Data to support evaluation of fuel treatment effectiveness in the 2006 Tripod Complex fires

The 2006 Tripod Complex fires burned over 70,000 hectares of dry mixed conifer forests in north-central Washington state. Recent fuel treatments burned in the wildfire offered an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate if fuel treatment effectively mitigated fire severity. We quantified the relative effect of two common fuel treatments: mechanical thinning only and mechanical thinning followed by prescribed burning. Data collected included standard fuels transect and tree parameters, including tree height, crown and bole scorch, species, and diameter.
We conducted an opportunistic study to determine the relative success of recent fuel treatments in mitigating wildland fire severity, as represented by tree mortality and damage (i.e., bole char and crown scorch). The 2006 Tripod complex fires involved numerous fuel treatments, including units that had been thinned and prescribed burned within 10 years prior to the wildfire event. Our main objective was to evaluate differences in wildfire severity in stands with thin treatments (thin), thin and prescribed burning treatments (thinRx), and no treatment (control) within the Tripod Complex fires.
Original metadata date was 06/02/2015. Minor metadata updates on 12/15/2016.