Abstract

Crown Fire Potential in a Sequoia Forest After Prescribed Burning. B.M. Kilgore and R.W. Sando. 1975. For. Sci. 21:83-87.

Prescribed burning in a giant sequoia mixed-conifer forest reduced the potential for high intensity surface fires and crown fires. Ground fuels were reduced from 203.5 to 30.1 tonnes/ha while live crown fuels were reduced from 18.0 to 7.8 tonnes/ ha. Surface fuels accumulated rapidly following the burns. Long term impact of the prescribed burning was the killing of small trees and the raising live crown levels in larger trees which tended to remove fuels from the intermediate layer between surface and crowns and breaking the fuel ladder.