Introduction to Wildland Fire

Introduction to Wildland Fire, Second Edition provides a comprehensive resource for studying the fundamentals of fire behavior, its ecological effects, and its cultural and institutional framework. This new Second Edition expands and updates the coverage of the field and explores the subject of wildfire management in a broad scientific, technical, and social context. Written by recognized authorities on fire management, it presents the fundamental physics and chemistry of fire, fire behavior, wildland fuels, the interaction of fires and weather, the ecological effects of fires, the structure of fire management programs, planning efforts, suppression strategies, prescribed fires, and global fire management. The new edition also includes such current problems as the burning of the Amazon rain forest and the implications of the recent drought-related fires that have plagued urban areas bordering on wilderness land.

Throughout the book the authors keep the subject of fire itself central. They begin by identifying, clarifying, and consolidating the basic concepts and literature of fire as a natural occurrence in the environment. General principles are illustrated with reference to specific events, and the natural incidence of fire is related to its cultural causes and effects.

Introduction to Wildland Fire, Second Edition provides foresters, range scientists, environmentalists, ecologists, and administrators of federal and state agencies with an authoritative and comprehensive resource.

Written by recognized authorities on fire management, Introduction to Wildland Fire, Second Edition offers thorough coverage of the complex subject of wildland fire and its management in a broad scientific, technical, and social context. Topics include:
* The chemistry and physics of fire
* Fire behavior, including the influences of fuel and weather
* The ecological effects of fire
* The cultural and institutional framework of fire management
* Fire management and suppression
* Prescribed fire
* Global fire

About the authors

STEPHEN J. PYNE is a professor at Arizona State University. He worked in fire management for the National Park Service for 18 seasons and is the author of several books about the history of fire, including Fire in America, Burning Bush, and World Fire.

PATRICIA L. ANDREWS is currently Project Leader of the Fire Behavior Research Work Unit for the USDA Forest Service where she's been a member since 1973. In 1994, she won the Forest Service Superior Science Award and was the primary developer of the BEHAVE fire behavior prediction system.

RICHARD D. LAVEN is a professor in the Department of Forest Sciences at Colorado State University. He has taught and conducted research for over 20 years in the fields of fire ecology, forest ecology, and, more recently, conservation biology. He is Director of the College of Natural Resources summer field program and has received numerous outstanding faculty awards.