Fire behavior in mature jack pine

Between 1973 and 1983 a series of 12 experimental fires, each 0.4 ha in size, was conducted in a mature jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) stand (1899 origin) in north central Ontario. The fires were carried out under a broad range of burning conditions to gather quantitative fire behavior data for forest fire management purposes. Fire weather severity, as expressed through the component codes and indices of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System, was strongly correlated with fire behavior and impact characteristics (i.e., rate of spread, depth of burn, fuel consumption, and frontal fire intensity). Guidelines for the quantitative prediction of the fire behavior in major Canadian forest fuel types are currently being developed, primarily on the basis of this type of experimental fire data combined with information gathered on selected wildfires.