Issue #33: Grassfire spread rule of thumb (pdf)
Wildfires propagating over grasslands under heightened fire danger conditions can sustain very fast rates of forward spread, at times exceeding 10−15 km/h. Under these conditions there is often little time to conduct a detailed prediction of a fire’s spread potential. A simple rule of thumb was developed to predict the forward spread rate of a grassfire when driven by dry and windy conditions. This simple rule is evaluated against existing grassfire spread models and its main assumptions discussed.
