Modelling the spread of wildland fire under Mediterranean conditions
Résumé
Fires are the major source of forest destruction in the Mediterranean basin. Fire risk evaluation is crucial in regions such as the Mediterranean, where a sharp increase of fire events in forests has been observed during these last years (FAO, 2001, Pausas et al., 2008). Fire spread models and wildland fire calculation systems have been carried out in many scientific studies from the last six decades. These previous works show that accurate estimation of parameters such as fire intensity and rate of spread is important as they determine how a wildfire may be controlled and allow evaluation of limits beyond which wildfire control becomes difficult. Furthermore, environmental factors such as vegetation type and cover, meteorological conditions and topography, affect fire behaviour. So, the knowledge and the prediction of these factors are essential for fire fighting and prevention and for land management. Indeed, this knowledge may enable managers to plan strategic prevention activities, such as border zones. This document reviews some of the most important trends in modelling fire behaviour and also considers how such models may be integrated within land management decision support systems under Mediterranean conditions.