Lesson Overview: In this activity, students create a physical model to learn how the vertical arrangement of fuels affects the potential for fires to spread into tree crowns.

Lesson Goal: Increase students’ understanding of the relationship between fuel arrangement and vertical fire spread, especially in forests, shrublands, and woodlands.

Objectives:

• Students can describe differentiate between surface fires and crown fires, and describe the wildland fuels that contribute to these kinds of fire behavior.
• Students can design model trees that can withstand surface fire.
• Students can create a story board that describes the relationship among stand structure, fuel arrangement, and fire spread.