Recent Crown Thinning in a Boreal Black Spruce Forest Does Not Reduce Spread Rate Nor Total Fuel Consumption Results from an Experimental Crown Fire in Alberta Canada

This paper details an experimental crown fire conducted in an Alberta, Canada, boreal black spruce forest to assess the effectiveness of recent crown thinning as a fuel treatment. Researchers ignited a 3. 6-hectare fire, observing its behavior in both untreated and thinned sections. The key finding was that while thinning led to a significant reduction in fire intensity, it did not reduce the fire's spread rate nor total fuel consumption. This suggests that in dense boreal black spruce with high surface fuel loads and low crown base heights, thinning alone may not prevent the rapid progression of crown fires, but it could potentially aid suppression efforts by reducing the intensity.