Surface Fire

Synonyms

Ground fire; Vegetation fire

Definition

Fires burning through litter, dead and downed material, and low-lying vegetation.

Characteristics

Fires can be classified as ground, surface, and crown fires, depending on the fuels involved. Surface fires are considered those burning in surface fuels such as litter, downed woody debris, and low-level living plants (NWCG 2005). Surface fires are the most common, as surface fuels are the most likely to be available for combustion due to their moisture characteristics, amount, and arrangement.

Surface fire activity is dependent on the characteristics of the fuel, weather, and topography (fire behavior triangle). Fire is most often described by its flame length and rate of spread. If the fire is only burning in timber litter, the flame length and rate of spread can be very low even when conditions are dry (Scott and Burgan 2005) (Fig. 1). Surface fires burning in grass and shrubs may only have moderate flame lengths but can have very fast...