A rule-based fire spread model for simulating prescribed burns

Rabbit Rules is a rule-based fire spread model for prescribed burns that combines features of empirical and physical fire spread models to simulate complex fire behavior including some phenomena associated with coupled fire-atmosphere interactions. The model also serves as an emissions production model (EPM) for prescribed burns subject to a range of ignition methods over irregularly-shaped blocks of land that contain different types of fuels, variable terrain, and under time-varying local weather conditions. Rabbit Rules can also identify atmospheric “hot spots” via the surface pressure field and can count the number of rabbits (unit fire elements) per unit area. The potential of Rabbit Rules to identify updraft core number will be discussed. Rabbit Rules is demonstrated for an experimental prairie grass fire (FIREFLUX) conducted near Houston, TX, on 23 Feburary 2006.