of the relationship
of BehavePlus to other fire behavior systems and a table of the mathematical models
that form the basis of the system. |
 | Andrews,
P. L. (2007) BehavePlus fire modeling system: Past, present, and future. In ‘Proceedings
of 7th Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorological Society’. 23-25 October 2007,
Bar Harbor, Maine. http://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/126669.pdf
(647 KB; 13 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| The
User's Guide describes operation of the BehavePlus program. It does not
describe specific modeling capabilities of the system. The User's Guide is packaged
with the program and is accessible through the Help button. |
 | Andrews,
P. L., C. D. Bevins, and R. C. Seli. (2008) BehavePlus fire modeling system, version
4.0: User's Guide. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-106WWW Revised. Ogden, UT:
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Research Station. (5,872
KB; 116 pages) [ PDF ]
This document is also available from
the RMRS Publications website: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr106.html,
and
TreeSearch: http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/5488.
|
| The Variables paper is a reference document
that describes the 181 variables in BehavePlus, with information on input and
output relationships. It is packaged with the program and is accessible through
the Help button. |
 | Andrews,
P. L. (2008) BehavePlus fire modeling system, version 4.0: Variables. General
Technical Report RMRS-GTR-213WWW. Fort Collins, CO: Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Research Station. (6,556 KB; 107 pages) [ PDF ]
This document is also available from
the RMRS Publications website: http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr213.html,
and
TreeSearch: http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/30565.
|
| This poster (PDF reduced to 8.5" x 11")
is an overview of BehavePlus. It includes a brief description of each module.
|
 | Andrews,
P. L., C.D. Bevins, and R.C. Seli (2007) BehavePlus fire modeling system, version
4.0 overview. In ‘2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference: The Fire Environment—Innovations,
Management, and Policy’. 26-30 March 2007, Destin, Florida. (176 KB) [ PDF ]
A larger version can be downloaded for Microsoft PowerPoint. (26.5
MB) [ PPT ] |
| This
poster (PDF reduced to 8.5" x 11") is an overview of application of
BehavePlus to prescribed fire planning. |
 | Andrews,
P. L. and T.M. Kelley (2007) Use of the BehavePlus fire modeling system for prescribed
fire planning. In ‘2nd Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference: The Fire Environment—Innovations,
Management, and Policy’. 26-30 March 2007, Destin, Florida. (174 KB) [ PDF ]
A
larger version can be downloaded for Microsoft PowerPoint. (9.86 MB) [ PPT ]
|
| |
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| Fire
behavior prediction |
| |
 | The
basics of fire behavior prediction are described in this publication.
Rothermel,
R. C. (1983) How to predict the spread and intensity of forest and range fires.
U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-143. Ogden, UT. (6,769 KB; 161
pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | The
surface fire spread model is for steady-state spread. This paper describes considerations
when the ignition pattern is used to affect fire behavior.
Rothermel,
R. C. (1984) Fire behavior consideration of aerial ignition. In Workshop:
Prescribed Fire by Aerial Ignition. Missoula, MT (Intermountain Fire Council)
(905 KB; 16 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Rothermel,
R. C. and G. C. Rinehart (1983) Field procedures for verification and adjustment
of fire behavior predictions. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-142.
Ogden, UT. (993 KB; 25 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Wells,
G. (2008) The Rothermel Fire-Spread Model: Still Running Like a Champ. JFSP
Fire Science Digest 2: 1-12. (1,506 KB; 12 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | Andrews,
P. A., M. Finney, and M. Fischetti. (2007) Predicting Wildfires. Scientific
American July: 46-55. (782 KB; 8 pages) [ PDF ]
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| |
| |
| The
old BEHAVE fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system |
| The BURN subsystem of BEHAVE consisted of the
FIRE1 and FIRE2 programs, the fire behavior prediction part of BEHAVE. Discussion
of the models in these papers is still valid for BehavePlus. |
 | Andrews,
P. L. (1986) BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system - BURN
subsystem, part 1. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-194. Ogden,
UT. (3,678 KB; 133 pages) [ PRI]
[ OCR
]
|
| |
 | Andrews,
P. L. and C. H. Chase. (1989) BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling
system - BURN subsystem, part 2. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report
INT-260. Ogden, UT. (14,596 KB; 96 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Andrews,
P. L. and L. S. Bradshaw. (1990) RXWINDOW: Defining windows of acceptable burning
conditions based on desired fire behavior. U.S. Forest Service General Technical
Report INT-273. Ogden, UT. (2,479 KB; 54 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| The FUEL subsystem of BEHAVE consisted of the
NEWMDL and TSTMDL programs, which were used to develop custom fuel models for
surface fire. The information in these papers is still valid for BehavePlus. |
 | Burgan,
R. E. and R. C. Rothermel. (1984) BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling
system - FUEL subsystem. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-167.
