FIRE SCIENCE
RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT WORKING TOGETHER FOR THE COMMON GOOD BY ROGER OTTMAR, MORGAN VARNER, KEVIN HIERS, KELLY CORNWALL AND JASON KLING
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etter understanding the physics of fire that will lead to improved operational tools for managing wildland fire often requires scientist and researchers to shift data gathering and instrumentation from the laboratory to an active wildland fire field environment. This provides the research community an opportunity to validate, fine tune and advance current operational fire and smoke tools to better support land managers and represent real world complexity. Since scientists often do not have the resources, jurisdiction, or fire management qualifications to establish research fires in the field, they rely on land management agencies and private landowners to support wildland fire research opportunities on incidents. Research objectives and the presence of numerous scientists can complicate burning operations, so it is imperative for
researchers to work closely with the fire managers to make sure their involvement does not negatively affect desired outcomes or accomplishments and cause unnecessary safety issues. A co-operative working relationship is critical if research is to be carried out and the results are to be useful to land management planning and execution. The science community in the United States embarked on an effort that is of utmost importance and of great consequences to land managers called the Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE). Following the development of a detailed and peer reviewed study plan, the project initiated the collection of large data sets from wildland fires that covered fuels, fire behavior, energy release, plume dynamics, meteorology, smoke, and fire effects. These data sets will be used to evaluate and advance operational fire and smoke models providing substantial benefit to land managers
Aspen sprouting after a stand-replacement prescribed fire during the fall of 2018, which followed a stand-replacement prescribed fire in June 2016, on the Richfield Ranger District, Fishlake National Forest, Utah. Photo by Roger Ottmar, USDA Forest Service
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