Reno Reporter

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, are working on a research project intended to investigate how vegetation helps accelerate forest fires.

According to a Nevada Today, the scientists are using millions of acres of California forest by charting fire-prone vegetation through software that produces huge amounts of data and computational power.

“Analyzing the amount and location of fuel accumulation allows us to understand the situations where you go from low-intensity ground fires to high-intensity crown fires," Associate Professor Jonathan Greenberg said, according to Nevada Today. "Crown fires are the real danger; those are the wildfires where things blow up. Our department contributes to the science behind fuels management. When a fire does break out -- and they will break out -- you want to have already managed the fuels to minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfires.”

Professor Erin Hanan is helping Greenberg to spearhead the GigaFire Project at the school’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources. Utilizing remote sensing equipment and process-based models, the duo is learning how vegetation spreads fire across vast swaths of land.

The college's Experiment Station and Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Science are also involved with the project that will determine what areas are most prone for fire, along with predictions on how these fires can be mitigated.

A $1.8 million grant from the California Air Resources Board and a $570,000 gran from CAL FIRE is helping to fund the research project.