WILDFIRE ZONES ON A MOUNTAIN RIDGE.

An objective approach to regionalizing climatic characteristics affecting wildfire ignition potential is useful in fire control strategies. Temperature and humidity observations statistically predict equilibrium moisture content characteristics providing a first approximation to the moisture content of dead, fine fuels. Principal component and cluster analysis grouped fuel moisture attributes for seven locations on a mountain ridge spanning nearly 1000 m in elevation difference on two aspects and within a maximum separation distance of 5 km. The final three groupings showed a dominance of neither elevation nor aspect influences but, rather, a mixture of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]