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Type: Report
Author(s): Matthew B. Dickinson; Lisa Loncar; Alicia L. Reiner; Scott N. Dailey; Jerry Bednarczyk; Cedar Drake; Jarred Gordon; Maryjane Heckel; Barry Kleckler; Jessica R. Miesel; Laura Wade
Publication Date: 2019

The Fire Behavior Assessment Team (FBAT) collected prefire data on eight plots, and post-fire data on three of those plots that burned during the Walker Fire. The Walker Fire started on September 4th, 2019, and the last day of appreciable growth was the 15th of September before wetting rain on the morning of the 16th . The fire burned through a wide range of topography, weather, and fuels. Fuels varied greatly across the Walker Fire according to mechanical treatment and fire history, with some areas having seen no fire in the last century and other areas having burned with a range of severity during the 2007 Wheeler Fire (part of the Antelope Complex). Past wildfire and fuel treatments had a large effect on surface fuel loadings and ladder fuels and fire behavior, fuel consumption, and fire effects were moderated where the Walker Fire burned through an area where the 2007 Wheeler Fire had burned with low severity. FBAT performed plot-based, fuels and vegetation measurements in ponderosa-pine dominated forest, primarily in and around an unburned island near Murdock Crossing on the NE side of the fire (Figure 1). Topography where plots were located was moderate. Plots inventoried included areas that had burned at low severity in the Wheeler Fire, as well as areas outside the Wheeler perimeter with a range of histories ranging from no known treatment or wildfire history to a plot that had received both mechanical treatment and prescribed fire. Substantially lower ground (duff) and surface fuel loadings were inventoried on the recently burned plots compared with where there had been mechanical treatment and/or no record of fire. Ladder fuels were not always reduced by mechanical treatment. Three plots burned in the Walker Fire as a result of burnout operations and, on these plots, fire behavior, fuel consumption, and fire effects were moderated where the 2007 Wheeler Fire caused low-severity effects. In contrast, in a plot with no known history of fire or mechanical treatment, high surface fuel consumption and group torching occurred and first-order fire effects (soil heating, severity ratings, and tree impacts) were elevated.

 

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Link to this document (6.4 MB; pdf)
Citation: Dickinson, Matthew B. et al. 2019. 2019 Walker Fire, Plumas National Forest: Fire Behavior Assessment Team (FBAT) Report. USDA Forest Service Fire Behavior Assessment Team. 34 p.

Cataloging Information

Topics:
Regions:
Keywords:
  • 2019 Walker Fire
  • California
  • Plumas County
  • Plumas National Forest
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 63929