Institutional forest management needs can conflict with considerations of health effects on forest service personnel and members of the public near areas of prescribed burning. Smoke exposure increases the potential for respiratory diseases because fires release hazardous materials into the atmosphere.
Forest agencies use fire behavior models such as FARSITE (Finney 1998) to help manage prescribed fires and reduce their impacts. However, the quality of FARSITE simulations for eastern hardwood forests is largely nknown, because FARSITE has been tested primarily for forests in the western United States. This thesis reports results of testing different fuel models as inputs for FARSITE simulation of prescribed fire in eastern hardwood forests. Significant fuel parameters affecting FARSITE simulations are identified. Simulation results are compared with a prescribed fire in southern Ohio that was implemented and recorded by the United States Forest Service in April 2004, and values of fuel model parameters adjusted to improve the simulation results for this fire.