Holiday Farm Fire: Terrain's Impact on its Spread

  • Thread starter Thread starter BillTre
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Fire
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The Holiday Farm Fire's spread is significantly influenced by terrain features, as evidenced by aerial photographs from The Register-Guard. The patchy distribution of burned areas allows unburned vegetation to seed neighboring regions, promoting ecological recovery. Fire breaks' effectiveness varies based on environmental conditions such as weather and terrain, with rivers and roads serving as potential barriers. The discussion raises questions about the impact of historical fire suppression policies on Oregon's ecosystem compared to Southern California's fire management practices.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of fire ecology principles
  • Knowledge of terrain features affecting fire behavior
  • Familiarity with fire break construction techniques
  • Awareness of historical fire management policies
NEXT STEPS
  • Research fire behavior in different terrain types
  • Study the effectiveness of various fire break strategies
  • Examine the ecological impacts of fire suppression policies
  • Explore fire management practices in Southern California
USEFUL FOR

Wildfire management professionals, ecologists, land use planners, and anyone involved in fire prevention and recovery strategies will benefit from this discussion.

BillTre
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
2,739
Reaction score
11,966
TL;DR
These pictures are from a flyover of different affected by the Holiday Farm Fire, near Eugene, where I live. They show the patchy effects of the fire, in some areas. They also show how different features in the land affect spread of the fire and the kinds of features that get used as fire breaks in what kind of terrain.
This article (open access I believe) from the local newspaper (The Register-Guard) has several aerial pictures of the landscape, in areas burned by the Holiday Farm Fire (~30 miles from Eugene, where I live).

It shows a patchy distribution of burned areas. This is probably good, in that unburned areas at the edges of the fire of vegetation will be able to seed neighboring areas (with locally adapted seeds too).
Screen Shot 2020-10-15 at 4.28.05 PM.png


The fire's spread is affected by several features of terrain. Going up hill is easy through stands of fir trees with interlocking branches. Burning through the organics in the ground spreads more slowly.
Screen Shot 2020-10-15 at 4.38.25 PM.png


Fire breaks should have different effectivenesses, depending on the conditions, like weather (rain/no rain, windy/not windy, temperature/dryness).
Rivers and roads and other features can act as fire breaks or be built upon to make more effective breaks.
Screen Shot 2020-10-15 at 4.28.44 PM.png
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: jim mcnamara
Earth sciences news on Phys.org
In SoCal, where I grew up, regular fires were good "grooming" for the understory. Is the ecosystem in this part of Oregon the same in that way? And if so, does it suffer from the old 75-year policy of fire-suppression?
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
4K