ArcFuels10 

System Overview

Nicole M. Vaillant, Alan A. Ager, and John Anderson

United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest 

Research Station

General Technical Report 

PNW-GTR-875

March 2013
Authors

Nicole M. Vaillant is a fire ecologist and Alan A. Ager is an operations research 

analyst, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 

Research Station, Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center, 

3160 NE Third Street, Prineville, OR 97754; and John Anderson is a lead 

programmer, BalanceTech, 534 Fairview Avenue, Missoula, MT 59801.

Cover photo: fuels treatment in Oregon ponderosa stand, by Scott Roberts, 

Mississippi State University, courtesy of Bugwood.org.

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Abstract

Vaillant, Nicole M.; Ager, Alan A.; Anderson, John. 2013. ArcFuels10 system 

overview. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-875. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 65 p.

Fire behavior modeling and geospatial analyses can provide tremendous insight 

for land managers as they grapple with the complex problems frequently encountered in wildfire risk assessments and fire and fuels management planning. Fuel 

management often is a particularly complicated process in which the benefits and 

potential impacts of fuel treatments need to be demonstrated in the context of land 

management goals and public expectations. The fuel treatment planning process is 

complicated by the lack of data assimilation among fire behavior models and weak 

linkages to geographic information systems (GIS), corporate data, and desktop 

office software. ArcFuels10 is a streamlined fuel management planning and wildfire 

risk assessment system that creates a trans-scale (stand to large landscape) interface 

to apply various forest growth and fire behavior models within an ArcGIS platform 

to design and test fuel treatment alternatives. The new version of ArcFuels has been 

implemented on Citrix at the Forest Service Enterprise Production Data Center, 

eliminating the need for desktop GIS, improving connectivity to the corporate 

geospatial databases housed at the data centers, and enabling sharing of information among Forest Service employees. This overview introduces ArcFuels10 and 

the tools available within the system. Further information, including download 

information, demonstration data, and a tutorial, can be found at http://www.fs.fed.

us/wwetac/arcfuels/index.html. 

Keywords: ArcGIS, fire behavior models, forest growth models, fuel treatment 

planning, wildfire hazard, wildfire risk.
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GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Contents

1 Introduction

2 ArcFuels10 At a Glance

4 ArcFuels10 Application

7 How Is ArcFuels10 Different From ArcFuels9?

8 Using ArcFuels10 on Citrix

9 Overview Assumptions

10 ArcFuels10 Functionality

11 Stand

18 Landscape

29 Build Landscape File (LCP) 

36 Wildfire Models

37 Risk

48 Tools

52 Project

55 ArcFuels10 Download and Installation Instructions

55 System Requirements

55 Obtaining ArcFuels10

56 Installing the ArcFuels10 Add-In

60 Setting Up the Demonstration Data

62 Acknowledgments

62 English Equivalents

62 Literature Cited
1

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Introduction

ArcFuels was developed to meet the growing need in federal land management 

agencies for tools to facilitate landscape planning and wildfire risk assessments 

(Calkin et al. 2011, Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009). For example, 

the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP), established by 

Title IV of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 and the 2010 Cohesive Strategy (Calkin et al. 2011) call for wider use of landscape planning for fuel 

management and the use of risk assessment methods to analyze treatment strategies. The CFLRP, in particular, outlines an analysis framework that includes an “all 

lands” approach for forest restoration, and encourages planners to leverage local, 

national, and private entities to develop landscape fuel management strategies. The 

CFLRP process includes the Wildland Fire Management Risk and Cost Analysis 

Tools Package (R-CAT) that was developed to help measure the cost savings from 

fuel management activities and which requires wildfire risk modeling of management alternatives. The 2010 Cohesive Strategy Scientific Report outlines the need 

for a risk-based approach to fire and fuels management at all scales, from national 

budget allocation to project-level planning (Calkin et al. 2011). 

ArcFuels addresses these needs by creating a geospatial analysis and modeling 

environment that can be leveraged to design and test fuel treatments at the stand to 

landscape scales. Linkages to forest vegetation, visualization models, stand-level 

fire behavior models, landscape-level fire behavior models, and fire effects models 

within a geospatial interface facilitate these connections. 

A core strategy of ArcFuels is to facilitate the application of wildfire behavior 

modeling to help quantify the components of risk, especially the relative burn 

probability and intensity from future wildfires. Most wildfire losses on public lands 

stem from large fires that are impossible to predict with empirical data. Wildfire 

simulation modeling fills this need; with careful calibration, simulations can be 

used to spatially quantify fire risk under current conditions and to assess various 

treatment alternatives. Changes in relative risk can be used to see if mitigation 

efforts would be effective at reducing risk to values of interest. The application of 

simulation models for wildfire management planning continues to grow, with case 

studies that span many scales and problems. For instance, at project scales, wildfires are simulated across a planning area to examine how different fuel treatment 

alternatives affect factors such as potential fire behavior, tree survivability, smoke 

production, wildlife habitat, and soil within and outside of treatments. 

ArcFuels is a geospatial 

analysis and modeling 

environment that can 

be leveraged to design 

and test fuel treatments 

at the stand to landscape scales.
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GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

In this document, we describe several new developments in ArcFuels10 that 

include the following: 

1. A reengineered version for ArcMap 10®1 developed within the Microsoft 

.NET framework for improved portability and compatibility with newer 

versions of ArcGIS®. 

2. Implementation on the Forest Service Citrix server, eliminating the need for 

desktop geographical information systems (GIS), improving connectivity to 

the corporate geospatial databases housed at the data centers, and enabling 

sharing of information among Forest Service employees. 

3. Implementation of risk analysis forms that were available in previous versions only as experimental releases. These functions automate the calculation of risk components and expected loss as outlined in Calkin et al. 2011.

We envision continued growth for ArcFuels10, especially considering that 

requirements for fuel treatment planning have expanded to include climate change 

impacts and carbon accounting. With multiple and varied objectives, including 

ecosystem restoration, wildlife habitat management, carbon sequestration, and 

responding to climate change issues, systems like ArcFuels10 that are integrated 

with corporate geospatial software and databases will provide a platform to address 

the many issues and analytical tasks associated with wildland fuels management. 

ArcFuels10 At a Glance

ArcFuels10 is a custom toolbar designed for use with ArcMap (fig. 1). The ArcMap framework helps users incorporate data from a variety of sources to address 

project-specific issues that typify many fuel treatment projects. ArcFuels10 was 

built to accommodate both ArcGIS raster data (such as LANDFIRE data available 

at http://www.landfire.gov) and/or forest inventory data.

ArcFuels10 provides a logical flow from stand-to-landscape analyses of vegetation, fuel, and fire behavior, using a number of different models (table 1, fig. 2) in a 

simple user interface within ArcMap. Specific functionality of ArcFuels10 includes: 

1. An interactive system within ArcMap to simulate fuel treatment prescriptions with the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator 

(FFE-FVS) (Rebain 2010). 

2. Automated generation of Excel® workbooks and Stand Visualization 

System (SVS) (McGaughey 1997) images, showing how fuel treatments 

change wildfire behavior and stand conditions over time after FFE-FVS 

modeling.

1 The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not 

imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.
3

ArcFuels10 System Overview

3. Scale-up of stand-specific treatments to simulate landscape changes in 

vegetation and fuel from proposed management activities. 

4. The ability to modify and reevaluate fuel treatment scenarios.

5. Pre- and postprocessing of files for or from FlamMap (Finney 2006) to 

simulate landscape-scale fire behavior and to measure fuel treatment 

performance in terms of wildfire probabilities, spread rates, and fireline 

intensity. 

6. Viewing and analyzing spatial fire behavior outputs in ArcMap.

7. Tools to aid wildfire risk assessments.

Figure 1—ArcFuels10 toolbar (outlined in red) within ArcMap with the supplied ArcFuels 

demonstration data loaded.
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GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Table 1—Description of forest growth and fire behavior models linked to ArcFuels101

Model Description Linkage within ArcFuels10

Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) Individual-tree, distance-independent growth Calls the program, creates input 

(Crookston and Dixon 2005)2 and yield model data, processes output data, plus

allows interaction in execution

Fire and Fuels Extension to FVS Stand-level simulations of fuel dynamics, Calls the program, creates input 

(FFE-FVS) (Rebain 2010)2 potential fire behavior and fire effects data, processes output data, plus

over time allows interaction in execution

Stand Visualization System (SVS) Generates graphics depicting stand conditions Calls the program; creates

 (McGaughey 1997)2 input data

NEXUS (Scott 1999) Stand-level spreadsheet that links surface Calls the program; creates

and crown fire prediction models input data

BehavePlus (Heinsch and Stand-level fire behavior, fire effects, and Calls the program; SURFACE

Andrews 2010) fire environment modeling system module fully integrated in the

Behave Calculator

FlamMap (Finney 2006)2 Landscape-level fire behavior mapping and Calls the program, creates input 

analysis program data, processes output data

Fire Area Simulator (FARSITE) Landscape-level fire spread simulator Calls the program, creates input 

(Finney 1998) data, processes output data

First Order Fire Effects Model Stand-level first-order fire effects modeling Calls the program

(FOFEM) (Reinhardt et al. 1997) system

Landscape Treatment Designer Landscape-level fuel treatment planning Calls the program

(LTD) (Ager et al. 2012) system

Fire Family Plus (Main et al. 1990) Analysis of fire danger indices and weather Calls the program

1

 Adapted from table 1 in Ager et al. 2011. 

2 FVS, FFE-FVS, SVS and FlamMap are the programs most frequently used with ArcFuels10.

ArcFuels10 Application

ArcFuels10 can be used for both project planning and fuel management research. It 

has three major applications, listed in order of increasing complexity: (1) modeling 

fuel treatments with FVS\FFE-FVS, (2) simulating landscape-level fire behavior 

and fuel treatments, and (3) using burn probability modeling and risk analysis to 

measure the performance of fuel treatments.

