Assessing live fuel moisture for fire management applications

The variation associated with sampling live fuel moisture was examined for several shrub and canopy fuels in southern California, Arizona, and Colorado. Ninety-five % confidence intervals ranged from 5 to % . Estimated sample sizes varied greatly. The value of knowing the live fuel moisture content in fire decision making is unknown. If the fuel moisture is highly variable, then it is possible for the confidence intervals to span one or more fire behavior or danger classes. Errors in live fuel moisture data may directly affect the costs in safety and resources associated with prescribed fire and wildfire suppression. Citation: Weise, David R., Roberta A. Hartford, and Larry Mahaffey. 1998. Assessing live fuel moisture for fire management applications. Pages 49-55 in Teresa L. Pruden and Leonard A. Brennan (eds.). Fire in ecosystem management: shifting the paradigm from suppression to prescription. Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference Proceedings, No. 20. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL.