Waldbrandmanagement im Kanton Wallis und Lehren aus dem Brand von Visp im Jahr 2011

2019 ◽  
Vol 170 (5) ◽  
pp. 251-257
Author(s):  
Philipp Gerold

Fire management in the canton of Valais and lessons learnt from the Visp fire 2011 Long-lasting dry weather conditions without precipitation in the Valais make the area very prone to forest fires. Following the large fire in Leuk in summer 2003, the cantonal authorities developed between 2006 and 2008 a fire management concept mainly focusing on prevention activities and on completing the water points net on the whole territory. A very important outcome of this concept is the definition of priority regions where a detailed fire prevention and control concept should be implemented. Concerning the fire danger rating, the canton of Valais acquired the “Incendi” system from the canton of Grisons, which uses meteorological data from the MeteoSwiss weather stations network to provide a daily calculation of several fire weather indices. In case of high fire danger, a fire ban in the open can be decreed basing on the cantonal fire law. The 110 ha large forest fire in Visp (2011) represented a very good test for the new cantonal fire management concept, especially for what concerns the impact on the forest protection functions. The very dry 2018 summer and the forecasted climatic change will in the future give a very central role to the fire prevention activities.

1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Stocks

The looming possibility of global warming raises legitimate concerns for the future of the forest resource in Canada. While evidence of a global warming trend is not conclusive at this time, governments would be wise to anticipate, and begin planning for, such an eventuality. The forest fire business is likely to be affected both early and dramatically by any trend toward warmer and drier conditions in Canada, and fire managers should be aware that the future will likely require new and innovative thinking in forest fire management. This paper summarizes research activities currently underway to assess the impact of global warming on forest fires, and speculates on future fire management problems and strategies.


2004 ◽  
Vol 155 (7) ◽  
pp. 263-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Conedera ◽  
Gabriele Corti ◽  
Paolo Piccini ◽  
Daniele Ryser ◽  
Francesco Guerini ◽  
...  

The Southern Alps, in particular the Canton Ticino, is the region of Switzerland that is most affected by the phenomenon of forest fires. Therefore, the cantonal authorities are continually confronted with problems of prevention, fire fighting and mitigation of the effects of forest fires. In this article forest fire management in Canton Ticino is analyzed in historical terms, verifying in particular the impact of the methods used and the improvement of technology addressing the frequency of events and the extent of burned surfaces. In this way it has been possible to show how a few structural measures (better organization of fire fighting crews and equipment, introduction of aerial fire fighting techniques, electrification followed by construction of shelters along railway lines, etc.) have rather reduced the extent of burned surfaces, while legislative measures such as restrictions of open fires help to reduce the number of forest fires.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Lehtonen ◽  
A. Venäläinen ◽  
M. Kämäräinen ◽  
H. Peltola ◽  
H. Gregow

Abstract. The target of this work was to assess the impact of projected climate change on forest-fire activity in Finland with special emphasis on large-scale fires. In addition, we were particularly interested to examine the inter-model variability of the projected change of fire danger. For this purpose, we utilized fire statistics covering the period 1996–2014 and consisting of almost 20 000 forest fires, as well as daily meteorological data from five global climate models under representative concentration pathway RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. The model data were statistically downscaled onto a high-resolution grid using the quantile-mapping method before performing the analysis. In examining the relationship between weather and fire danger, we applied the Canadian fire weather index (FWI) system. Our results suggest that the number of large forest fires may double or even triple during the present century. This would increase the risk that some of the fires could develop into real conflagrations which have become almost extinct in Finland due to active and efficient fire suppression. However, the results reveal substantial inter-model variability in the rate of the projected increase of forest-fire danger, emphasizing the large uncertainty related to the climate change signal in fire activity. We moreover showed that the majority of large fires in Finland occur within a relatively short period in May and June due to human activities and that FWI correlates poorer with the fire activity during this time of year than later in summer when lightning is a more important cause of fires.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykola Talerko ◽  
Ivan Kovalets ◽  
Shigekazu Hirao ◽  
Mark Zheleznyak ◽  
Yuriy Kyrylenko ◽  
...  