Modeling fuel treatments with FVS/FFE-FVS— 

ArcFuels10 adds a spatial context to FVS and facilitates its application for both 

stand and landscape modeling of fuel treatments. All functionality and extensions available for use within FVS are available in ArcFuels10. This includes the 

FFE-FVS, which also incorporates the carbon model and the climate extension 

(Climate-FVS) (Crookston et al. 2010). ArcFuels10 stand-level analysis with FFEFVS typically involves simulating activities like thinning as well as surface fuel 

treatments such as pile burning, mastication, or broadcast burns, and examining the 

changes to fire behavior and effects such as tree mortality. At the stand level, the 
5

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 2—The ArcFuels10 toolbar has been set up to follow a typical fuel treatment planning workflow (gray boxes). Steps include 

obtaining data, critiquing and updating data, modeling existing conditions, creating treatment alternative(s), and assessing the 

effectiveness of the alternative(s). Different processes are possible at the stand and landscape levels and are shown accordingly. 

Black boxes are specific to ArcFuels10 functionality.

ArcGIS evaluation

Modify raster values

Pre-planned alternatives

FlamMap Treatment

Optimization Model

(TOM) 

Critique and 

update data Obtain data Model existing

conditions

Create treatment

alternative(s)

Inventory data

(i.e., FSVeg) 

Fire hazard/risk

assessment 

FFE-FVS modeling

SVS visualization Prescription development

LCP creation

LCP creation LCP creation

Stand-level

Landscape-level

Assess effectiveness

of alternative(s)

FFE-FVS modeling FFE-FVS modeling FFE-FVS modeling

SVS visualization SVS visualization

Landscape Treatment

Designer (LTD)

Fire behavior modeling

(FlamMap)

Wildfire hazard/risk

Post-processing/analysis

of fire model outputs

Post-processing/analysis

of fire model outputs

Post-processing/analysis

of fire model outputs

Fire behavior modeling

(FlamMap)

Fire behavior modeling

(FlamMap)

ArcGIS rasters

(i.e., LANDFIRE)

intention is for users to have access to digital orthophotos to see the vegetation in 

stands (delineated by an ArcGIS stand shapefile layer) and be able to point and click 

on individual stands to run FFE-FVS and SVS. When this is completed, ArcFuels10 

generates an Excel workbook with FFE-FVS outputs and graphs generated in each 

worksheet. At the landscape scale, modeled outputs are written to an Access®

database. The selection of which stands to run through FFE-FVS is user-defined 

and can range from a single stand to the entire landscape. Additionally, ArcFuels10 

makes it possible to build landscape files from the FFE-FVS outputs for fire behavior modeling in FlamMap to test treatment alternatives with simulated wildfires.

Much of stand-level modeling involves validating data and iteratively examining different treatment combinations on a suite of stands that collectively comprise 

a coordinated landscape fuel treatment strategy. Direct links to the prescription 

files allows efficient editing of the keywords, making easy comparisons possible. 

The validation or assessment of fuel treatment prescription(s) at the stand level 

can also be applied to larger landscapes to developed landscape-level treatment 

alternatives. Posttreatment stand development and fuel dynamics can be used to 

determine retreatment frequency over time. In addition to running FVS/FFE-FVS 
6

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

for a single prescription, ArcFuels10 has the ability to analyze treatment prescriptions by altering a single keyword parameter over set step amounts. This provides a 

way to explore how different management prescriptions affect stand structure and 

fire behavior. 

Simulating landscape fire behavior and fuel treatments—

Landscape analysis of fuel treatment scenarios examines the aggregate effect of all 

treatments on potential wildfire behavior (Collins et al. 2010). The spatial arrangement, unit size, and total area treated are of importance to fuel treatment effectiveness (Finney 2001, 2007; Finney et al. 2007). Landscape fuel treatment plans can be 

derived from a number of methods, including the use of models such as the Treatment Optimization Model (TOM) within FlamMap or the Landscape Treatment 

Designer (LTD), within or outside of ArcFuels10, based on specific needs (point 

protection of structures), wildfire hazard or risk, or expert opinion.

Regardless of the fuel treatment plan, fuel treatments can be “applied” at the 

landscape scale two ways in ArcFuels10. The first is by simulating all stands through 

FFE-FVS with treatment prescription(s). The second is by using appropriate standlevel FFE-FVS runs, monitoring data, or expert opinion to determine treatment 

adjustment factors to alter raster data to represent posttreatment conditions. Within 

ArcFuels10, it is possible to store the treatment adjustment factors, then apply the 

changes to select locations in the landscape in a single step. Arc-Fuels10 streamlines 

the preparation of landscape files (LCPs), which characterize the fuel environment 

for use with spatial fire modeling programs such as FARSITE and FlamMap. With 

ArcFuels10 LCPs can be created from raster data (such as LANDFIRE) (Rollins 

2009), from FFE-FVS simulations, from attributed shapefiles, or from multiple 

sources. ArcFuels10 also provides tools for quick postprocessing of modeled fire 

behavior outputs to analyze treatment effects in ArcGIS. 

Burn probability modeling and risk analysis—

The incorporation of the minimum travel time (MTT) (Finney 2002) fire spread 

algorithm into FlamMap makes it feasible to rapidly simulate thousands of fires that 

can then be used to generate burn probability maps. With the release of FlamMap5, 

it is now possible to obtain two key files necessary for wildfire risk assessments. 

FlamMap5 creates a Fire Size List (FSL) file that contains the coordinates and 

the final fire size of each randomly ignited fire in a MTT burn probability run. In 

addition, the Flame Length Probability (FLP) file output contains data on the burn 

probability and intensity from the randomly ignited fires for every pixel within the 

landscape. The FLP file is used to calculate the conditional flame length. These 

files are described in more detail in the “Risk” subsection of the “ArcFuels10 

Functionality” section of this document.
7

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Burn probability maps coupled with conditional flame length maps can be 

used to complete wildfire risk assessments. The outputs can be used to create risk 

matrices to categorize the landscape based on likelihood of a fire occurring (burn 

probability) and potential intensity (conditional flame length). This categorization 

can highlight “hot spots” in the landscape for fuel treatment planning (fig. 3a). 

The outputs can also be used to create risk scatter plots to assess the relative risk 

between and among values (fig. 3b). Expected loss where there is a direct linkage between fire behavior and fire effects can be calculated and graphed (fig. 3c). 

Expected loss is possible for factors such as threatened or endangered species 

habitat (Ager et al. 2007), carbon (Ager et al. 2010a), or trees (Ager et al. 2010b). 

Finally, for values for which there is no direct linkage between fire behavior and fire 

effects, such as in the wildland-urban interface, response functions can be applied 

to calculate expected losses and benefits (Calkin et al. 2010).

A C

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

All trees

DF

PP

WL

ES

SF

Treatment intensity (percent)

Proportion of total expected loss 

B

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Conditional flame length (m)

Burn probability

Figure 3—Examples of wildfire risk assessments using FlamMap5. (A) Wildfire risk maps where burn probability (BP) and conditional 

flame length (CFL) are categorized based on a risk matrix to highlight “hot spots” for fuel treatment planning, (B) wildfire risk scatter 

plot showing the relative risk of individual structures; structures that have low BP and low CFL (circled in green) have a lower relative 

risk than those with higher BP and conditional flame length (circled in red), (C) calculated expected loss of individual tree species under 

varying treatment intensities. Graphs B and C are adapted from Ager et al. 2010b.

How Is ArcFuels10 Different From ArcFuels9?

One of the key concepts in developing ArcFuels is combining separate, specialized tools to accomplish analysis that draws on a variety of disciplines to answer a 

variety of questions about the consequences of management decisions. The questions may involve the projected impacts on vegetation, wildlife, and watersheds, 

as well as the risks of wildfire to both human and non-human values. To explore 

One of the key concepts 

in developing ArcFuels 

is combining separate, 

specialized tools to 

accomplish analysis 

that draws on a 

variety of disciplines 

to answer a variety 

of questions about 

the consequences of 

management decisions.
8

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

the impacts of multiple management plans, a researcher or planner must be able to 

run simulations using a variety of state-of-the-art tools. ArcFuels has always had, 

at its core, the concept of bringing together tools to aid researchers and planners in 

exploring the consequences of decisions.

When ESRI released ArcGIS 10, it moved from Visual Basic for Applications 

(VBA) to the .NET framework as its core programming language. This change 

prompted a need to reprogram ArcFuels for continued use within ArcMap. We took 

the opportunity to streamline forms within ArcFuels and design it to better follow a 

logical workflow by moving menus to more appropriate locations. To the end user, 

ArcFuels10 is very similar to ArcFuels9, but to the programming community it is 

quite different.

The .NET framework provides more powerful tools for developing more robust 

applications and is specifically designed to make it easy for programmers to take 

advantage of each other's work without reinventing or rewriting the same code. By 

providing libraries of functions in the form of Dynamic Linked Libraries (DLLs), 

.NET enables one programmer to write a module that is then incorporated into 

another programmer's project. Whereas VBA provided a limited ability to use 

DLLs, support for using DLLs is much greater in .NET and is, in fact, one of its 

core features. ArcFuels10 is designed to encourage the developers of primary tools 

to provide those tools in modular form, so that other programmers can combine the 

core functionality of multiple tools in ways that support the needs of end users.

Using ArcFuels on Citrix

Thin-client or distributed computing is a system of multiple autonomous computers that communicate via a network. Thin-client computing removes software 

requirements; users do not need to have the necessary programs installed on their 

machines. This is very helpful in the case of programs such as ArcGIS, where the 

program is quite large and computing needs are high. People with less powerful 

computers can use a thin-client to access and run programs they would otherwise 

be unable to do. All the data applications and data are housed, supported, and 

deployed from the server (fig. 4).

ArcFuels10 has the same capability within the U.S. Forest Service's Enterprise 

Production Data Center at Kansas City (also known as “Citrix” or the T-drive). 

Citrix has ArcGIS and the Microsoft Office® programs required to run ArcFuels10®. 

The forest growth and fire behavior programs are supplied for the user, similar 

to running them on your own PC. Citrix is accessed via the Internet (http://apps.

fs.usda.gov/Citrix/auth/login.jsp), but you must be on the Forest Service network 

(in the office or via VPN). One main advantage to working in Citrix is that it is 

not necessary to have ArcGIS loaded on your computer. Other benefits of working 
9

ArcFuels10 System Overview

in Citrix are accessing its large data storage capacity and more robust computing 

speeds, having the ability to share data with other users, and not needing to back up 

data. Citrix houses all the programs necessary to run ArcFuels10 (\\ds.fs.fed.us\efs\

FS\Reference\GeoTool\agency\Application\ArcFuels\ArcFuels10).