Ogden, UT. (5,900 KB; 110 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Burgan,
R. E. (1987) Concepts and interpreted examples in advanced fuel modeling. U.S.
Forest Service General Technical Report INT-238. Ogden, UT. (1,802 KB; 44 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
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| Surface
fire |
| |
 | Rothermel's
1972 surface fire spread model is the foundation of BehavePlus and many other
systems used in the U.S.
Rothermel, R. C. (1972) A mathematical model
for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels. U.S. Forest Service General Technical
Report INT-115, Ogden, UT. (1,925 KB; 50 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Andrews,
P. L., and R. C. Rothermel. (1982) Charts for interpreting wildland fire behavior
characteristics. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-131. Ogden,
UT. (472 KB; 24 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Roussopoulos,
P. J. (1974) Fire intensity levels, initial summary. National Fuel Management
Workshop. (142 KB; 3 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
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 | Rothermel,
R. C. and J. E. Deeming. (1980) Measuring and interpreting fire behavior for correlation
with fire effects. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-93. Ogden,
UT. (325 KB; 3 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
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| Crown
fire |
| |
 | Rothermel.
R. C. (1991) Predicting behavior and size of crown fires in the Northern Rocky
Mountains. U.S. Forest Service Research Paper INT-438. Ogden, UT. (3,315 KB; 46
pages) [ PDF ]
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| Fuel |
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 | The
13 standard fire behavior fuel models are described.
Anderson, H. E.
(1982) Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior. U.S. Forest
Service General Technical Report INT-122. Ogden, UT. (1,856 KB; 28 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | The
40 additional standard fire behavior fuel models are described.
Scott,
J. H.; Burgan, R. E. (2005) Standard fire behavior fuel models: a comprehensive
set for use with Rothermel's surface fire spread model. U.S. Forest Service General
Technical Report RMRS-GTR-153. Ogden, UT. (1,359 KB; 80 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | A
special case 'fuel model' was developed for Palmetto-Gallberry. It is an option
in BehavePlus.
Hough, W.A. and F.A. Albini. (1978) Predicting fire
behavior in palmetto-gallberry fuel complexes. U.S. Forest Service General Technical
Report SE-174. Asheville, NC. (6,248 KB; 46 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | A
special case 'fuel model' was developed for western aspen. The publication includes
photographs and fire modeling methods.
Brown, J. K. and D. G. Simmerman.
(1986) Appraising fuels and flammability in western aspen: a prescribed fire guide.
U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-205. Ogden, UT. (6,770 KB;
51 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Five
custom chaparral fuel models are available with BehavePlus in the SoCalifornia
folder.
Weise, D. (1997) Fuel modeling efforts for chaparral. Resource
Management: The Fire Element Spr/Sum: 4-5. (184 KB; 2 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| BehavePlus offers three methods for modeling
spread through two fuel models. The 'area weighted' method was used in the old
BEHAVE system. The '2-dimensional expected spread' is the recommended method. |
 | Finney,
M. (2003) Calculation of fire spread rates across random landscapes. International
Journal of Wildland Fire 12: 167-174. (2,061 KB; 10 pages)
[ PDF ]
|
| |
 | This
paper describes the method of modeling spread through two fuel models called 'harmonic
mean'.
Fujioka, F. M. (1985) Estimating wildland fire rate of spread
in a spatially non-uniform environment. Forest Science 31:
21-29. (1,032 KB; 5 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Fahnestock,
G. R. (1970) Two keys for appraising forest fire fuels. U.S. Forest Service Research
Paper PNW-99. Portland, OR. (2,208 KB; 26 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
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| Fuel
moisture |
| |
 | Burgan,
R. E. (1979) Estimating live fuel moisture for the 1978 National Fire Danger Rating
System. U.S. Forest Service Research Paper INT-226. Ogden, UT. (784 KB; 16 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
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| Fire
shape and growth |
| Anderson
developed a double ellipse method for estimating fire shape. BehavePlus uses a
simple ellipse. |
 | Anderson,
H. E. (1983) Predicting wind-driven wild land fire size and shape. U.S. Forest
Service General Technical Report INT-305. Ogden, UT. (7,278 KB; 30 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Rothermel,
R.C., R.A. Hartford, and C.H. Chase (1994) Fire growth maps for the 1988 Greater
Yellowstone Area fires. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-304.
