FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Quercus arizonica | Arizona White Oak 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Small (1 to 3 inches [2.5-7.5 cm]) Arizona white oak are top-killed by
fire.  Large-sized trees usually survive fires of low severity [7].
Arizona white oak foliage is highly flammable [64].  Surviving stumps
sprout vigorously [4,35].  The acorns probably are killed by fire.
Acorns covered by an insulating layer of soil may survive low-severity
fires.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Fires move quickly through oak woodlands that have a continuous grass
understory.  Arizona white oak root crowns are usually not damaged by
these fires [4].  In a Madrean evergreen woodland in Arizona with an
understory of grasses and herbs, a prescribed fire burned cool and was
of short duration.  Scattered mature Arizona white oak were unaffected
by the fire.  Arizona white oak and other oak seedling densities did not
differ between burned sites and controls during the first 2 postfire
seasons [7,8].  In Box Canyon of the Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona, a
person-caused fire in 1959 moved rapidly over dry grasses in a
droughtstressed oak-juniper woodland.  Drought stress may have
influenced tree response.  In diameter classes from 1 to 9 inches
(2.5-23 cm), 13 percent of Arizona white oak died on the burned sites,
while only 5 percent died on the controls [33].



DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Arizona white oak foliage can be ignited by low-intensity fires with
flame lengths up to 2 feet (6.7 m).  It should be included in fuel
moisture sampling programs.  In the Chiricahua National Monument,
Arizona, where Arizona white oak can make up a significant portion of
the understory fuels, Arizona white oak sampled on 10 and 11 November
1987 had a mean moisture content of 121 percent.  Live fuel moisture
sampling methods are discussed in the literature [64].

Broadcast understory burning in southwestern ponderosa pine forests,
where shrubby Arizona white oak and silverleaf oak (Q. hypoleucoides)
occurred, reduced the threat of severe crown fires [29].

The open oak woodland can carry fire.  Oaks usually survive the quick,
low intensity fires of open oak woodlands.  However, modern fires in
closed-canopy oak woodlands are more likely to be high-intensity, stand
replacement fires [49].

Related categories for Species: Quercus arizonica | Arizona White Oak