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Day-of-burning maps and daily fire ROS for western US and Canadian forested ecoregions 2012-2023

Coop, Jonathan1; Balik, Jared1

Published Jul 03, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2zsp

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Jul 03, 2026 version files 2.50 GB

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Abstract

Most area burned in western and boreal North American forests is the product of a relatively small number of extreme, rapidly spreading fire events that burn disproportionately large areas. But beyond area burned, do these events produce distinct postfire ecological outcomes?  We measured linear daily fire growth rates and assessed relationships between fire spread, burn severity, and metrics of postfire forest landscape resilience from 3499 individual fires that occurred between 2012 and 2023 in conifer-dominated forests of Canada and the western US. We find that as linear fire spread rate increases, so too does fire severity and the proportion of area burned at high severity. Distance to surviving live tree seed source also increases with fire spread rate. Thus, not only do the fastest spreading fires burn disproportionately large areas, but these areas have less remaining tree cover and a reduced capacity for recovery, setting the stage for shifts in forest types and towards non-forest vegetation. Given anticipated increases in fast events as fire seasons lengthen and weather becomes more fire-conducive, our findings point toward growing needs to implement effective strategies to reduce undesired effects of fast-growing wildfires, manage postfire landscapes to sustain valued forest ecosystem functions, and foster social-ecological adaptation.