Fuel model

A fuel model is a preliminary representation of vegetation characteristics used in analyzing fire behavior and planning. The models provide wildland firefighters with a common way of describing fuels in the area.

The collections of fuel properties have become known as fuel models and can be organized into four groups: grass, shrub, timber, and slash (logging).

Definitions

The National Park Service defines it as a standardized description of fuels available to a fire based on the amount, distribution and continuity of vegetation and wood. [1]

Sources

• Estimating Fire Behavior. USDA-Forest Service Intermountain Forest and. Range Experiment Station, General Technical Report INT-122. [2]
• Standard fire behavior fuel models: a comprehensive set for use with Rothermel’s surface fire spread model. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-153. [3]