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. 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 also present on the table.

Step 1: To ensure that the table is currently displaying the correct region, select the Scenarios menu. Once the menu has opened, select the Strawberry Rock 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, this will make sure the fire does not immediately 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. Next, select the Place Flames tool and select a point within the forest to start a fire.

Step 3: After the fire has started, evaluate the current conditions established by the landscape. What does the wind dial display? On the map as a whole, is there a lot of fuel present? You can increase the simulation speed to allow the fire to spread a bit more. Once the fire has covered a small piece of land, pause the simulation by pressing the Play/Pause button.

Step 4: Select the Info tool from the menu. Using the mouse or laser, select a few points on the landscape and observe the fuel and elevation data displayed for each location. What are some of the fuel types present? Now select anywhere inside the Wind Dial to modify the speed and direction. Set the Wind Dial to about 40 SE.

Step 5: Unpause the simulation and observe how the change in the wind will impact the spread of the fire. If you have not already done so, change the simulation speed to better observe the fire’s spread.

Step 6: Pause the simulation. Select the Fire menu once more to return to the main menu. Select the Plume tool to open the menu. Select Place Emitter and place two emitters within the area of your fire. Unpause the simulation and observe how the plumes move across the landscape.

Step 7: Use the Wind Dial to modify the wind speed and direction. Observe how the plumes respond to different conditions. What patterns do you notice?

Step 8: Use the Reset button located at the bottom of the display to reset all currently running simulations. Before beginning the next simulated fire, the simulated fuel will be changed so as to observe the difference fuel type has on fire spread.

Step 9: Press the Fuel Type tool to open the fuel menu. Within this menu, select Fuel Type to display the fuel types present across the landscapes and access the menu. Within the menu, select the Fuel Type button (it appears as a gray line above the in-menu reset button). Select the Timber Understory fuel type. Paint an area of the landscape with this fuel type. To make it easier to paint a large area, change the brush size in the Fuel Type menu.

Step 10:  Once you have painted a swath of the forest in this area, select the Fuel Painter button once more to open the main menu. Select the Fire button to open the fire menu again and place another fire in the area recently painted. Modify the speed of the simulation to best observe the spread of the flames. What do you notice about how the fire is spreading this time?

Step 11:  Reset the simulation one last time using the Reset button located near the bottom of the display. Before beginning the fire this time, the fuel will be reduced by a previous burn that was enacted.

Step 12: Open the fire menu by clicking on the Fire button. Select the Black Line tool and mark out a path that notes where fire has been used as a management tool. Disclaimer: this simulation makes use of the Black Line tool to denote how firefighters will often burn a line to prevent the wildfire from crossing it. Here we can apply the tool to more broadly describe how fire can be used to mitigate and prevent larger and more destructive wildfires.

Step 13: Once you have established a few burned areas, use the Place Flames tool to start a fire on the landscape. If needed, modify the simulation speed to easily observe the fire spread. Watch how it interacts with the burned lines already established. How might prescribed fires be valuable to a landscape?

Step 14: Make use of any of the tools discussed above to explore variables you are interested in. Modifying the fuel type of an area can be quite impactful. Take some time here to see how the other types impact the spread of fire across a landscape.