Other systems, such as the Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support 

System (IFTDSS, http://iftdss.sonomatech.com) use the distributed computing 

concept via their online system. Data and programs are all stored in a single portal 

for managers to access and share data. However, at this time, IFTDSS is not fully 

functional.

Overview Assumptions

This overview introduces ArcFuels10 and the tools available within the system. The 

reader is assumed to have a working knowledge of ArcGIS/ArcMap10, FVS, and 

FlamMap. Specific details about these programs will not be covered. For a basic 

introduction to these programs, refer to the ArcFuels10 Tutorial and Supplemental 

Information (Vaillant and Ager [N.d.]) and for full details, please refer to the tutorials and training provided with the programs. 

Thin-client PCs

Citrix servers

Internet login

Figure 4—Schematic of thin-client/distributed computing for the USDA Forest Service.
10

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

ArcFuels10 Functionality

As mentioned, ArcFuels10 is a library of ArcGIS macros developed to streamline 

fire behavior modeling and spatial analyses for fuel treatment planning. These 

macros are executed via a custom toolbar in ArcMap (fig. 5). 

The toolbar consists of a number of menus, many with multiple options found 

in drop-down lists and sometimes multiple tabs in the associated forms. The 

ArcFuels10 toolbar also has a “tool,” the forest stand icon that is used to select a 

polygon (stand) or a raster cell from data loaded into the ArcMap table of contents.

The layout of the toolbar is intended to follow the workflow of fuel treatment 

planning (table 2). The premise is that fuel treatment planning often starts at the 

stand level to assess fuel treatment impacts that can then be extrapolated to the 

landscape. Before landscape-level fire behavior simulations can be completed, 

landscape files need to be created. Finally, ArcFuels10 has a group of tools that are 

useful for pre- and postprocessing fire behavior outputs and completing wildfire 

risk assessments.

Figure 5—ArcFuels10 toolbar.

Table 2—Summary of ArcFuels10 toolbar functionality

Menu Description

Stand Set up options for FVS/FFE-FVS. Includes applying fuel treatment prescriptions, treatment analysis, 

and treatment comparison tools. External linkage to open SVS.

Stand Select Tool Toggle button to select individual stands within the landscape to run FVS/FFE-FVS.

Landscape Multiple functions: (1) apply prescriptions to the landscape, (2) set up and running of FVS/FFE-FVS, 

(3) complete a treatment analysis with FVS/FFE-FVS, (4) a tool to join FVS/FFE-FVS outputs to a 

stand shapefile, and (5) the inclusion of the LTD program.

Build LCP Used to build landscape files (LCP) for FlamMap/FARSITE from FVS/FFE-FVS databases, rasters 

(i.e., LANDFIRE), an attributed shapefile, or a combination of data sources.

Wildfire models External linkage to open select (NEXUS, FARSITE, FlamMap, BehavePlus, FOFEM, and Fire Family 

Plus) fire behavior models. Internally coded version of BehavePlus (“Behave Calculator”) for quick 

stand-level comparisons of fire behavior.

Risk Tools to streamline wildfire risk assessments coupled with FlamMap5 outputs.

Tools A mixture of tools to modify raster values, convert ASCII files to rasters, and export attributes to Excel.

Project Forms to import, update, and export project settings linking ArcFuels10 to the programs listed in table 

1 and linking spatial data to programs.

FVS/FFE-FVS = Forest Vegetation Simulator/Fire and Fuels Extension to FVS, SVS = Stand Visualization System, FARSITE = Fire Area Simulator, 

FOFEM = First Order Fire Effects Model, LTD = Landscape Treatment Designer.
11

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 6—Spatial linkage between the stand shapefile and the FVS_StandInit (top right) and FVS_TreeInit (bottom right) data tables 

within the FVS-ready database for stand 566 in the supplied ArcFuels demonstration data set. Draping the stand shapefile over aerial 

imagery can help identify stand(s) of interest.

The functionality of each menu will be described in the following sections, 

moving from left to right across the toolbar.

Stand

ArcFuels10 can be used to interactively run FVS/FFE-FVS for individual stands 

assuming that the user has the proper data. ArcFuels10 links FVS data to a stand 

shapefile, making it spatially explicit by linking the unique stand identification 

number (also known as “STAND_ID”) from a FVS-ready database to the location 

on the ground via an attributed shapefile (fig. 6). Draping the stand shapefile over 

aerial imagery aids the user in identifying stands to run with the tool or in visualizing the outputs. If the aerial imagery is current, it can also be used in conjunction 

with the FVS outputs to validate or update data as needed. 

The stand functionality can be used to run FVS/FFE-FVS for one stand at 

a time using the FVS interface integrated within ArcFuels10. The user does not 

need to leave ArcFuels to run FVS. Many of the FFE-FVS functions have been 

“hardwired” in ArcFuels10 to streamline the fuel treatment planning process. Once 

the Select Stand Tool is activated, the user simply points and clicks on a stand in 

ArcMap to initiate FVS. If all the settings are correct for the intended purpose, the 

user can click from one stand to another without having to revisit the FVS settings.

The Stand menu has a drop-down list with five options, Select Stand: Run 

FVS, Select Stand: FVS Treatment Analysis, Select Stand: FVS Compare 

ArcFuels10 can be 

used to interactively 

run FVS/FFE-FVS for 

individual stands, 

by linking FVS data 

to a stand shapefile, 

making the data 

spatially explicit.
12

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Treatments, View FVS Files, and Select 

Stand: Display Details (fig. 7). The four 

options with the Select Stand Tool icon 

to the left are used in conjunction with the 

Select Stand Tool (forest stand icon to the 

right of the Stand menu). 

Select Stand: Run FVS—

The FVS Inputs tab of the Select Stand: 

Run FVS form (fig. 8) is where the linkage between the stand shapefile and FVS 

database are set. Treatment prescriptions 

can also be selected by choosing keyword 

prescription (KCP) files, which outline fuel treatment prescriptions (such as 

thinning from below, pile burning, broadcast burning, etc.).

Figure 7—Stand menu with the associated 

drop-down list and Select Stand Tool (stand 

icon to the right of the Stand menu) on the 

ArcFuels10 toolbar. These are used together 

to do the stand-level forest growth, fuel treatment prescription testing, and fire behavior 

modeling within ArcFuels10.

Figure 8—The FVS Inputs tab of the Select Stand: Run FVS form is where the linkage between 

the spatial data and FVS database are set, and where keyword component prescription files (KCPs) 

can be applied. The form is set to run the supplied ArcFuels10 demonstration data.
13

ArcFuels10 System Overview

The FVS Options tab of the Select Stand: Run FVS form (fig. 9) is where 

the number of cycles and time steps for FVS runs and the fuel model set(s) that 

FFE-FVS will use are specified. Other hardwired options include the generation of 

a tree list for a specified year, a cut list, the ability to pause the FVS run at the end 

for debugging, and the option to override the FFE-FVS fuel model selections with 

others in the input database. Output options are also selected using this tab. Options 

include creating and opening Excel workbooks with or without graphics, writing 

files for use with NEXUS, and viewing outputs in SVS.

Figure 9—The FVS Options tab of the Select Stand: Run FVS form is where the options for an 

FVS/FFE-FVS run are specified and the output types are selected. The form is set to run the Blue 

Mountain variant of FVS/FVS-FFE for 10 one-year cycles, allowing FVS/FFE-FVS to choose the 

fuel models from either the Scott and Burgan (2005) or Anderson (1982) sets and to display the 

outputs in SVS and create an Excel workbook.

Once an FVS run is completed, the user has the option to view the results in 

SVS (fig. 10) and/or generate an Excel workbook (fig. 11) with or without graphs. 

These options are in addition to outputting the standard FVS output files.
14

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Select Stand: FVS Treatment Analysis—

The Treatment Analysis tab of the Select Stand: FVS Treatment Analysis form 

(fig. 12) allows a single parameter to be varied within a KCP to test the effects on 

modeled outputs such as stand structure or fire behavior. This is handy when trying 

to determine how intensely to thin a stand or to see the effects of varying windspeed or fine dead fuel moisture on projected fire behavior. When this is used, 

FVS/FFE-FVS is run in “batch mode” automatically, running the stand through for 

Figure 10—Aerial imagery of stand 566 from the supplied ArcFuels demonstration data and SVS visualization for the initial year 

(inventory conditions).

Figure 11—Excel workbook displaying the FFE-FVS Potential Fire report for a 10-year simulation run for stand 566 from the supplied 

ArcFuels demonstration data. Many reports are hardwired to be output for all runs in ArcFuels10; each report is represented in individual 

worksheets (tabs) in the workbook.
15

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 12—The Treatment Analysis tab of the Select Stand: FVS Treatment Analysis form is 

used to compare the effect of varying a single parameter on modeled outputs. The form is showing an 

analysis in which thinning intensities are varied to maintain a target of 20 to 100 ft2/ac basal area in 

20 ft2

/ac increments.

Figure 13—Sample of Excel workbook graph for stand 570 showing the effect on crowning index 

(the windspeed (mph) required to sustain active crown fire) when varying thinning intensity based 

on remaining basal area for 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 ft2

/ac.

each step amount specified in the form. This form contains the same FVS Inputs

and FVS Options tabs (see figs. 8 and 9, respectively) as the Select Stand: Run 

FVS form. Outputs are saved to an Excel workbook and graphs are created if those 

options are selected in the FVS Options tab (fig. 13).

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Windspeed (mph)

Crown_Index

Parameter = 20

Parameter = 40

Parameter = 60

Parameter = 80

Parameter = 100

Year
16

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Select Stand: FVS Compare Treatments—

The Compare tab of the Select Stand: FVS Compare Treatments form (fig. 14) 

allows for direct comparison of two treatment alternatives. When this form is used 

an Excel workbook with graphs is automatically created and opened (fig. 15). This 

allows for quick comparisons of treatment alternatives over the span of the simulated 

years. The information can also be used in fuel treatment prescription development 

when stand data are available for only a subset of a larger landscape. This form contains the same FVS Inputs and FVS Options tabs (see figs. 8 and 9, respectively) as 

the Select Stand: Run FVS and Select Stand: FVS Treatment Analysis forms.

Figure 14—The Compare tab of the Select Stand: FVS Compare Treatments form is used 

to compare the modeled output of two different treatment prescriptions. In the form, the two 

treatment prescriptions being compared are one in which a fuel treatment (thin, fuel movement, and prescribed burn) occurs before a wildfire is simulated in 2007 (Combo.kcp) and a 

no-treatment alternative with the same simulated wildfire in 2007 (Wildfire2007.kcp).

View FVS Files—

The View FVS Files (fig. 16) form is used to quickly view the FVS KEY (*.key) and 

OUT (*.out) files from past runs (using the drop-down list). The files can be viewed 

in the text box, or opened in Notepad (using the Open File in Notepad button) or 

Excel (using the Open Spreadsheet button). The KEY file is a keyword record file 

that FVS reads to complete a run and includes information on the location of the 

stand and tree data, specifics on run duration, and prescriptions applied. The OUT 

file is a text file containing all the outputs from an FVS run.
17

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 15— Sample of Excel workbook chart for stand 570 created for various carbon stocks (ton/acre) when comparing the two 

treatment prescriptions in figure 14.

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

Untreated,

before fire

Untreated,

after fire

 Treated, 

before fire

 Treated, 

after fire Offset

Carbon Distribution Summary

Wildfire Emission

Underburn Emissions

Fixed/Decay Emissions

NonMerch Removed

Merch Stored

Forest Floor

Dead and Down

Below Dead

Below Live

Live NonMerch

Live Merch

Carbon (tons/acre)

Figure 16—The View FVS Files form quickly displays the KEY or OUT files from past FVS/FFEFVS runs with the additional options of opening the files using Notepad or Excel. The OUT file for 

stand 542 from the demonstration data is shown.
18

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Select Stand: Display Details—

The Select Stand: Display Details form displays information about the trees and 

fuel loads from the FVS input database for the point selected when the data are 

available and for the landscape rasters if they are loaded (fig. 17). This still works 

when only FVS data or raster data are available; both are not needed.

Figure 17—The 

Select Stand: 

Display Details

form, which displays 

information about the 

stand and landscape 

data for a selected 

point. The Tree List 

and Fuels Data are 

from the FVS input 

database and the 

Landscape Data are 

from rasters loaded 

into ArcMap.

Landscape

The Landscape menu is used when one desires to run FVS/FFE-FVS for more than 

one stand at a time. Like the stand-level FVS/FFE-FVS functionality, ArcFuels10 

links a FVS-ready database to a stand shapefile, making it spatially explicit, and 

includes a graphical user interface (GUI) to run FVS without leaving the system. It 

is possible to use data that has a one-to-one linkage between stands represented in 

the FVS-ready database and the stand shapefile, or a one-to-many relationship in 

which there are fewer stands in the database than polygons in the shapefile. When a 

one-to-many relationship exists, the stands in the database are imputed to the various stands in the shapefile, which is the case with Most Similar Neighbor (MSN) 

(Crookston et al. 2002) data, or to individual raster pixels for Gradient Nearest 

Neighbor (GNN) (Ohmann and Gregory 2002) data. For Forest Service employees, 

The Landscape menu 

is used when one 

desires to run FVS/

FFE-FVS for more than 

one stand at a time.
19

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 18—Landscape menu with the associated drop-down list from the ArcFuels10 

toolbar.

the FSVeg Spatial Data Analyzer (http://fsweb.nris.fs.fed.us/products/FSVeg_

Spatial_Data_Analyzer/documentation.shtml) can be used to obtain FVS data 

at the landscape level for use with ArcFuels10. 

In addition to FVS/FFE-FVS capabilities, the Landscape menu has a link to 

the LTD program (Ager et al. 2012), which is used to design fuel treatment plans 

using an attributed stand shapefile. Attributes from FVS/FFE-FVS are often used to 

populate the stand shapefile for LTD.

The Landscape menu has a dropdown list with five options, Assign FVS 

Prescriptions, Run FVS, FVS Treatment 

Analysis, Join FVS Outputs, and Landscape Treatment Designer (fig. 18). The 

first four options are all associated with 

running FVS and the last opens the LTD 

program. 

Assign FVS Prescriptions—

The Assign FVS Prescriptions form allows the user to assign KCP prescriptions 

to stands and store them in the FVS database for use with the Run FVS and FVS 

Treatment Analysis forms. Records are populated with the KCP file name for each 

stand using the Assign FVS Prescriptions options (fig. 19). This allows the user to 

create and store unlimited treatment alternatives using multiple KCP files. Although 

different KCP files can be used in a single alternative, only one can be assigned per 

stand.

Figure 19—Linkage between individual stands and the FVS database and the KCP files assigned for one fuel treatment 

alternative, “Alt1_Combo.”
20

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 20—Assign FVS Prescriptions form with the Selecting Individual Stands option 

selected. The form is set to assign the “Combo.kcp” to the “Alt1_Combo” field in the FVS 

database for each stand selected.

The form has three options (buttons) for assigning prescriptions. The first 

option, Selecting Individual Stands (fig. 20), is used in conjunction with the 

Select Stand Tool. Prescriptions are assigned to a user-defined field in the stand 

table of the FVS database. The user sets the options in the Assign FVS Prescriptions form, pushes the Select Stand: Assign Rx button, then closes the form, 

turns on the Select Stand Tool, and points and clicks on individual stands to 

assign KCP files to each.

The second option, Using Arc Selected Stands (fig. 21), assigns prescriptions 

to stands selected in ArcMap. The selection options in ArcMap can be used to 

quickly select stands requiring treatment based on any number of attributes in the 

stand shapefile (e.g., distance to structures, stand slope, etc.).
21

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 21—Assign FVS Prescriptions form with the Using Arc Selected Stands option 

selected. The form is set to assign the “pileburn.kcp” to the “Alt1_WUI” field in the FVS 

database for the Arc Selected stands. 

The third option, Using TOM (fig. 22), uses an integer raster consisting of 

only 0s and 1s, where a value of 1 indicates the need for a treatment and a value 

of 0 is no treatment needed. Treatment Optimization Model (TOM) is a tool in 

FlamMap that outputs a 0/1 treatment raster. The Using TOM option is not limited 

to treatment rasters output by TOM but can be used with any 0/1 raster created in 

ArcMap. This function pairs extremely well with the ArcMap Raster Calculator. 

For example, with the Raster Calculator, new 0/1 rasters based on specific criteria 

(e.g., all burnable fuels, slopes > 30 percent, south aspects, etc.) can be created, then 

ArcFuels10 can be used to apply prescriptions.

Because rasters and shapefiles rarely line up exactly or the 0/1 raster might be 

based on non-stand-specific criteria (such as fire hazard from FlamMap runs), a 

user-defined treatment threshold is used. The user decides what percentage of the 

stand must be represented by a value of 1 to have the KCP applied. In addition to 
22

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

assigning the KCP files, a text summary file of how many stands were selected 

for treatment and a new 0/1 ASCII text file for the prescription assignment can 

be created.

Run FVS—

The Run FVS form has two tabs related to running FVS. The landscape Run 

FVS form is similar to that under the Stand menu and offers a compact FVS 

interface with many options. A single stand, a set number of stands, ArcMapselected stands, only stands with prescriptions, or all the stands in the landscape 

can be run. Prescriptions can be applied to all stands or to selected stands by linking to the prescription field in the input database (see Assign FVS Prescriptions

above). The number of FVS cycles and years is set with this form. In addition to 

Figure 22—Assign FVS Prescriptions form with the Using TOM option selected. The form is set 

to apply the “Underburn2003.kcp” to the “Alt1_TOM” field based on the 0/1 raster “trt_location.” 

The program knows to which stands in the FVS database to assign the prescriptions because of the 

use of a Stand ID Raster.
23

ArcFuels10 System Overview

the ability to write and use KCPs, some helpful FVS/FFE-FVS functions are hardwired in ArcFuels10 as options: fuel model selection, carbon reports, turning off the 

FFE-FVS reports, creating a tree list for a given year, and generating a cut list. Inputs 

are set using the FVS Inputs (fig. 23) and FVS Options (fig. 24) tabs. A few differences between the Stand and Landscape Run FVS forms exist. With the Landscape

form, SVS outputs are not created, nor can NEXUS inputs be created, the output file 

is an Access database rather than an Excel Workbook so no graphs are created, and 

the Parallel Processing Extension (Crookston and Stage 1991) can be run through the 

Landscape form but not the Stand form.

FVS Treatment Analysis—

The FVS Treatment Analysis tab has three options (buttons) for analyzing treatment effects on stand characteristics and modeled fire behavior and effects. The FVS 

Treatment Analysis form also has the FVS Inputs (fig. 23) and FVS Options (fig. 

24) tabs. Within the Treatment Analysis tab the first option, Vary Parameter (fig. 

25), is similar to the FVS Treatment Analysis function in the Stand menu, where a 

single parameter within the prescription file is varied in a stepwise fashion.

Figure 23—The FVS Inputs tab of the Run FVS form. The form is set to run all the stands in 

the supplied ArcFuels demonstration landscape using the Blue Mountain variant of FVS and will 

apply prescriptions to those stands with them assigned using the “Alt1_Combo” field in the FVS 

stand data table.
24

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

The second option, Substitute Value (fig. 26), substitutes a single value based 

prescription with “<_>” inside a command indicating the value to be altered. The 

minimum and maximum values and the step amount are specified by the user.

The third option, FLP Specific (fig. 27), is used to create loss function databases for use with FlamMap5 or FSim (Finney et al. 2011) specific FLP files. FSim 

is the large fire simulator used by the Fire Program Analysis (FPA) System (http://

www.fpa.nifc.gov) to do wildfire risk assessments for the United States (wildfire 

risk will be described in detail in the “Risk” section later). An FLP file is a griddedpoint shapefile that contains information about burn probability and fire intensity 

for each point. The spacing of the points is user defined within FlamMap5 and 

FSim. The FLP files generated in FlamMap5 either contain 6 or 20 fire intensity 

Figure 24—The FVS Options tab of the Run FVS form. The form is set to run 10 one-year 

simulations in which FVS/FFE-FVS selects fuel models from both the Scott and Burgan (2005) 

and Anderson (1982) sets and will write the outputs to the “Alt1_Combo.mdb” database file.
25

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 25—Treatment Analysis tab with the Vary Parameter option selected. The form is set to 

vary the thin from below part of the “Combo.kcp” file to a target basal area of 60, 70, 80, and 

90 ft2/ac.

levels (FILs); those from FSim only contain 6 FILs. An FIL is a measure of fire 

behavior and is based on flame length. This FVS Treatment Analysis option is 

used in conjunction with a KCP that uses the FLAMEADJ keyword to control the 

flame length within each FFE-FVS simulation to be coupled with the FLP outputs 

for further analysis with the Risk menu options within ArcFuels10. The FLP 

Specific option not only runs simulations to match the FIL categories for the FLP 

files, but also runs a no-fire simulation. For more information about FlamMap5 and 

FSim, please refer to each program’s Web site at http://www.firemodels.org/index.

php/national-systems/flammap and http://www.fpa.nifc.gov, respectively.
26

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 26—Treatment Analysis

tab with the Substitute Value

option selected. Within the 

“WildfireVariableWind.kcp,” 

windspeed will be varied from 

5 to 50 mph by 5 mph steps. 

Figure 27—Treatment Analysis tab 

with the FLP Specific option selected 

set up to run FFE-FVS simulations 

to build a loss function database for 

use with an FLP with 20 fire intensity 

levels (FILs). 
27

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 28—The Join FVS 

Outputs form is used to join 

FVS/FFE-FVS outputs to the 

stand shapefile layer. The form 

is set to join the FVS_Compute 

table for 2005. The FVS_Compute table is specific to 

ArcFuels10 and includes data 

pertinent to canopy characteristics relevant for landscape 

fire behavior modeling and 

modeled fire behavior from 

FFE-FVS. See figure 29 for a 

sample map.

Figure 29—A sample map created 

after joining the FVS_Compute 

table with severe flame length (ft) 

outputs for 2005 from a landscape 

FFE-FVS run to the stand shapefile 

for the supplied ArcFuels demonstration area.

0 2 41 km

SEV_FL

1.6–4.0

4.0–8.5

8.5–25.4

25.4–55.4

55.4–76.1

76.1–105.2

105.2–180.6

Join FVS Outputs—

The Join FVS Outputs form (fig. 28) joins FVS/FFE-FVS outputs from any table 

in the output database for a given year to the stand shapefile layer. This is a very 

useful tool for visualizing various FVS output metrics across a landscape (fig. 29).
28

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Landscape Treatment Designer—

The Landscape Treatment Designer form (fig. 30) is available when the LTD 

program is downloaded and linked via the Edit Project Setting form, which is 

described in the “Project” section of this document. The LTD program is a multicriteria spatial prioritization and optimization system to help design and explore landscape fuel treatment scenarios (fig. 31). The program fills a gap in the fuel treatment 

planning process between fire model programs such as FlamMap and planning 

systems such as ArcFuels10 by providing a systematic way of planning spatially 

explicit fuel treatments. The LTD uses inputs on spatial treatment objectives, 

activity constraints, and treatment thresholds, then identifies optimal fuel treatment 

locations with respect to the input parameters. The input data represent polygons 

Figure 30—The Landscape Treatment Designer (LTD) form, which can be used for fuel treatment planning. LTD is set 

to create a fuel treatment alternative with aggregated treatment blocks to protect large trees until all stands are included. 

Stands are considered for treatment only when fire type is passive or active crown fire (FireType>=2.00) and slope is less 

than or equal to 50 degrees (Slope_deg<=50.00). Each treatment block can treat between 500 and 850 ha but will ultimately 

be larger with the inclusion of stands not requiring treatment.

ArcFuels10 streamlines 

the process of building 

landscape files (LCPs) 

from FVS/FFE-FVS 

output databases, an 

attributed shapefile, or 

raster data for use in 

fire behavior modeling 

programs such as 

FARSITE and FlamMap.
29

ArcFuels10 System Overview

that are attributed with information about expected fire behavior 

and the polygon’s overall contribution to one or more landscape 

management objectives. Four types of output files are generated 

with each run: (1) a text file with all the input data with treatment 

locations indicated, (2) a summary text file of input parameters 

and output results, (3) a results comma separated file with the input 

parameters and output results, and (4) a shapefile with an attribute 

table that identifies patch locations and stands selected for treatments. For more detailed information about the LTD, refer to Ager 

et al. 2012.

Build Landscape File (LCP) 

Running FlamMap or FARSITE, two commonly used fire behavior 

modeling programs, requires a landscape file (LCP). LCPs are 

binary files containing a compilation or “sandwich” of ASCII data, 

including elevation, slope, aspect, fuel model, canopy cover, canopy 

height, canopy base height, and canopy bulk density (fig. 32). In 

addition to the eight layers listed above, a FlamMap or FARSITE 

LCP can include duff loading and course woody fuels layer, but 

these are not easily obtained or often used. The new Wildland Fire 

Assessment Tool (WFAT) (http://www.frames.gov/partner-sites/

niftt/tools/niftt-current-resources/) also uses an LCP file with 

additional data requirements (fuel loading model 

and tree list data) for the fire-effects functionality. For more information about these programs, 

please visit their Web sites. 

ArcFuels10 streamlines the process of 

building LCPs from FVS/FFE-FVS output 

database(s), an attributed shapefile, or raster 

data. ArcFuels10 has the ability to reduce the 

analysis area based on another raster’s extent 

or coordinates, quickly apply treatments, and 

export ASCIIs and rasters created along with 

the LCP.

Figure 31—The Landscape Treatment Designer 

treatment solution from figure 30, in which the 

lighter shade within each treatment block (1–4) 

is marked as needing treatment.

1

2

3

4

0 2 41 km

Figure 32—Landscape file (LCP) schematic, adapted from Finney 

(2006).
30

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

The Build LCP menu has a 

drop-down list with four options, 

Build LCP using FVS or GNN 

Data, Build LCP using Raster 

Data, Build LCP using Shapefile 

Data, and Build LCP by Merging 

Data (fig. 33).

Figure 33—Build LCP menu with the 

associated drop-down list from the 

ArcFuels10 toolbar.

Build LCP Using FVS or GNN Data—

The Build LCP Using FVS or GNN Data form builds LCPs and/or rasters from 

FVS or GNN (Ohmann and Gregory 2002) output database(s) that are spatially 

linked via a raster that ties the FVS stand-identification numbers to their spatial 

location on the landscape. This is a raster version of the stand shapefile. 

To use this function, FVS/FFE-FVS must be run first for all unique stands 

within the landscape. It is possible to have FVS data from one stand be applied to 

multiple stands in the landscape, as is common with GNN and MSN data. Because 

FVS/FFE-FVS reports only the fuel model and canopy characteristic layers (canopy 

cover, canopy height, canopy base height (CBH), and canopy bulk density (CBD), 

topographic rasters (elevation, slope, aspect) must be obtained and loaded into the 

ArcMap table of contents to use this tool. 

If the FFE-FVS-derived fuel model assignments are not desired, it is possible 

to override these with another fuel model raster (such as one downloaded from 

LANDFIRE) by using the Use ArcGIS Raster Layer option.

When the Apply Treatments option is selected, two FVS/FFE-FVS databases 

can be combined to build the LCP and rasters. This is often used when running 

FVS for selected stands with prescriptions, rather than running the entire landscape 

as a time-saving step. ArcFuels10 replaces data from the FVS Output Database

(typically a no-treatment run with all stands represented) with that from the Treated 

Stands Database for all stands present.

The Build LCP Using FVS or GNN Data form consists of two tabs, FVS 

Data (fig. 34) and Output (fig. 35). The FVS Data tab is where the data sources are 

specified (topographic rasters, FFE-FVS output database(s), and related data table 

and data fields). The Output tab is where the desired extent of the output LCP and/

or rasters is specified. There are three options: Default extent: Intersection of the 

selected data layers, which is the typically rectangular extent of the topographic 

and Stand ID Raster, Use another layer to limit the extent, which uses another 

raster to build the LCP and/or rasters for a smaller analysis area (this is often used 
31

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 34—Build LCP Using FVS or 

GNN Data form FVS Data tab. The 

form is set to combine a no-treatment 

database (notreat.mdb) in which all 

stands were run through FVS without 

applying a treatment KCP and a treated 

database (Atl1_Combo.mdb) where only 

stands receiving treatment were run 

through FVS for the year 2005.

Figure 35—Build LCP Using FVS 

or GNN Data form Output tab set to 

create rasters and a LCP limited by the 

extent of a smaller area defined by the 

“subarea” raster.

when the topographic rasters are much larger in extent than the Stand ID Raster), 

and Manually limit the extent of the output, where the user types in the bounding 

coordinates desired.
32

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Build LCP Using Raster Data—

The Build LCP Using Raster Data form builds LCPs and/or rasters from ArcGIS 

rasters. This eliminates the need to export the rasters as ASCII files, which is 

required for creating LCPs in FlamMap and FARSITE. A common source of raster 

data for landscape-level fire modeling is LANDFIRE (http://www.landfire.gov); 

however, it is also possible to use other sources such as locally derived data. 

The Build LCP Using Raster Data form consists of two tabs, Raster Data

(fig. 36) and Output (fig. 35). The Raster Data tab is where the raster sources are 

specified. When the Apply Treatment Adjustment option is selected, treatments can 

be rapidly applied using a treatment adjustments database or an attributed shapefile. 

The treatment database is coupled with rasters location and type of treatment (fig. 

37). Multiple treatment alternatives can be maintained in a single treatment adjustments database where the Treatment Type ID Field is linked to multiple Treatment 

Type Raster(s) created for each alternative. Similarly, the attributed shapefile 

includes the treatment adjustments and a 0/1 field indicating if the adjustments 

Figure 36—Build LCP Using Raster Data form Data Sources tab. The tab is set to create a 

treated LCP file using a treatment adjustment database to replace the fuel model and canopy base 

height and multiply the remaining canopy characteristics by the adjustment factors. The location 

and type of treatments are specified by the “trt_location” and “trt_type” rasters, respectively.
33

ArcFuels10 System Overview

should be applied to a specific polygon. Treatment adjustments can multiplication 

factors (e.g., 0.2 would reduce input data by 80 percent), replacement factors (e.g., 

2 m for CBH), or no change. These options are both convenient ways to build and 

archive different treatment alternatives. The Output tab is identical to Build LCP 

Using FVS or GNN Data (fig. 35).

Build LCP Using Shapefile Data—

The Build LCP Using Shapefile Data form builds LCPs and/or rasters from 

attributes within a shapefile. As with the Build LCP Using FVS Data form, 

topographic rasters (elevation, slope, aspect) must be obtained and loaded into 

the ArcMap table of contents to use this form.

The Build LCP Using Shapefile Data form consists of two tabs, Shapefile 

Data (fig. 38) and Output (fig. 35). Raster data are needed to define the stand 

locations and the topography. The fuel layers (surface fuel model and canopy 

characteristic) are selected from attributes within the specified stand shapefile. 

The Output tab is identical to Build LCP Using FVS or GNN Data (fig. 35).

Figure 37—Treatment adjustment factors can be used in conjunction with untreated fuel 

rasters and a treatment type raster to rapidly apply treatments, build an LCP, and output 

the treated rasters.

Treatment adjustments table within the treatment 

adjustments database

Raster of treatment type pixels.

1 in yellow = heavy thin & underburn

2 in green = underburn only

3 in blue = light thin & underburn

0 1 1 1 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 

0 1 1 2 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 

0 1 1 1 3 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 

0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 1 0 0 

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 

Untreated fuel rasters

Treated LCP and fuel rasters
34

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Build LCP by Merging Data—

The Build LCP by Merging Data form allows the user to mix and match rasters 

from varying data sources (e.g., LANDFIRE, FFE-FVS, GNN, local, or LiDAR) or 

mosaic together multiple rasters of different spatial extents into one seamless layer 

for any given data set needed to create an LCP and/or rasters. It is even possible for 

the rasters to have different units, but they must be the same resolution and projection, and be snapped. 

The Build LCP by Merging Data form consists of two tabs, Merge Data (fig. 

39) and Output (fig. 35). The navigation button to the right of each data required 

opens a new form where the rasters can be selected and the units defined (fig. 40). 

The Output tab is identical to Build LCP Using FVS or GNN Data (fig. 35).

Figure 38—Build LCP 

Using Shapefile Data form 

Shapefile Data tab. The tab 

is set to create an LCP file 

using fuel model and canopy 

characteristics specific to 

each stand derived with FVS/

FFE-FVS. 
35

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 39—Build LCP by Merging Data form Data Sources tab set to mosaic together LANDFIRE rasters with 

FVS/FFE-FVS-derived rasters.

Figure 40—Select Data 

Sources form shown for 

combining FVS/FFE-FVSderived canopy height with 

LANDFIRE data. The order 

in which data are selected 

specifies how they will be 

used; those listed above 

replace those below.
36

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Wildfire Models

As mentioned, ArcFuels10 leverages existing programs. The Wildfire Models menu offers “shortcuts” 

to open selected fire behavior models (NEXUS, 

FARSITE, FlamMap, BehavePlus, FOFEM, and Fire 

Family Plus) for external use (fig. 41). The paths to the 

programs executable (*.exe) files must be set using the 

Edit Paths form, which is described in the “Project” 

section. For information about each of the programs, 

refer to their documentation.

In addition to opening the mentioned programs, 

ArcFuels10 also has the Behave Calculator, which is 

run through an integrated GUI. 

Behave Calculator—

The Behave Calculator (fig. 42) is hardwired into ArcFuels10 and uses the same 

equations as the SURFACE module in Behave Plus. The Behave Calculator can 

be used to quickly assess changes to modeled surface fire rate of spread and flame 

length for changes to fuel model, slope, fuel moisture, and/or windspeed inputs. 

Figure 42—Behave Calculator form with calculated rate of spread and flame length for fuel 

model GR7 (also known as 107) with a 25 percent slope under the specified fuel moisture and 

windspeed conditions.

Figure 41—Wildfire Models

menu with the associated 

drop-down list from the 

ArcFuels10 toolbar.

ArcFuels10 leverages 

existing programs and 

the Wildfire Models 

menu offers shortcuts 

to open NEXUS, 

FARSITE, FlamMap, 

Behave Plus, FOFEM, 

and Fire Family Plus.
37

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Risk 

Wildfire risk is the product of the likelihood of a fire occurring, the associated fire 

behavior when a fire occurs, and the effects of the fire (Calkin et al. 2010, Finney 

2005, Scott 2006). Although fire effects can be both positive and negative, in the 

field of wildfire risk the benefits are most often not considered. Wildfire risk mitigation is achieved when any of the three aspects (likelihood, behavior, or effects) 

are reduced. 

Wildfire likelihood is often quantified with burn probability (BP), which is 

an estimate of the possibility of a specific location burning given a single random 

ignition under the burn conditions specified in the simulation. Burn probability 

modeling represents a major advance in wildfire behavior modeling compared to 

previous methods, such as those in which fire likelihood was quantified with relatively few (<10) predetermined ignition locations. This advance resulted from the 

development of an MTT fire spread algorithm (Finney 2002) that makes it computationally feasible to simulate thousands of fires and generate burn probability 

and intensity maps over large areas (10 000 to 2 000 000 ha). High-performance 

computers are typically used for MTT simulations within FSim (Finney et al. 

2011). The algorithm as implemented in FlamMap (version 3 and version 5, Finney 

2006) is adequate for project scale (e.g., <25 000 ha) evaluations. Extensive testing 

has shown that this algorithm can replicate large fire boundaries in the heterogeneous landscapes that typify much of the wildlands in the western United States. 

FSim is based on the same platform as FlamMap, in which MTT calculations are 

used to model fire behavior and is the program used by FPA to do fire risk assessments for the United States. 

FSim and FlamMap5 each output an FSL text file for each fire along with a 

final perimeter shapefile and FLP text file in addition to a BP ASCII raster file. An 

FSL file contains the location, a unique identification number, and the final fire 

size in acres for all randomly ignited fires. An FLP file is a gridded point shapefile 

that lists the location, overall burn probability, and the conditional probability 

by FIL categories. The FLP files generated in FlamMap5 contain either 6 or 20 

FILs; those from FSim contain only 6 FILs. The six FIL categories are expressed 

as flame lengths in 2-ft (0.61-m) categories (FIL1 – FIL5; FIL6 > 12 ft). The 20 

FIL categories are expressed as flame lengths in 0.5-m categories (FIL1 – FIL19; 

FIL20 > 9.5 m).

A quantitative definition of fire risk includes fire behavior probabilities and 

fire effects for highly valued resources (HVRs). Finney (2005) calls this quantitative definition expected net value change (NVC). The expected NVC can include 

financial, ecological or other values at present day, or future discounted values, 

Wildfire risk is 

the product of 

the likelihood of 

a fire occurring, 

the associated fire 

behavior when a 

fire occurs, and the 

effects of the fire
38

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

and can include both positive and negative impacts of fire (Finney 2005). When 

wildfire benefits are not considered, expected NVC can be simplified to expected 

loss (EL). The calculation of EL is the sum of the product burn probability and 

loss for different fire intensity levels summed across the area in question (Ager et 

al. 2007, 2010b):

EL = ∑ (BPi

) (Li)

where BPi is the probability of a fire at the ith flame length category (conditional 

probability) and Li

 is the loss (e.g., northern spotted owl habitat, large trees, or 

carbon) at the ith FIL. Expected loss is then summed by FIL for each scenario. 

The FLP contains information for BPi

 and Li is within the loss function database 

created in FVS/FFE-FVS with the FVS Treatment Analysis form FLP Specific

option. In addition to the EL, conditional expected loss (CEL) can be calculated. 

The CEL is the observed loss given a fire occurs and is calculated as:

CEL = ∑ (BPi

/BP) (Li)

where BPi is the probability of a fire at the ith flame length category, BP is the burn 

probability, and Li

 is the loss at the ith flame length category. 

When it is not possible to directly link loss to flame lengths as is possible 

for trees or carbon, response functions can be used instead (Calkin et al. 2010). 

Response functions translate fire effects into NVC for any given HVR. In each 

response function, NVC is based on the flame length of the fire and represents 

both beneficial and adverse effects to the resource. Response functions are developed by considering the different ways in which various HVRs might respond 

to fire of different intensities (fig. 43; table 3). For computational ease response 

variables use the midpoint NVC value (table 3).

Conditional flame length (CFL) is the probability-weighted flame length given 

a fire occurs and is a measure of wildfire hazard. The conditional flame length is 

calculated using FLP files with the following equation:

CFL = ∑ (BPi /BP) (Fi

)

where BPi is the probability of a fire at the ith flame length category, BP is the burn 

probability, and Fi

 is the flame length midpoint of the ith FIL category. 
39

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 43 —Sample graphs of response functions of net value change by flame length categories for four different highly 

valued resources. Adapted from Calkin et al. 2010.

-100

-50

0

50

100

Low Moderate High Very high

Net value change (%)

Losses greatly increasing from low to very high over all 

fire intensities.

-100

-50

0

50

100

Low Moderate High Very high

Net value change (%)

Moderate benefit at low fire intensity decreasing to a 

moderate loss at very high fire intensity.

-100

-50

0

50

100

Low Moderate High Very high

Net value change (%)

All fire is beneficial; moderate benefit at low fire intensity 

and mild benefit at higher intensity.

-100

-50

0

50

100

Low Moderate High Very high

Net value change (%)

Moderate increasing loss from mild loss at low intensity 

to a moderate loss at very high intensity.

A B

C D

Table 3—Response function examples with percent net value change (±20 percent) for 

four flame length categories (low, moderate, high, and very high)1

Response function description Low Moderate High Very high

All fire is beneficial; moderate benefit at low fire +50 +20 +20 +20

intensity and mild benefit at higher intensity.

Moderate benefit at low fire intensity decreasing +30 +10 -10 -30

to a moderate loss at very high fire intensity.

Moderate increasing loss from mild loss at low -20 -30 -40 -50

intensity to a moderate loss at very high intensity.

Losses greatly increasing from low to very high -10 -40 -70 -80

over all fire intensities.

1 Adapted from Calkin et al. 2010.
40

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Convert FLPs—

The Convert FLPs form (fig. 45) converts FLP files from FlamMap5 and FSim into 

a shapefile (fig. 46). This combines two ArcGIS processing steps into one; it converts an XY text file into an events file, then exports it as a shapefile with defined 

spatial reference.