Ogden, UT. (3,269 KB; 64 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
| |
| Midflame
wind speed |
| Adjustment
of 20-foot wind speed to midflame wind speed. |
 | Baughman,
R. G. and F. A. Albini. (1980) Estimating midflame windspeeds. In Sixth Conference
on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Seattle, WA (Society of American Foresters)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Albini,
F. A. and Baughman, R. G. (1979) Estimating windspeeds for predicting wildland
fire behavior. U.S. Forest Service Research Paper INT-221. Ogden, UT. (1,179 KB;
12 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
| |
| Spotting
distance |
| |
 | Albini,
F. A. (1979) Spot fire distance from burning trees – a predictive model.
U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-56. Ogden, UT. (2,850KB; 73 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Albini,
F. A. (1983) Potential spotting distance from wind-driven surface fires. U.S.
Forest Service Research Paper INT-309. Ogden, UT. (979 KB; 27 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Chase,
C. H. (1981) Spot fire distance equations for pocket calculators. U.S. Forest
Service Research Note INT-310. Ogden, UT. (21 pages)
|
| |
 | Chase,
C. H. (1984) Spotting distance from wind-driven surface fires – extensions
of equations for pocket calculators. U.S. Forest Service Research Note INT-346.
Ogden, UT. (654 KB; 21 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
| |
| Fire
containment |
| |
 | Used
in the CONTAIN module of BehavePlus.
Fried, J. S. and B. D. Fried. (1996)
Simulating wildfire containment with realistic tactics. Forest Science
42 (3): 267-281. (313 KB; 15 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | Used
in the CONTAIN module of the old BEHAVE system.
Albini, F. A., G. N. Korovin,
and E. H. Gorovaya (1978) Mathematical analysis of forest fire suppression. U.S.
Forest Service Research Paper INT-207. Ogden, UT. (961 KB; 26 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Albini,
F. A. and C. H. Chase (1980) Fire containment equations for pocket calculators.
U.S. Forest Service Research Note INT-268. Ogden, UT. (844 KB; 18 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
| |
| Safety
zones |
| Safety
zone size is in the SAFETY module of BehavePlus. |
 | Butler,
B. W. and J. D. Cohen. (1998a) Firefighter safety zones: how big is big enough?
Fire Management Notes 58(1): 13-16. (71 KB; 4 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | Butler,
B. W. and J. D. Cohen. (1998b) Firefighter safety zones: a theoretical model based
on radiative heating. International Journal of Wildland Fire 8:
73-77. (364 KB; 5 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
| |
| Probability
of ignition |
| |
 | Probability
of ignition from lightning.
Latham, D. J. and J. A. Schlieter. (1989)
Ignition probablities of wildland fuels based on simulated lightning discharges.
U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-411, Ogden, UT. (279 KB; 20 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Probability
of ignition from firebrands.
Schroeder, M.J. (1969) Ignition probablity.
U.S. Forest Service Office Report 2106-1, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station, Fort Collins, CO (661 KB; 27 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
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| |
| |
| Spatial
fire behavior systems |
| |
 | FlamMap
does BehavePlus-type calculations for every pixel on the landscape. FlamMap also
includes modeling for optimum fuel tremtment location.
Finney, M. A.
(2006) An overview of FlamMap fire modeling capabilities. U.S. Forest Service
Proceedings RMRS-P-41, Ogden, UT. (888 KB; 8 pages) [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | FARSITE
models fire growth across the landscape.
Finney, M. A. (1998, Revised
2004) FARSITE: fire area simulator - model development and evaluation. U.S. Forest
Service General Technical Report RMRS-RP-4Rev. Ogden, UT. (1,626 KB; 52 pages)
[ PDF ]
|
| |
| |
| Past
fire behavior modeling systems |
| |
 | The
FIREMOD program included Rothermel's spread model and other models.
Albini,
F. A. (1976) Computer-based models of wildland fire behavior: a user's manual.
U.S. Forest Service. Ogden, UT. (1,611 KB; 71 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Original
publication of the nomograms.
