Fuel accumulation and reburn severity

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the extent of wildfires that burn areas that have already burned recently (e.g., within 10 years), but little is known about the resilience of forests to these short-interval fires. We are examining the factors that explain fire severity in recently burned forests that burn again across the fire-prone forests in the western U.S. These factors include climate, topography, weather preceding and during the fire, and the amount of time between fires. Many of these factors affect and explain fuel accumulation in forests. Thus, in addition to improving our understanding of forest resilience to short-interval reburns, our work will help to understand fuel accumulation rates and to predict future fire risk across large landscapes.