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International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire
International Journal of Wildland Fire

International Journal of Wildland Fire

Volume 32 Number 4 2023


This review paper summarises methodologies used to link field-based measures of severity, based on the Composite Burn Index (CBI), with remotely sensed data from optical sensors. It presents key analytical decisions and research gaps in the existing literature.


Research on the connections between atmospheric turbulence and wildland fires has a long history. In this paper, we summarise the key observational studies over the last 120 years that have contributed to our understanding of wildland fire effects on atmospheric turbulence and its feedback on fire behaviour and smoke dispersion.


A physics-based study of grassfire behaviour over flat and sloped (upslope and downslope) terrains at field scale with different driving wind velocities is presented. The results of RoS of fire, isochrones, firefront locations and intensities are presented and the RoS is compared with empirical studies found in the literature.


A physics-based study of grassfire behaviour over flat and sloped (upslope and downslope) terrain at field scale with varying wind velocities is presented. The flame dynamics, mode of fire propagation and surface radiative and convective heat fluxes are analysed.

WF21129The role of drought conditions on the recent increase in wildfire occurrence in the high Andean regions of Peru

Ricardo Zubieta 0000-0002-4315-7695, Yerson Ccanchi, Alejandra Martínez 0000-0002-8354-9626, Miguel Saavedra 0000-0002-4773-0647, Edmundo Norabuena 0000-0002-1865-8922, Sigrid Alvarez and Mercy Ilbay 0000-0001-9503-2686
pp. 531-544

Wildfire occurrence has increased sharply in the last two decades in the Peruvian Andes. Drought analysis using seasonal rainfall indicated fairly normal conditions during 2020, but dry-day frequency (DDF) analysis suggests that a dry period played an important role between September and November 2020, producing severe drought conditions.

WF21146Crown fire initiation of a thunderstorm

Nicholas F. McCarthy 0000-0003-3893-0433, Hamish McGowan, Adrien Guyot, Andrew Dowdy, Andrew Sturgess and Ben Twomey
pp. 545-560

Bushfires can support the evolution of thunderstorms. Here, we combine a variety of observations of a bushfire thunderstorm with ensemble fire spread modelling and fire severity mapping. Results show the coupling between the intensity of the fire and its burning through forest canopy with thunderstorm updrafts.

WF21149Effects of different sampling strategies for unburned label selection in machine learning modelling of wildfire occurrence probability

Xingwen Quan 0000-0001-5344-1801, Miao Jiao, Zhili He, Abolfazl Jaafari, Qian Xie and Xiaoying Lai
pp. 561-575

This study evaluates the effect of different sampling strategies for unburned label selection and different ratios of burned and unburned labels in the datasets on the accuracy of machine learning modelling of wildfire occurrence probability.

WF22055Study on the ground fraction of air tankers

Yin Gu 0000-0002-9479-4803, Rui Zhou 0000-0002-3106-0968, Hui Xie and Lei Shi
pp. 576-592

Ground fraction is the key parameter affecting the ground pattern when combating wildfires. Based on the theoretical analysis and data fitting method, a quantitative ground fraction model is proposed, which reveals the induced effects of drop velocity, drop height, liquid viscosity and other factors on the ground fraction.

WF22088Experimental study of the burning characteristics of dead forest fuels

A. Sahila 0000-0001-9126-0470, H. Boutchiche, D. X. Viegas, L. Reis, C. Pinto and N. Zekri
pp. 593-609

Combustion properties of dead herbaceous fuels were studied in no-wind conditions. The phases of fire development are characterised by anomalous diffusion and relaxation processes. The variation of flame height with burning rate exhibited a hysteresis cycle induced by memory effects. These newly discovered physical mechanisms seem to drive fire dynamics.

Wildland–urban interface (WUI) maps identify communities at risk from wildfires. However, WUI maps are often outdated. We evaluated a pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN) model and CNN-based building dataset and found that they were too inaccurate to estimate building counts and destruction, but sufficient to map where WUI is.


This research explores USFS managers’ utilisation of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) when evaluating risks and trade-offs related to wildfires. We found that managers use WFDSS to improve information sharing or to document decision rationale. However, users wish to maintain their decision latitude on fire strategy and organisation.

WF22216An artificial intelligence framework for predicting fire spread sustainability in semiarid shrublands

Sadegh Khanmohammadi 0000-0001-6270-380X, Mehrdad Arashpour 0000-0003-4148-3160, Emadaldin Mohammadi Golafshani, Miguel G. Cruz 0000-0003-3311-7582 and Abbas Rajabifard
pp. 636-649

Models that predict wildfire behaviour in operational settings can support decision making across various fire management areas. Machine learning has the potential to develop predictive models of shrubland fire behaviour. This article tested the suitability of machine learning-based methods, which produced better results than logistic regression models.

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