FIRE 157 - Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior

Course Description

  • Recommended Prep: FIRE 151

This course is designed to instruct prospective fireline personnel in wildland fire behavior for effective and safe management operations. Fire behavior is not an independent phenomenon - it is the product of the environment in which the fire is burning. In applying this definition to fire, we can then regard fire environment as the conditions, influences, and modifying forces that control the fire behavior. Fire behavior must obey physical laws. We consider certain types of fire behavior unusual or unexpected only because we have failed to evaluate properly the conditions, influences, and forces that are in control. To predict fire behavior, and to control and use fire effectively and safely, we must understand and use the interactions of fire with its environment. This course will examine the fire environment - what it is, how it varies and why, and how fire itself alters the total picture.