Large forest fires are spectacular, usually 

 destructive, frequently dangerous, but always 

 exciting. Fire research organizations, particu- 

 larly just after a spectacular wildfire, are often 

 eager to organize mobile research teams to 

 study and document fire behavior. Unfortu- 

 nately, this approach to the study of wildfire 

 is usually not very productive. There are sev- 

 eral reasons why not. 



It is very difficult for a researcher to be in 

 the right place at the right time when severe 

 fire behavior occurs. Often he is remotely 

 located on the opposite side of a situation, or 

 access to the area of interest is limited or in- 

 efficient. There is always the danger that 

 research personnel will interfere with tactical 

 activities at the fire, primarily in the air. 

 There is generally no effective way to proper- 

 ly instrument an area prior to severe fire be- 

 havior, simply because there is not enough 

 time and one cannot predict precisely when 

 or where such events will occur. 



The Sundance Fire was unique. Early on 

 September 1, there was already a tremendous 

 concentration of fire organization, supplies, 

 equipment, and manpower in the vicinity be- 

 cause of a number of active project fires. An 

 additional force of competent firefighting per- 

 sonnel was gathering to meet the expected 

 need. The Sundance Fire was being fought by 

 State and local forces but was expected to 

 cause increasing difficulty, and preparations 

 were underway to transfer the fire to the 

 U. S. Forest Service. Accumulative weather 

 buildup was extreme, the fire had a 4- 

 mile exposed front, and the current weather 

 was critical. Suddenly the fire made one tre- 

 mendous run, increasing in size by more than 

 50,000 acres in one burning period. Since 

 there are communities at each end of the fire 

 run and a road cutting across the center of it. 



and because firefighting crews were in the 

 Pack River area preparing for a possible run of 

 the fire, many observers saw portions of this 

 spectacular fire run. The mere fact that the 

 event was limited in time and seen by many 

 people permitted the research team to recon- 

 struct some of its characteristics. Interviews 

 with fire control people, local residents, and a 

 variety of other individuals provided firsthand 

 observational knowledge of what happened. 

 Most observations were subjective, but some 

 included measurements. 



The Sundance Fire offered a rather un- 

 usual situation for analysis and we think the 

 results, as given in this paper, have a great deal 

 of value. Nevertheless, it must be recognized 

 that similar studies might only be redundant. 

 As long as studies are Umited by conventional 

 measuring methods, there is no real assurance 

 that an organized effort to chase large fires 

 would produce equal or better analyses. Cer- 

 tainly the development of remote sensing 

 techniques or instrumentation could change 

 the picture considerably, and might allow for 

 improved data collection on wildfires. We be- 

 lieve that fire analyses are best when applied 

 to special case fires. 



There is, of course, some value for the 

 scientist to be gained through observation of 

 wildfires. It sharpens his perspective on the 

 real world and on the problems he is facing. 

 We must be cautious, however, not to expect 

 more than is realistic from observing wildfires, 

 while at the same time, we need to consider 

 improved methods for observing them. This 

 is one way that fundamental and theoreti- 

 cal work now underway in laboratories can 

 be related to real-life conditions in the forest. 



ARTHUR P. BRACKEBUSCH 



Chief of Northern Forest Fire Laboratory 



