Quick Start: Alignment of Forces

As one of the fundamental principles of the CPS method, you should recognize how the three primary forces of wind, slope and preheat control fire behavior.  When these three forces are in alignment, then fire behavior is at its worst.

The Dashboard shows the alignment of the three primary forces for the selected time and locations. The top panel shows the direction of the incoming solar radiation, the center panel panel shows the wind direction and speed, and the lower panel shows the terrain aspect and slope.

Dashboard


Figure 5. Dashboard with controls arrayed to show "Alignment of Forces".

Figure 5 shows the CPS Dashboard configured to show the direction and strength for each of three primary forces.  Fire behavior is worst when the directional arrows are all pointing in a similar direction.