This guide will walk you through a local example to teach you a little bit more about the functionality of the SimTable. This guide is meant to help familiarize you with the tools available in the program. It is okay if the fire burns out of control. If you find that your simulation is not functioning as described in the guide, try changing your approach. The simulation is unlikely to play out the same way twice. If you would like more information about the function of the tools referenced here, refer to the Tools and Menu Index.

Step 1: To ensure that the table is currently displaying the correct region, select the Scenarios menu. Once the menu has opened, select the Arcata Community Forest scenario. If the table’s sand elevation already matches the map, proceed to the next step. If the sand is not distributed properly on the table, use the Elevation Shading feature found in the Layers menu to modify the elevation.

Step 2: Once your map and elevation display are in line, you can begin the fire simulation. Set the simulation speed to 1x speed, this will make sure the fire does not spread out of control. Select the Fire tool from the tools menu in the top right corner. Select the Stamp Roads tool once. With this tool turned on the simulation will treat the road network as fire lines, mostly preventing fires from crossing them. Next, select the Place Flames tool and select a point within the community forest to start the fire.

Step 3: After the fire has started, send a fire engine to fight the fire. To do this, select the fire engine tool and drag from where Giuntoli Ln. is displayed on your map to the region of your fire. If you want the fire engine to arrive at its destination quicker, adjust the simulation speed.

Step 4: Once the fire engine has reached its destination, deploy a hose lay to begin containing the fire. Select the Hose Lay tool from the Fire menu. To deploy a hose lay, click and drag to create the line of deployment. A hose line does not deploy instantly and will take time to work. Establish your hose line a bit of a ways away from the fire to more readily contain it. If you have not changed the speed of your simulation, modify it to about 16x speed to monitor the fire and hose lay.

Step 5: It is likely that your fire will need the assistance of another firefighting tool. Select the Dozer 1 tool from the fire menu. Deploy two dozers, one near the beginning of the hose line and the other at the far end of the fire. Ensure that there are no gaps between where you start the dozer and where the hose is deployed.

Step 6: To finish your fire line, deploy a hand crew to fill in the gap. Select the Hand Crew 1 tool and drag a path between your existing lines. Take note that hand crews take a significant amount of time to deploy, so monitor their progress in relation to the fire.

Step 7: You will likely need to call in backup to help fight the fire at this point. The handcrew was likely unable to work fast enough to deploy a stable fire line in time. Select the Tanker 1 tool from the menu and drag a tanker line to support the hand crew. If the fire has already jumped your existing fire line, you can make use of the Reassign tool. After selecting the tool, click and drag on any existing firefighting resource to change their path. Use this tool to readjust the hand crew’s path if need be.

Step 8: Once the tanker has been deployed, your fire lines should be stable enough to contain this fire. If you find that your fire has burned out of control, try restarting the simulation. Select the Reset button in the Fire menu to only reset the fire simulation.

Step 9: Once your fire has burned through its contained area, it is likely to burn out. From here, you are welcome to start another fire or try out some of the other features of the simulation table. Refer to the Tools and Menu Index for more information.