Background

The 2000 and 2001 fire seasons brought to the forefront the issue of severe wildland fires in the United States. Safe and effective fire management and the use of fire as a tool for ecosystem health depend on:

• understanding how the atmosphere interacts with fires and
• having state-of-the-art fire management tools that reflect our understanding of fire-atmosphere interactions.

The 2001 U.S. National Fire Plan (NFP) recognized the need for new research and for the development of predictive models for managing wildland fires. It acknowledged that a key component of this effort must address fire-weather prediction, fire-atmosphere interactions, and smoke transport/diffusion prediction. more.