<p>The highly contaminated Chernobyl exclusion zone (ChEZ) still remains a potential source of the additional atmosphere radioactive contamination due to forest fires there. The possible radionuclide transport outside the ChEZ in the direction of populated regions (including Kyiv, 115 km from the ChEZ borders) and its consequences for people health is a topic of a constant public concern in Ukraine and neighboring countries. The problem of additional radiation exposure of fire-fighters and other personnel within the ChEZ during forest fires is actual too. The reliable models of radionuclide rising and following atmospheric transport, which should be integrated with data of stationary and mobile radiological monitoring, are necessary for real-time forecast and assessment of consequences of wildland fires.</p><p>Results of intercomparison of models developed within the set of the national and international projects are presented, including: i) the point source term model of Atmospheric Dispersion Module (ADM) of the real -time online decision support system for offsite nuclear emergency – RODOS, which development was funded by EU; ii) the specialized new tool for modeling radionuclide dispersion from the polygons of the fired areas using the Lagrangian model LASAT incorporated into RODOS system; iii) the Lagrangian-Eulerian atmospheric dispersion model LEDI using a volume source term and including a module for calculation of  parameters of a convective plume  formed over a fire area; iv) the Lagrangian model of Fukushima University. All atmospheric transport models use the results of the numerical weather forecast model WRF as the input meteorological information.</p><p>The models evaluation was carried out using the measurement data during large wildland fires occurred in ChEZ in 2015 and June 2018, including the <sup>137</sup>Cs and <sup>90</sup>Sr volume activity measured with the monitoring network within the Zone and results due to special measurements with a mobile radiological laboratory outside it.</p><p>The sensitivity of atmospheric transport modeling results was estimated to: 1) internal parameterization of different models, first of all, parameterization of the value of the deposited radionuclide fraction re-entering into the atmosphere during forest fires, 2) different parameterization of the source term formed due to the forest fire; 3) quality of input meteorological information, including the space and time step of the used WRF model grid, and the impact of chosen parameterization of some WRF modules (e.g. the atmospheric boundary layer module) on the atmospheric transport model results. Additionally, results of forest fires consequences modeling was compared which were obtained with different sets of input meteorological data: the WRF forecast of metrological fields (on-line calculations) and the similar WRF calculations on the base of objective analysis results.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Gruszczynska ◽  
Alan Mandal ◽  
Grzegorz Nykiel ◽  
Tomasz Strzyzewski ◽  
Weronika Wronska ◽  
...  

<p>Fires negatively affect the composition and structure of fauna and flora, as well as the quality of air, soils and water. They cause economic losses and pose a risk to human life. Poland is at the forefront of European countries in terms of forest fires. Therefore, Institute of Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute (IMWM-NIR) implemented fire danger forecast system based on high-resolution (2.5 km) Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. Forecasted meteorological data are used to calculate parameters of Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System: Fire Weather Index (FWI), Initial Spread Index (ISI), Buildup Index (BUI), Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC), Duff Moisture Code (DMC), and Drought Code (DC). Each parameter is presented in one of the classes corresponding to the fire danger – from low to extreme. In this way, a daily 24- and 48-hour fire danger forecasts are generated for the whole area of Poland and presented on IMWM-NIR meteorological website (meteo.imgw.pl).</p><p>In this presentation we show analyses of reliability of implemented FWI system. For this purpose, data reprocessing from March to September 2019 were made. Also data on fires occurrence on forest lands: time of occurrence, characteristics and location, from the resources of the State Fire Service were collected. Finally, for the selected period, we obtained a dataset of about 8 thousand events for which we assigned values of FWI parameters. Generally, based on our analysis, correlation between number of fires and averaged value of FWI amounted over 0.8. We found out, the correlation coefficient calculated for regions differ. The correlation is higher in central and northern Poland compared to the eastern part of the country, which also correspond to the number of fires. This may be related to the different forest structure - there is a higher proportion of broadleaf forests in the east. The comparison of 24- and 48-hour forecasts showed that they have similar reliability.</p>


