Crown fires leap canopy to canopy while surface fires stay low
Surface fires crawl through litter and low shrubs, often leaving tall trunks scorched but alive. Crown fires climb into the canopy and can race from treetop to treetop on wind and ladder fuels.
Intensity, fuel continuity, and weather decide which path a wildfire takes. Mixed-severity forests shaped by frequent light burns differ sharply from stands that only see rare, crowning infernos.
Not every wildfire is the same tool. Knowing whether flames stay at the ankles or run through the crowns is the first step in reading a forest’s fire ecology.
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