Albini, F. A. (1976) Estimating wildfire
behavior and effects. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-30. Ogden,
UT. (4,964 KB; 97 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Burgan,
R. E. (1979) Fire danger / fire behavior computations with the Texas Instruments
TI-59 calculator: user's manual. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report
INT-61. Ogden, UT. (1,150 KB; 25 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Burgan,
R. E. and R. A. Susott. (1986) HP-71 replaces TI-59 for fire calculations in the
field. Fire Management Notes 47(2): 11-13. [ PDF ]
|
| |
 | Susott,
R. and R. Burgan. (1986) Fire behavior computations with the Hewlett-Packard HP71B
calculator. U.S. Forest Service General Technical Report INT-202. Ogden, UT. (2,370
KB; 80 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
| |
| Fire
weather |
| |
 |
Schroeder,
M. J. and C. C. Buck. (1979) Fire Weather. U.S. Forest Service Agriculture Handbook
360, PMS 425-1, Washington, DC. (229 pages)
- Complete
"Fire Weather" book. [ PDF ]
(16,576 KB; pp. I-III and 1-229; Warning: This document may take a long
time to load.)
- Front Matter & Chapter
1 - Basic Principles [ PDF ]
(pp. I-III, 1-18)
- Chapter 2 - Temperature [ PDF ]
(pp. 19-32)
- Chapter 3 - Atmospheric Moisture [ PDF ]
(pp. 33-48)
- Chapter 4 - Atmospheric Stability [ PDF ]
(pp. 49-67)
- Chapter 5 - General Circulation [ PDF ]
(pp. 68-84)
- Chapter 6 - General Winds [ PDF ]
(pp. 85-106)
- Chapter 7 - Convective Winds [ PDF ]
(pp. 107-126)
- Chapter 8 - Air Masses and Fronts
[ PDF ]
(pp. 127-143)
- Chapter 9 - Clouds and Precipitation
[ PDF ]
(pp. 144-165)
- Chapter 10 - Thunderstorms [ PDF ]
(pp. 166-179)
- Chapter 11 - Weather and Fuel Moisture
[ PDF ]
(pp. 180-195)
- Chapter 12 - Fire Climate Regions
[ PDF ]
(pp. 196-220)
- Index [ PDF ]
(pp. 221-229)
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| Fire
fundamentals, historical |
| |
 | Barrows,
J.S. (1951) Fire behavior in Northern Rocky Mountain Forests. Station Paper 29.
U.S. Forest Service Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
Missoula, MT. (9,119 KB; 134 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 |
Anonymous.
(no date) Hot facts of life on the fire line. U.S. Forest Service Northern Region.
Missoula, MT. (426 KB; 16 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
We
suspect this document was developed during the World War II era because of the
following statement, found on page 1: "The fellow who used to fight fires has
gone to war.... IT'S UP TO YOU. IT'S YOUR WAR JOB. More specifically,
the document was most likely written between 1942 and 1945, since the first smokejumper
fire jumps were made in 1940 and cuffless "victory" trousers were mandated by
the War Production Board, which was established in 1942. (Goodwin, 1994. No
Ordinary Time. Franklin and Elenaor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II).
The War Production Board was disbanded in 1945, shortly after the war ended (Wikipedia)."
|
| |
| The following
13 publications are part of a group designed to describe important concepts of
fire behavior and the application of these concepts to wildland fire problems.
The level of difficulty is signaled by the color of the cover: the blue cover
group is generally elementary and the yellow cover group is generally intermediate. |
 | Countryman,
C. M. (1971) This humidity business: what it is all about and its use in fire
control (blue cover). U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment
Station. Berkeley, CA. (713 KB; 18 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Countryman,
C. M. (1971) Fire whirls...why, when, and where (blue cover). U.S. Forest Service
Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, CA. (1,546 KB;
14 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Countryman,
C. M. (1971) Carbon monoxide: a firefighting hazard (yellow cover). U.S. Forest
Service Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, CA. (812
KB; 8 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Countryman,
C. M. (1972) The fire environment concept (blue cover). U.S. Forest Service Pacific
Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, CA. (1,291 KB; 15 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Countryman,
C. M. (1975-1976) Heat — its role in wildland fire (blue cover). U.S. Forest
Service Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, CA.
- Part 1 — The nature of heat (1975) (377 KB; 10 pages)
[ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
2 — Heat conduction (1976) (349 KB; 9 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
3 — Heat conduction and wildland fire (1976) (665 KB; 14 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
4 — Radiation (1976) (455 KB; 10 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
5 — Radiation and wildland fire (1976) (606 KB; 14 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
|
| |
 | Countryman,
C. M. (1977-1978) Heat and wildland fire (yellow cover). U.S. Forest Service Pacific
Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, CA. - Part
1 — The nature of heat (1977) (343 KB; 13 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
2 — Heat conduction (1977) (226 KB; 10 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
3 — Heat conduction and wildland fire (1977) (646 KB; 17 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
- Part
4 — Radiation (1978) (470 KB; 10 pages) [ PRI ]
[ OCR ]
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BehavePlus 