Author(s):  
И.Д. Самсонова ◽  
А.С. Кондратьев

Лесные пожары относятся к главным экологическим факторам негативного влияния на лес и экологическую ситуацию. Увеличение числа лесных пожаров происходит в связи с многочисленными нарушениями правил населением, с глобальными изменениями климата и деградацией природной среды. Леса Новгородской области, территориально располагаясь между двумя агломерациями, являются незаменимым фактором окружающей среды. Обеспечение пожарной безопасности в лесах лесохозяйственных предприятий является одной из важнейших государственных задач. Цель исследований – оценка состояния охраны лесов от пожаров в Новгородской области, с использованием эффективных противопожарных мероприятий. Леса Новгородской области характеризуются средней степенью природной пожарной опасности. Территория области относится к слабогоримым регионам, а динамика лесных пожаров связана с условиями погоды. Лесные массивы на территории области представлены сосновыми и еловыми древостоями, расположенными на северо-востоке и самом юге области, в составе которых доля молодняков составляет 31,6%. Повышают пожарную опасность в лесах повреждения массивов вредными насекомыми и заболеваниями, неблагоприятными погодными условиями, рекреационными нагрузками и выбросами промышленных предприятий. Эффективность использования системы «Лесохранитель» позволило ликвидировать 85,5% пожаров в течение первых суток, при этом численность крупных пожаров за период 2009–2017 гг. снизилась до 4 шт., а средняя площадь пожаров составила 1,7 га. Разработанный картографический материал распределения земель лесного фонда Новгородской области по степени горимости лесничеств и по зонам мониторинга позволяет обеспечить противопожарное устройство объекта и дает реальную информацию для оперативной работы. Комплекс предложенных и используемых противопожарных мероприятий характеризуется как надежный и эффективный прием для уменьшения численности пожаров в лесах. Forest fires are among the main environmental factors of the negative impact on the forest and the ecological situation. An increase in the number of forest fires occurs due to numerous disturbances by the population, global climate change, and environmental degradation. Forests of the Novgorod region, located territorially between two agglomerations, are an indispensable environmental factor. Ensuring fire safety in forests of forestry enterprises is one of the most important state tasks. The purpose of the research is to assess the state of forest protection from fires in the Novgorod region using effective fire prevention measures. Forests of the Novgorod region are characterized by an average degree of natural fire hazard. The territory of the region belongs to low-visibility regions, and the dynamics of forest fires is associated with weather conditions. Forests in the region are represented by pine and spruce stands located in the northeast and the very south of the region, in which the proportion of young frogs is 31.6%. Damage to arrays by harmful insects and diseases, adverse weather conditions, recreational loads and emissions of industrial enterprises increase the fire hazard in forests. The efficiency of using the Forest Guard system allowed eliminating 85.5% of fires during the first day, while the number of large fires for the period 2009–2017 was eliminated. decreased to 4 pcs, and the average area of fires was 1.7 ha. The developed cartographic material for the distribution of forest land in the Novgorod Region according to the degree of forestry burnability and monitoring zones allows for the fire-prevention of the facility and provides real information for operational work. The complex of proposed and used fire prevention measures is characterized as a reliable and effective method for reducing the number of fires in forests.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-538
Author(s):  
Winda Indah Wardani

Forest area is a living environment that must be preserved. Therefore, forest protection is done through law no 18 of 2013 on the prevention and eradication of forest destruction. Although there is normative forest protection, forest fire and destruction cases are still common. So that the implementation of environmental law enforcement in Indonesia needs assessment has been appropriate or not with the law. Then if there is any inconsistency with the applicable regulations, it is necessary evaluation and solution to answer the problem. So that the goal of protecting the forest can be realized. Given the impact of forest fires and forest destruction is not only felt by people in the country but also the world community.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. e026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Varela ◽  
Mario Soliño

<p><em>Aim of study</em>: This article describes and analyzes the links between the fire-based scientific knowledge, the social perception of fire prevention and forest fires and the economic valuation requirements to assess social preferences for fire prevention measures.</p><p><em>Area of study</em>: Southern European countries.</p><p><em>Material and Methods</em>: For that purpose, we develop a critical revision of the existing literature on economic valuation of social preferences for fire risk reduction and fire prevention in terms of its links with fire science and social perceptions and the applicability of these results in fire management policies.</p><p><em>Research highlights</em>: The assessment of social preferences for fire related issues is challenging due to the difficulty of setting sound valuation scenarios that can simultaneously be relevant for the respondents and derive conclusions useful for fire management. Most of the revised studies set up valuation scenarios focused on the final management outcome e.g. number of burnt hectares, what is easier for the respondents to evaluate but weakens the scientific relationship with fire management, making difficult reaching conclusions for sound management advice. A more recent set of valuation studies have been developed where risk perception of homeowners is further assessed as a key variable determining their preferences in valuation scenarios. These studies are relevant for mangers setting fire prevention programs in wildland urban interface areas as understanding the factors that may promote or hinder the enrolment of these homeowners in fire prevention activities may have direct implication in addressing communication programs to promote fire prevention management.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: fire prevention; fire risk reduction; economic valuation.</p><p><strong>Abbreviations used</strong>: WTP- willingness to pay; CV- contingent valuation; CM- choice modelling.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 875 (1) ◽  
pp. 012064
Author(s):  
R V Kotelnikov ◽  
A N Chugaev

Abstract Nowadays, cost-optimization of aerial patrolling plays a key role in the context of limited aerial forest protection funding. Forest Fire Danger Class is the main indicator that regulates the work of forest fire services. Usually, it’s calculated by the nearest weather station data. Some information systems use the mean of several nearby weather stations to estimate large areas, such as the surveyed area of aerial forest protection. The idea of using the mean weighted index with the weather stations weighting factor is not new. Even though, this idea isn’t widespread due to the calculation complexity and questionable efficiency in practice, this study proposes a scientifically substantiated method of quantitative comparison of two approaches and the direct calculation method of the economic impact when transition to using the mean weighted Forest Fire Danger Class calculation algorithm. The first time such an indicator was used to obtain derivatives of analytical information products. A long-term analysis of forest fire rate showed that the weighted mean of the Forest Fire Danger Class value is 6.7% greater in correlation with the number of forest fires than the usual mean value. The use logarithmic transformation of the forest fire occurrence frequency and population density allows statistical criteria to be reasonably used.


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