Senior Researcher with
FERIC Wildland Fire Operations Research Group
Collaborates with ASRD Forest Protection Division Staff
in the Continuing Development of PROMETHEUS
PROMETHEUS is a computer-based, wave propagation fire growth model designed to work in Canadian fuel complexes, utilizing the major modules of the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (Tymstra 2002). PROMETHEUS is also a national interagency project endorsed by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and its member agencies. The CIFFC Fire Science and Technology Working Group provides a forum to communicate new developments and exchange new ideas. Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (ASRD) is the lead agency for this project. Development of PROMETHEUS began in February 2000. The initial version of PROMETHEUS was released in March 2002. The latest version (3.2.3) was released on October 27, 2004. Further details on PROMETHEUS are available on the project’s website (http://www.firegrowthmodel.com).
 Fire breaching a dirt road |
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 Spot fire development |
The Chisholm/Dogrib Fire Research Program was established to study fire behaviour characteristics and post-fire impacts of two major Alberta fires — the Chisholm Fire and Dogrib Fire (http://www.fmf.ca/pa_CDFR.html). The Chisholm Fire overran the hamlet of Chisholm, Alberta, in May 2001 and the Dogrib Fire threatened Bearberry, Alberta, in October 2001. Both fires exhibited extreme behaviour, seriously damaging the infrastructure and equipment of industrial operations, community homes, and community outbuildings. The intensity and spread rate of these fires raised concerns among industry, fire managers, and community residents. In response, the Foothills Model Forest co-coordinated efforts to study the fires' immediate and long-term impacts, the Chisholm/Dogrib Fire Research Program was formed. The Canadian Forest Service, Parks Canada, Bandaloop Landscape-Ecosystem Services, Ember Research Services, ATCO Electric, Sunpine Forest Products, University of Alberta, University of Calgary, Sustainable Forest Management Network-University of Alberta, and ASRD all came on board. Mr. Dennis Quintilio is serving as the Program Leader for the Foothills Model Forest.
To accomplish its tasks, the Chisholm/Dogrib Fire Research Program has developed eight research projects. One of the projects funded by the program titled “Design and Incorporation of Spotting and Breaching of Fire Break Functionality in PROMETHEUS – the Canadian Wildland Fire Growth Model” has now completed its final report (Alexander et al. 2004). The publication which is available for downloading from the Foothills Model Forest website was co-authored by Dr. Marty Alexander (Senior Researcher, FERIC Wildland Fire Operations Research Group), Cordy Tmystra (Fire Science and Research Supervisor, ASRD Forest Protection Division), and Kurt Frederick (Provincial Fire Behavior Officer, ASRD Forest Protection Division). Dr. Alexander, the lead author, chairs the PROMETHEUS Spotting and Breaching of Fire Breaks Technical Sub-committee and has instructed on the subject of spot fire prediction in the CIFFC Wildland Fire Behavior Specialist Course since its initial offering in 1996. Cordy Tmystra is the Project Leader of the PROMETHEUS Project Steering Committee. Kurt Frederick, a member of the PROMETHEUS Spotting and Breaching of Fire Breaks Technical Sub-committee, led the Chisholm/Dogrib Fire Research Program sponsored project dealing with PROMETHEUS.
The published document by Alexander et al. (2004) represents a pragmatic approach to incorporating spotting and breaching considerations into PROMETHEUS that involved a comprehensive review of the literature and some theoretical analysis (e.g., Cruz et al. 2004), supplemented by many years of wildland fire observations on the part of Dr. Alexander. This work was then represented and discussed at a workshop coordinated by Kurt Frederick held at the Provincial Forest Fire Centre in Edmonton on September 23, 2004 and attended by wildland fire behavior specialists representing both wildland fire research and fire operations. A draft of the final product prepared by Dr. Alexander and his co-authors was reviewed by the workshop participants prior to publication and thus constitutes a collective summary of these efforts.
References
Alexander, M.E.; Tymstra, C.; Frederick, K.W. 2004. Incorporating breaching and spotting considerations into PROMETHEUS – the Canadian wildland fire growth model. Foothills Model Forest, Hinton, Alberta. Chisholm/Dogrib Fire Research Initiative Quicknote 6. 2 pp.
Cruz, M.G.; Alexander, M.E.; Wakimoto, R.H. 2004. Appendix A: Analysis of the significance of spotting distance in relation to crown fire rate of spread. In Modeling crown fire rate of spread in conifer forest stands. Manuscript submitted for publication to Forest Science (in review status).
Tymstra, C. 2002. PROMETHEUS – the Canadian wildland fire growth model. Initial Attack 2002(Spring): 8-9.