Influence of coupled topographic/atmospheric effects on the effectiveness of fuel treatments in complex topography

This paper discusses several fuel treatment studies in rugged topography that were performed using the FIRETEC model. Several locations in the mountains of northern New Mexico with a mixture of fuel types were selected by local stakeholders. Satellite and ground assessed-fuels, historical atmospheric conditions, and actual topographic data for the selected locations are used to drive hypothetical wildfires in order to assess the impact of various proposed thinning strategies. The simulations are performed with FIRETEC, a physics-based coupled atmosphere/wildfire model. The effects of thinning treatments on both fire behavior and fuel consumption are studied.