2. Methodology
2.1. Mechanics
The ®re-risk model was built in Microsoft Access, a
database management program, using output from the
Landscape Management System (LMS; McCarter et
al., 1996; McCarter, 1997), a computerized system
that integrates landscape-scale data, stand-scale information,
and growth models [in this case FVS1 Northern
Idaho variant (Wykoff et al., 1982)] to project
changes through time across forested landscapes
(Oliver and McCarter, 1996). Fig. 1 details the ¯ow
of information to the ®re-risk model. We developed
the ®re-risk model using a synthetic landscape based
on inventory data from forest stands from the east
slope of the Washington Cascade Range.
The ®re-risk model is based on two equations (Van
Wagner, 1977). The ®rst relates heat of ignition and
¯ame length and average base of the live crown to the
surface intensity required to initiate crown ®res: