The book presents a wide range of techniques for extracting information from satellite remote sensing images in forest fire danger assessment. It covers the main concepts involved in fire danger rating, and analyses the inputs derived from remotely sensed data for mapping fire danger at both the local and global scale. The questions addressed concern the estimation of fuel moisture content, the description of fuel structural properties, the estimation of meteorological danger indices, the analysis of human factors associated with fire ignition, and the integration of different risk factors in a geographic information system for fire danger management.

A computer simulation model, FARSITE, includes existing fire behavior models for surface, crown, spotting, point-source fire acceleration, and fuel moisture. The model's components and assumptions are documented. Simulations were run for simple conditions that illustrate the effect of individual fire behavior models on two-dimensional fire growth.

In text and photographs, Reinhart examines the 1988 Yellowstone fires and their aftermath: smoke-shrouded skies, flaming forests, and fireballs that have been replaced by wildflowers, aspen stands, and rare Bicknell's geraniums. Reinhart also explores what the answers are to the burning questions of 1988: Would fire kill Yellowstone's forests? Would wildlife populations recover? Would Yellowstone itself recover?