Abstract: Abstract: South China is rich in vegetation and the human activities are frequent. Once the forest fires occur, the consequences are serious. In order to explore the influence law of forest surface fuel kinds and fuel bed characteristics on fire spread rate in South China and provide reference data for forest fire fighting, the paper quantitatively analyzed the fire spread rate characteristics of forest surface fuels through field sampling and indoor fuel bed fire spread rate measurement experiments. The experimental results showed that the spread rate of Eucalyptus robusta Smith leaf bed was the largest among the five fuel beds. Combined with its planting in this region, it had a high fire risk. The influence law of Eucalyptus robusta Smith leaf bed characteristics on the fire spread rate was obtained. It was found that in the stage when the moisture content began to increase, the spread rate decreased slightly. When the moisture content exceeded 14%, the spread rate decreased rapidly, and then the spread rate decreased slightly again when the moisture content reached 18%; The spread rate was a power function of thickness, and the increase of thickness would contribute to the increase of the spread rate; The bulk density and width had little effect on the fire spread rate.

Key words: Key words: South China, forest surface fuels, fire spread rate, fuel bed