Figure 44—Risk menu with the associated 

drop-down list from the ArcFuels10 toolbar.

Figure 45—Convert FLPs form setup to convert an FLP output from FlamMap5.

ArcFuels10 streamlines the 

calculation and processing of risk 

metrics such as NVC, EL, CEL, and 

CFL within the Risk menu. The Risk

menu has a drop-down menu with nine 

options, Convert FLPs, Batch Convert FLPs, Convert Fire Size List, 

Batch Convert Fire Size Lists, Net 

Value Change, Expected Impacts, 

Conditional Flame Lengths, Averages, and Display Results (fig. 44).

ArcFuels10 streamlines 

the calculation and 

processing of risk 

metrics such as net 

value change, expected 

loss, and conditional 

flamelength.
41

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 46—Example of converted FLP shapefile attributes table (A) and shapefile (B) for an FLP with six FILs.

Figure 47—Batch Convert FLPs form set to convert four FLP files and define their 

spatial reference all at once.

Batch Convert FLPs—

The Batch Convert FLPs form (fig. 47) has the same functionality as the Convert 

FLPs form with the added benefit of converting multiple files at once. 
42

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 48—Convert Fire Size List form set to convert an FSim file.

Figure 49— Example of converted Fire Size List shapefile attributes table (A) and shapefile (B) showing three ignitions over aerial 

imagery.

Convert Fire Size List—

The Convert Fire Size List form (fig. 48) converts FSL files from FlamMap5 and 

FSim into a shapefile (fig. 49). An FSL file is a text file with information about 

the location of each ignition and the final fire size for all randomly ignited fires in 

FlamMap5 or FSim. As in the Convert FLPs form, this combines two ArcGIS 

processing steps into one; it converts an XY text file into an events file, then exports 

it as a shapefile with defined spatial reference. Because the FSL files have unique 

attribute names specific to FlamMap5 and FSim for the X and Y coordinates, there 

are program-specific input options. In addition, an Other option has been added 

and can be used to convert non-FSL information such as plot locations; the X and Y 

coordinate labels are specified by the user for this function to work.
43

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Batch Convert Fire Size List—

The Batch Convert Fire Size List form (fig. 50) has the same functionality as 

the Convert Fire Size List form with the added benefit of converting multiple 

files at once. 

Figure 50—Batch Convert Fire Size Lists form set to convert three Fire Size List 

(FSL) files and define their spatial reference all at once. With this form, the FSLs must 

all be from the same program, FlamMap5, FSim, or have the same X and Y coordinate 

headers specified with the Other option.
44

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 51—Net Value Change form set to calculate the expected and conditional NVC for a FlamMap5 20-bin metric FLP 

within hypothetical lynx habitat using the stylized Response function 7. The calculated values will automatically be added to the 

new “ENVC_lynx” and “CNVC_lynx” fields specified in the form.

Net Value Change—

Response functions translate positive and negative fire effects into net value change 

(NVC) to of highly valued resources (HVRs) based on the flame length categories. 

The Net Value Change form (fig. 51) is used to calculate the NVC for any HVR 

using an FLP, 0/1 HVR raster, and appropriate response function values (see table 

3 for examples). The form calculates both the expected and conditional NVC and 

appends the values to the input FLP file.
45

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 52—Expected Impacts form set calculate the expected loss of live and dead large 

ponderosa pine trees and to calculate conditional flame lengths.

Expected Impacts—

The Expected Impacts form (fig. 52) provides an interface to combine loss 

function databases created in FVS/FFE-FVS with FLP files to calculate expected 

and conditional expected loss as well as conditional flame length. The outputs are 

appended to the FLP shapefile.

To use this form, the “Stand_ID” must be attributed in the FLP file for each 

point. Also, a loss function database must exist where flame length was varied 

according to the FLPs FILs. The FLP Specific option on the Treatment Analysis

form (fig. 25) is designed specifically for this function.
46

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 53— Conditional Flame Lengths form set to calculate 

the conditional flame lengths in a new attribute field named 

“CFL_ft” within a FlamMap5-derived FLP with six FILs.

Conditional Flame Lengths—

The Conditional Flame Lengths form (fig. 53) is used to calculate CFLs. The 

CFLs can be appended to a preexisting field in the FLP or a new field can be created. There are two options for calculating CFL; one for FLPs with 20 FILs and one 

for FLPs with 6 FILs. The output units are the same as the input units for the type 

of FLP; 20 category FLPs are in meters and 6 category FLPs are in feet.

Averages—

The Averages form (fig. 54) is used to average or summarize FLP or FSL point 

data by a shapefile. The shapefile can represent anything of interest, such as forest 

stands, threatened or endangered species habitat, wildland-urban interfaces (WUIs), 

or a combination of factors. The Averages form has the ability to intersect the FLP 

or FSL point data or use data that have already been intersected. The output is an 

Excel workbook summarizing the expected burn probability, and conditional burn 

probability or average fire size depending on the input, for each polygon within the 

shapefile (fig. 55).
47

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 54—Averages form set to summarize fire size by forest type in the supplied ArcFuels 

demonstration data.

Figure 55—Example of Fire Size 

List averages output, in which fire 

size is averaged by forest type, as 

well as the entire landscape.
48

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 56—Example of wildfire risk scatter plots (A) and curves (B) from a 20-category FLP averaged by forest type.

Figure 57—Display Results form set to create a raster of burn 

probability from a FlamMap5 FLP file.

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

Average conditional flame length (m)

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Nonforested

Ponderosa pine

Douglas-fir

Grand fir

Western larch

Englemann spruce–subalpine fir

Subalpine fir

Englemann spruce

0

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Conditional burn probability

Nonforested

Ponderosa pine

Douglas-fir

Grand fir

Western larch

Englemann spruce–subalpine fir

Subalpine fir

Englemann spruce

Overall average

A B

Average burn probability Fire intensity level (FIL) category

These data can be used to create scatter plots and curves to represent risk (fig. 

56). Scatter plots and risk curves can be used to show the relative risk of different 

subunits (polygons) within a landscape (Ager et al. 2010b). 

Display Results—

The Display Results form (fig. 57) has 

two functions: (1) conversion of a field in 

an FLP shapefile to a raster with defined 

spatial reference; and (2) customized 

display of existing raster layers, to either 

show values in a ramp from low to high, 

or show values that exceed a user-defined 

threshold.

Tools

The Tools menu is where other functions 

are housed that are not specific to the 

other menus in the ArcFuels10 toolbar. 

This houses a form to update raster 

values, forms to convert ASCII files to 

rasters (postprocessing for FlamMap and 

FSim), and a form to export the attributes 

of a shapefile to a spreadsheet.
49

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 58—Tools menu with the associated 

drop-down list from the ArcFuels10 toolbar.

The Tools menu has a drop-down list 

with four options, Modify Raster Values, 

Convert ASCII to Raster, Batch Convert 

ASCII to Raster, and Export Shapefile 

Attributes (fig. 58). 

Modify Raster Values—

After critiquing data for accuracy (informally, on the ground, using the Stratton 

(2009) methodology, or otherwise), it is most likely that modifications will be 

required to reflect local knowledge of fuel models and fire behavior, recent management activities, recent wildfires, etc. Realize, however, that when modeling 

landscape-level fire behavior, one must accept that there will be some error in the 

data, but one should always strive to minimize this. It is important to document 

changes as well as make them incrementally, making it easier to see the effect of 

the changes and backtrack, if necessary. With ArcFuels10, complex raster value 

replacements are easily made on the individual raster data components, rather than 

on the landscape file. Tools such as the FARSITE landscape calculator and the 

LANDFIRE Total Fuel Change Tool (LFTFC) (http://www.frames.gov/partnersites/niftt/tools/niftt-current-resources/) are available to make changes on the 

landscape file, but are generally limited to simple changes (Stratton 2009). 

Within ArcFuels10, the Modify Raster Values form (fig. 59) is available to 

update or correct raster data. When the form is used, a projected raster file is 

created and added to ArcMap. The changes can be made to either floating point or 

integer data. Either discrete values or ranges of values can be replaced, multiplied 

by, or added to. Options include making changes to the entire landscape or to 

selected areas using another raster or shapefile to define the location. The output 

raster extent also need not be identical to the input data.

Within ArcFuels10, 

the Modify Raster 

Values form is 

available to update 

or correct raster 

data. Either discrete 

values or ranges 

of values can be 

replaced, multiplied 

by, or added to. 

Options include 

making changes to 

the entire landscape 

or to selected areas 

using another raster 

or shapefile to define 

the location.
50

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 59—Modify Raster Values form set to update canopy cover within a recent fire. When canopy cover is between 

75 and 100 percent the value is multiplied by 0.5; when canopy cover is between 50 and 75 percent the value is multiplied 

by 0.25; and when canopy cover is between 10 and 50 percent, the value is multiplied by 0.1 (to maintain 90 percent of the 

original cover).

Convert ASCII to Raster—

The Convert ASCII to Raster form (fig. 60) combines two ArcGIS processing 

steps into one. It converts an integer or floating point ASCII file into a raster and 

defines the spatial reference at the same time. This form is most commonly used to 

postprocess data created in FlamMap for further analysis and mapping in ArcMap.
51

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 60—Convert ASCII to Raster form set to convert a flame length ASCII file 

output from FlamMap to a floating point raster file named “nt_fl.”

Figure 61—Batch 

Convert ASCII to 

Raster form set to 

convert two crown fire 

activity files created 

in FlamMap to integer 

rasters. Not all ASCII 

files in this folder 

are being converted 

together because the 

remainder should be 

converted as floating point rather than 

integer rasters.

Batch Convert ASCII to Raster—

The Batch Convert ASCII to Raster form (fig. 61) has the same functionality as 

the Convert ASCII to Raster form, with the added benefit of converting multiple 

files at once. 
52

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Export Shapefile Attributes—

The Export Attributes to Spreadsheet form (fig. 62) exports the attributes table 

from a shapefile into Excel and opens the workbook. This is useful for further 

analysis outside of ArcMap. The form eliminates the need to export the attributes as 

another file type, then import the data into Excel.

Figure 62—Export Attributes to Spreadsheet form set to export the attributes from the 

“mt_emily_stands” shapefile.

