Senior FERIC Researcher Participates in National Wildland Fire Behaviour Training Courses in Canada and U.S.A.

Dr. Marty Alexander, who began a 1-year secondment with the FERIC Wildland Fire Operations Research Group in January 2004, was recently involved in the instruction associated with the highest level of wildland fire behaviour training available in Canada and the United States.

From February 1-13 he participated in the Wildland Fire Behaviour Specialist (WFBS) course held at the Hinton Training Centre in Hinton, Alberta. The WFBS course is one of two national fire behaviour training courses sponsored by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

In addition to serving as the WFBS course chairperson and unit leader for “characteristics and prediction of extreme fire behaviour” he also served as an instructor in five of the six course units making the following presentations:

• Roles & Responsibilities of the Fire Behaviour Officer – Historical Perspectives and Future Outlooks
• Fire Behaviour Officer as an Expert Witness
• Fuels, Weather and Topographic Interactions
• Spot Fire Transport and Ignition Probabilities
• Radiation Intensities, Convection Column Temperatures, Crown Scorch Heights and Crown Fire Flame Sizes
• Fire Environment Observations – Fuel Type Classification Exercise
• Decision Traps and Fire Behaviour Forecasting
• Environmental Input Adjustments – Advanced Fuel Type Modelling
• Maximum Spot Fire Distance Prediction
• BEHAVE Fuel Modelling and Fire Behaviour Prediction System
• Communicating Fire Behaviour Information
• Fire Behaviour Forecasts and Briefings – Audiences: Duty Officer and Legal Setting

Students at this year’s course included representation from provincial agencies (Alberta, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Nova Scotia), federal agencies (Parks Canada and Canadian Forest Service), and private industry.

On March 18, Dr. Alexander made two invited presentations at the S590 - Advanced Wildland Fire Behavior Interpretation Course held at the National Advanced Resource Technology Center (NARTC) in Marana, Arizona. These included:

• An Overview of Systems for Rating Fire Danger and Predicting Fire Behavior Used in Canada
• Wildland Fire Behavior Case Studies and Analyses

The second presentation was co-authored with Dave Thomas (Regional Fuels Specialist, USDA Forest Service, Ogden, Utah) and was based on the overview articles in contained in three special issues of the USDA Forest Service’s journal Fire Management Today dealing with wildland fire behaviour

This course included students from U.S. state and federal agencies in California, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, North Carolina, and Nevada.

On a historical note, the S590 course represents the last course to be taught at NARTC as this establishment closes it doors after some 35 years of operation. The NARTC operation is moving to Tucson and will have a new name – the National Advanced Fire and Resource Institute or NAFRI.