With improved smoke management tools, military installations can conduct more efficient prescribed burns that reduce fire risk, protect nearby communities, and restore fire-adapted ecosystems. The primary objective of this project is to enhance smoke management for prescribed fire by leveraging BurnPro3D’s existing three-dimensional (3D) fuel and fire models, improving site-specific ignition modeling inputs, and advancing QUIC-Smoke capabilities to support real-world, decision-focused applications.

The QUIC-Fire coupled fire-atmosphere model and the FastFuels 3D vegetation model unlock the potential to use 3D fuel and fire modeling for improved decision-making for prescribed burn planning and implementation through the BurnPro3D web-based interface and the QUIC-Fire graphical user interface. The platforms are currently being beta tested across federal sites and in California at state sites through a partnership with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the California Air Resources Board. Workflows have been developed for smoke modeling that align to the BurnPro3D fire modeling workflow but are yet to be deployed in the web-based tool for operational use. Doing so requires improving the existing tool by building out ignition modeling capabilities, integrating smoke modeling workflows, and defining methodologies for optimization on top of smoke models to align with the smoke management planning process. Ignition and smoke modeling capabilities in BurnPro3D will be built out under this project.

The project team will work with practitioners at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and Vandenberg Space Force Base, in collaboration with the Innovation Landscapes Network, to carry out prescribed burns using new approaches for optimizing smoke management. Furthermore, all model inputs and outputs will be curated for easy immersive visualization to fully exploit the potential of 3D modeling for decision-making, training, and public communication. 

There are currently no existing tools in operational use that allow burn planners to optimize smoke management for prescribed burns taking into account site specific vegetation and ignition strategies. The ability to model the nuances of site-specific ignition strategies is a crucial missing piece for accurately modeling smoke effects of prescribed burns on and near military installations. By adjusting ignition patterns, burn bosses can work with wind and weather conditions to control smoke dispersion. Ignition strategies are also a determining factor in the success of prescribed burns to achieve wildfire risk reduction objectives.  

This project will make a significant stride forward in providing science-based tools to ramp up prescribed burns while also doing as much as possible to protect personnel, strategically vital installation lands and sensitive ecosystems from smoke effects. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2028)