Figure 63—Project menu from the 

ArcFuels10 toolbar.

Project

ArcFuels10 saves the settings for the most recent project when the ArcMap session 

is saved. But people often work on multiple projects at once, alternating between 

them. The Project menu has options for exporting and importing settings, so that once a project 

is set up and the linkages are defined, the user 

can quickly move from one project to another.

The Project menu has a drop-down list with 

four options, Project Settings, Import Settings, 

Export Settings, and Import Project Settings

(fig. 63). 

Project Settings— 

The Projects Settings form is used to set the linkages to programs ArcFuels10 

uses with the Programs tab (fig. 64) and the folders necessary to run ArcFuels10 

with the Folders tab (fig. 65). If programs such as FlamMap or FVS are already 

installed, the location of the *.exe can be set from the program installation folder 

rather than by using the supplied files.
53

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 64—Programs tab of the Project Settings form with all supplied programs loaded.

Figure 65—Folders tab of the Project Settings form.

Not all programs need to be linked in the Programs tab, only those planned on 

being used. FVS, SVS, and FlamMap are the programs most commonly used with 

ArcFuels10. All the programs listed are available within the programs and extra 

program folders at the ArcFuels Web page. It is recommended that you visit the 

program Web pages for the most up-to-date programs before starting new projects.
54

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Import Settings—

The Import Settings option loads a preexisting text file with the information for 

a project. The text file contains information about the data loaded and program 

locations for an existing project (fig. 66).

Export Settings—

The Export Settings form exports the settings for a current project into a text file 

(see fig. 66 for an example). It is highly recommended that the project settings be 

exported for each project after setting up the project. 

Import Project Settings—

The Import Project Settings form (fig. 67) allows settings from a preexisting 

ArcFuels9 project database to be imported into ArcFuels10. Once it is imported, 

use the Export Settings form to save a new text file for use with future ArcFuels10 

sessions. 

Figure 66—Example of project settings text file created for the supplied ArcFuels10 

demonstration data.

Figure 67—Import Project Settings form set to import project settings from ArcFuels9.
55

ArcFuels10 System Overview

ArcFuels10 Download and Installation Instructions

System Requirements

To run ArcFuels10, the following programs are required:

• ArcMap version 10.0 with the Spatial Analyst Extension

• ArcCatalog

• Microsoft Office Excel

• Microsoft Office Access

• Notepad, WordPad, or another text editing program.

Obtaining ArcFuels10

ArcFuels10 is contained in an ESRI ArcGIS Add-In file (*.AddIn). There is no 

installation program for ArcFuels10 (administrative privileges are not required). 

The download sites contain a complete set of demonstration data, programs needed 

for demonstration purposes, supporting documentation for the programs, and a 

tutorial (Vaillant and Ager [N.d.]).

1. Create an ArcFuels directory (i.e., C:\arcfuels on your computer or T:\...\

arcfuels, where ... is your workspace on the T-drive for use with Citrix) 

and obtain the following files from the ArcFuels10 Web site (http://www.

fs.fed.us/wwetac/arcfuels/downloads.html) or the T-drive (T:\FS\Reference\

GeoTool\agency\Application\ArcFuels\ArcFuels10):

a. ArcFuels10—ESRI ArcGIS Add-In file for ArcFuels10 (i.e., toolbar 

buttons) and the project settings text file for the demonstration data. 

b. Data—The folder includes demonstration data for the Mt. Emily project 

area and will be used throughout the available tutorial.

c. Programs—The folder contains FVS/FFE-FVS, SVS, FlamMap5, 

NEXUS, Fire Family Plus, and LTD. 

d. Docs —The folder is an optional download. It contains supporting literature about the programs and relevant scientific publications.

e. Extra_programs—The folder is an optional download. It contains additional fire behavior models: FARSITE, FOFEM, and Behave Plus.

f. Exercise_outputs—The folder is an optional download. It contains the 

outputs for all exercises in the available tutorial.

2. Unzip (to unzip to C:\arcfuels, right-click on each zip folder → WinZip 

→ Extract to here) or transfer the unzipped folders from the T:\ to your 

ArcFuels directory. Verify that they are not further nested (i.e., C:\arcfuels\

data\data, fig. 68). 
56

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Installing the ArcFuels10 Add-In

This section will explain how to install the ArcFuels10.esri Add-In file for ArcMap. 

Two sets of instructions are included for use with ArcMap on your computer and 

for ArcMap on Citrix. Once the Add-In is installed, it will be available for all future 

ArcMap sessions. You can turn on and off the ArcFuels10 toolbar the same as all 

other toolbars in ArcMap.

For ArcMap installed on your computer—

1. Open ArcMap (Start → All Programs → ArcGIS → ArcMap 10) from 

your computer.

2. From the main ArcMap toolbar open the Add-In Manager window 

(ArcMap toolbar → Customize → Add-In Manager..., fig. 69).

a. Click the Customize... button to open the Customize window (fig. 70).

b. Click the Add from file... button and navigate to and select the 

ArcFuels10.esriAddIn file from the C:\arcfuels folder.

c. When the Esri ArcGIS Add-In Installation Utility window (fig. 71) 

opens, click the Install Add-In button to complete the installation.

d. When the Added Objects... window (fig. 72) opens, click OK to close 

the window and proceed.

e. Verify that the ArcFuels Toolbar was added and is checked (see fig. 70), 

then click Close to close the Customize window.

Figure 68—Data structure for ArcFuels10. Be sure the “data,” “outputs,” and “programs” folders are not further nested in other folders.

data

Input data

(fuel grids, 

stand shapefile, 

highly valued 

resources, 

prescription 

files, etc.)

programs

FlamMap5

FVS

SVS

NEXUS

Fire Family 

Plus

LTD

outputs

Output data 

(LCPs, grids, FVS 

runs, etc.)

extra_programs

FARSITE

FOFEM

Behave Plus

docs

Useful 

documentation 

and 

publications

C:\arcfuels

ArcFuels10.esriAddIn

arcfuels10_mtemily.txt

exercise_outputs

Outputs for all the 

tutorial exercises

* Additional directories can be added under C:|\arcfuels for your own

 data and and can be defaults are set in the Project Settings form
57

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 69—The Add-In Manager window is used to add and remove Add-In files in ArcMap.

Figure 70—The Customize window.
58

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Figure 71—The ESRI ArcGIS Add-In Installation Utility window contains 

information about the version of ArcFuels10 being installed (the version for this 

figure is 1.0.0). ArcFuels10 is updated periodically as bugs are found and fixed 

and enhancements are made; check the ArcFuels Web page for updates.

Figure 72—The Added Objects... window, showing the ArcFuels forms within the ArcFuels toolbar.
59

ArcFuels10 System Overview

For ArcMap installed on Citrix—

1. From Internet Explorer, open the Citrix Web page: http://apps.fs.fed.us/

Citrix/auth/login.aspx.

2. Log into Citrix using your username and password (these are the same as 

your computer login information, fig. 73).

Figure 73—Citrix login screen.

Figure 74—The Main folder within Citrix.

3. From the Main (fig. 74) Citrix folder open the GIS folder.

a. Within the GIS folder, open the ArcGIS 10 folder and open ArcMap.

4. Follow step 2 from the For ArcMap installed on your computer directions above.
60

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Setting Up the Demonstration Data

This section will explain how to add the demonstration data and load the project 

setting with ArcMap open and the ArcFuels10.esriAddIn file loaded. Two sets of 

instructions are included for use with ArcMap on your computer and for ArcMap 

on Citrix.

For ArcMap installed on your computer—

1. Add the demonstration data layer, Demo_data.lyr, located in the 

C:\arcfuels\data folder (ArcMap toolbar → File → Add Data → 

Add Data).

2. Load the project settings using the Import Settings form (ArcFuels 

toolbar → Project → Import Settings). Once the form is open, 

navigate to and select the project setting file, arcfuels10_mtemily.txt, 

located in C:\arcfuels.

For ArcMap installed on Citrix—

1. Add the demonstration data layer, Demo_data.lyr, located in the 

T:\...\arcfuels\data folder, where the ... is your workspace (ArcMap 

toolbar → File → Add Data → Add Data).

2. Because your workspace is a different path than where the data layer was 

created, the data sources needs to be set for all layers (fig. 75).

Figure 75—The 

exclamation points 

to the left of the file 

names indicate that 

they need their data 

sources defined.

a. To set the data source, right-click on one of the layers Data → Repair 

Data Source, then navigate to the layer in your workspace ArcFuels 

data folder. This should repair all the data sources for all the layers. If it 

does not, repeat the process for the remaining layers with the exclamation points to the left.

3. Next, the location of the folders and programs need to be updated for your 

workspace.
61

ArcFuels10 System Overview

Figure 77—Project Settings form Folders tab set for use in Citrix where the ... 

indicates the path to your workspace.

Figure 76—Project Settings form Programs tab set for use in Citrix where the ... 

indicates the path to your workspace.

a. Open the Project Settings form (ArcFuels toolbar → Projects → 

Project Settings) and select the Programs tab. Navigate to and update 

the program locations according to figure 76 where the ... indicates the 

path to your workspace.

b. Select the Folders tab and update the folder locations according to 

figure 77 where the ... indicates the path to your workspace.

c. Close the Project Settings form by clicking the Close button.

4. Export and save the new project setting in your workspace for future 

use (ArcFuels toolbar → Projects → Export Settings).
62

GENERAL TECHNICAL REPORT PNW-GTR-875

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the Joint Fire Sciences program (JFSP 03-4-1-04) and the Western 

Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center for supplying much of the 

funding to develop and maintain ArcFuels10. We thank the following people for 

development and testing: Nathan Amboy, Geoff Babb, Berni Bahro, Carol Ewell, 

Lauren Miller, Bridgett Naylor, Joe Sherlock, Dana Simon, Leo Yanez, and Deana 

Wall. Finally, we thank David Kinateder, Lauren Miller, and Deana Wall for their 

review and edits, which greatly improved this report. 

English Equivalents

When you know: Multiply by: To find:

Meters (m) 3.28 Feet

Hectares (ha) 2.47 Acres

Square meters per hectare (m2

/ha) 4.37 Square feet per acre

Tonnes per hectare (t/ha) 0.446 Tons per acre

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Pacific Northwest Research Station

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