In 1961 the National Science Foundation awarded grants to Washington State University and the Northern Forest Fire Laboratory of the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station to further a joint study of the mechanisms of fire spread in wildland fuels. The combined efforts of the two research groups encompass theoretical modeling, laboratory studies, and field investigations of the spread of flame fronts. Of these, the modeling and laboratory studies received the most attention (Anderson 1964), but some field burning was considered essential. The basic objectives of field experiments were to test measurement techniques and the adaptability of laboratory instrumentation to field operations, and to determine correlations between laboratory and field test fires.