Fire behavior at an experimental scale in a plantation of Tectona grandis L.f. in Jipijapa, Manabí, Ecuador

Abstract

The reduction of the fuel load deposited in the forest floor allows decrease the occurrences and the propagation of the fire. One technique that can be used to achieve this is the use of fire. The objective of this work was to analyze the behavior of fire on an experimental scale in a plantation of Tectona grandis L.f. in Jipijapa, Manabí, Ecuador. Ten plots of 2 x 5 m were delimited in which the fire was applied using the headfire technique. During the development of the experiment was measured the wind speed and the relative humidity of the air at 0.50 m height of the ground and 1 m away from the end of the plot where the fire started. Was characterized the fuel through the variables load, depth and moisture content before and after burning. The parameters of fire behavior considered were rate of spread, flame height, fire-line intensity, scorch heights and heat per unit area. The relationship between the variables used in the experiment was also determined. The average values obtained for the variables fuel load, burning depth, flame height, rate of spread and fire-line intensity were 0.46 kg m-2; 0.58 cm; 0.57 m; 0.0101 m s-1 and 16.49 kcal m-1 s-1, respectively.