The southeastern United States is one of the areas in the country where wildland fires and prescribed fires are common (USDA Forest Service, 1998). An estimated 3.2 million hectares of wildland are burned per year in the southeastern United States (Wade et al., 2000). Most of the prescribed fires, and some of the wild fires, can be classified as understory surface fires, characterized by their small burn area and relatively low temperatures (Stanturf et al., 2002).