Anatomy of a Wildfire - The B&B Complex Fires

Module Description: The Fire Ecology and Management Series is provided by the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources and includes six modules. This series “is designed to address both the general role of fire in ecosystems as well as specific wildfire management issues in forest ecosystems.” The six modules include Ecological Role of Fire, Historical Fire Regimes and their Application to Forest Management, Anatomy of a Wildfire – the B&B Complex Fires, Pre-Fire Intervention – Thinning and Prescribed Burning, Post-Wildfire (Salvage) Logging – the Controversy, and An Evaluation of Media Coverage of Wilderness Issues.

Anatomy of a Wildfire – The B&B Complex Fires is the third of six
modules and is intended for courses that support disciplines such as
Forestry, Wildlife, and Environmental Sciences. This module uses the B&B Complex Fire in central Oregon as a case study to examine the basics of wildfire behavior. The module can be taught independently or as part of the series.

Module Contents: The PowerPoint presentation includes lecture notes and covers “changes in fire frequency and intensity, how fire histories are determined, wildfire progression, methods for post-fire assessment and post-fire recovery and rehabilitation.”

The 42-page document provides information about the module and includes five sections: Module Description, Anatomy of a Wildfire, General Lecture Outline, PowerPoint Slides with Instructor’s Notes, and Resources.