Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The use of fuel breaks in landscape fire management

January 1, 2000

Shaded fuelbreaks and larger landscape fuel treatments, such as prescribed fire, are receiving renewed interest as forest protection strategies in the western United States. The effectiveness of fuelbreaks remains a subject of debate because of differing fuelbreak objectives, prescriptions for creation and maintenance, and their placement in landscapes with differing fire regimes. A well-designed fuelbreak will alter the behavior of wildland fire entering the fuel-altered zone. Both surface and crown fire behavior may be reduced. Shaded fuelbreaks must be created in the context of the landscape within which they are placed. No absolute standards for fuelbreak width or fuel reduction are possible, although recent proposals for forested fuelbreaks suggest 400 m wide bands where surface fuels are reduced and crown fuels are thinned. Landscape-level treatments such as prescribed fire can use shaded fuelbreaks as anchor points, and extend the zone of altered fire behavior to larger proportions of the landscape. Coupling fuelbreaks with area-wide fuel treatments can reduce the size, intensity, and effects of wildland fires.

Publication Year 2000
Title The use of fuel breaks in landscape fire management
DOI 10.1016/S0378-1127(99)00116-4
Authors James K. Agee, Berni Bahro, Mark A. Finney, Philip N. Omi, David B. Sapsis, Carl N. Skinner, Jan W. Van Wagtendonk, C. Phillip Weatherspoon
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Forest Ecology and Management
Index ID 1007959
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Western Ecological Research Center
Was this page helpful?