Tree-centered spot firing - a technique for prescribed burning beneath standing trees.

Prescribed burning beneath standing trees normally requires efforts to protect residual trees from excessive fire damage. Damage to both crowns and boles is strongly influenced by flame length, a fire characteristic functionally related to fireline intensity (Albini 1976). In a good prescribed burn, therefore, the prescription specifies desired or maximum flame lengths consistent with an acceptable level of tree damage, and firing techniques are selected and used so as to achieve those target flame lengths. Backing or strip-head fires, or combinations of the two, are the techniques generally employed in prescribed burning in stands (Martin and Dell 1978).