The fire frequency‐severity relationship and the legacy of fire suppression in California forests
Open accessAbstract
Fire is one of the most important natural disturbance processes in the western United States and ecosystems differ markedly with respect to their ecological and evolutionary relationships with fire. Reference fire regimes in forested ecosystems can be categorized along a gradient ranging from “fuel‐limited” to “climate‐limited” where the former types are often characterized by frequent, lower‐severity wildfires and the latter by infrequent, more severe wildfires. Using spatial data on fire severity from 1984–2011 and metrics related to fire frequency, we tested how divergence from historic (pre‐Euroamerican settlement) fire frequencies due to a century of fire suppression influences rates of high‐severity fire in five forest types in California. With some variation among bioregions, our results suggest that fires in forest types characterized by fuel‐limited fire regimes (e.g., yellow pine and mixed conifer forest) tend to burn with greater proportions of high‐severity fire as either time since last fire or the mean modern fire return interval (FRI) increases. Two intermediate fire regime types (mixed evergreen and bigcone Douglas‐fir) showed a similar relationship between fire frequency and fire severity. However, red fir and redwood forests, which are characterized by more climate‐limited fire regimes, did not show significant positive relationships between FRI and fire severity. This analysis provides strong evidence that for fuel‐limited fire regimes, lack of fire leads to increasing rates of high‐severity burning. Our study also substantiates the general validity of “fuel‐limited” vs. “climate‐limited” explanations of differing patterns of fire effects and response in forest types of the western US.
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Combined with drought conditions and the expanded range of flammable invasive species, fire suppression policies have primed California ecosystems for exceedingly hot and destructive fires.
“Combined with drought conditions and the expanded range of flammable invasive species, these fire suppression policies have primed California ecosystems for exceedingly hot and destructive fires”
From Invasive species, extreme fire risk, and toxin release under a changing climate (2020) · cites this paper as Steel et al. 2015
The Conclusions (page unavailable) link fire suppression, accumulated fuels, and drier fire seasons to increasingly large, severe wildfires in fuel-limited forests. The paper does not say that an expanded range of flammable invasive species helped prime those fires; its Mixed conifer and mixed evergreen section mentions invasive species as a stressor that may contribute to ecosystem conversion after severe fire. The claim also extends the forest-specific finding to California ecosystems generally. (LLM, conf=0.89)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA fourth category is 'ignition-limited' systems, where dry fuels are abundant but lacking non-human ignition sources.
“A fourth category is 'ignition-limited' systems, where dry fuels are abundant but lacking non-human ignition sources, such as lowland sclerophyllous shrublands in California (Steel, Safford, & Viers, 2015) and Mediterranean shrublands in Chile (Keeley et al., 2012).”
From Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers (2020) · cites this paper as Steel, Safford, & Viers, 2015
The West Coast experiences catastrophic wildfires fueled by climate change-driven droughts and a hundred years of misinformed forest management strategies.
“At the same time, the West Coast experiences catastrophic wildfires fueled by climate change-driven droughts [2] and a hundred years of misinformed forest management strategies [35],Steel, Safford, and [24, 38].”
From DIY mass timber: development of low-tech and low-cost structural mass timber manufacturing to support forest utilization in California (2025) · cites this paper as [38]
As the number of dead trees and plant material increases, the opportunity for significant dry fuel loading also grows, amplifying the risk of disastrous fires.
“As the number of dead trees and plant material increases, the opportunity for significant dry fuel loading also grows, amplifying the risk of disastrous fires”
From Invasive species, extreme fire risk, and toxin release under a changing climate (2020) · cites this paper as Steel et al. 2015
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“At the same time, the West Coast experiences cata-strophic wildfires fueled by climate change-driven droughts [2] and a hundred years of misinformed forest management strategies [35],Steel, Safford, and [24, 38].”
Invasive species, extreme fire risk, and toxin release under a changing climate
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“The additional dry material from dead trees can fuel a wildfire able to move up trees and across treetops, in a movement known as crowning, jumping over fire blocks to burn large areas (Steel et al. 2015).”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Steel, Z. L., Safford, H. D., & Viers, J. H.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- US Forest Service (US)
- University of California, Merced (US)
- Corresponding author
- Safford, Hugh D.
- Venue
- Ecosphere
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-23
- ISSN
- 2150-8925 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2095881123
- Cited by
- 339
- References
- 75
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 52 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 9 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 17.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecosphere (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Forest Management and Policy
- Keywords
- fire suppression legacy, fire regimes, fire return interval, high-severity fire, time since last fire, mixed conifer forest, redwood forests, mixed evergreen forest, California forests
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