Modelling the effects of landscape fuel treatments on fire growth and behaviour in a Mediterranean landscape (eastern Spain)
Beatriz Duguy A C , José Antonio Alloza A , Achim Röder B , Ramón Vallejo A and Francisco Pastor A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo (CEAM), Charles Darwin 14, E-46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
B University of Trier, Remote Sensing Department, Campus II, D-54286 Trier, Germany.
C Corresponding author. Email: beatriz.duguy@gmail.com
International Journal of Wildland Fire 16(5) 619-632 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF06101
Submitted: 29 June 2006 Accepted: 11 April 2007 Published: 26 October 2007
Abstract
The number of large fires increased in the 1970s in the Valencia region (eastern Spain), as in most northern Mediterranean countries, owing to the fuel accumulation that affected large areas as a consequence of an intensive land abandonment. The Ayora site (Valencia province) was affected by a large fire in July 1979. We parameterised the fire growth model FARSITE for the 1979 fire conditions using remote sensing-derived fuel cartography. We simulated different fuel scenarios to study the interactions between fuel spatial distribution and fire characteristics (area burned, rate of spread and fireline intensity). We then tested the effectiveness of several firebreak networks on fire spread control. Simulations showed that fire propagation and behaviour were greatly influenced by fuel spatial distribution. The fragmentation of large dense shrubland areas through the introduction of wooded patches strongly reduced fire size, generally slowing fire and limiting fireline intensity. Both the introduction of forest corridors connecting woodlands and the promotion of complex shapes for wooded patches decreased the area burned. Firebreak networks were always very effective in reducing fire size and their effect was enhanced in appropriate fuel-altered scenarios. Most firebreak alternatives, however, did not reduce either rate of fire spread or fireline intensity.
Additional keywords: FARSITE, fire modelling, firebreak network, fuel spatial distribution, landscape diversity, resilience to fire, spatial technologies.
Acknowledgements
The present work was carried out within the scope of the project ‘Geomatics in the Assessment and Sustainable Management of Mediterranean Rangelands-GEORANGE’ (EVK2-CT2000–00091). CEAM is funded by the Valencia Government (Generalitat Valenciana) and the Fundación Bancaixa. We thank Jorge Suárez (Conselleria Territori i Habitatge, Valencia Government) for providing us with valuable information about the FARSITE-required crown fuel parameters. We are also grateful to Mark A. Finney, developer of the FARSITE model, for his kindness in discussing with us some aspects of the model. We thank several members of the Catalan Agency for Forest Management Actions-GRAF for sharing with us information about their calibrations of FARSITE in several areas of Catalonia.
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