Mulching has become a very common practice to reduce forest vegetation around communities and along hydroline right-of-ways. Not much is known about fire behaviour in mulched forest vegetation. Is it a fuelbreak? Is it a wick?

Our current understanding of other forest fuel types suggests that there may be a critical fuel moisture content or FFMC value that could predict the probability of ignition and sustained burning in mulched vegetation. This project will attempt to determine the relationship between commonly used fuel moisture indicators and the probability for ignition and sustained burning in mulched forest vegetation.