Tendencies of Fire Development in the Forests of Ukraine

Preservation and increase of forest area are necessary conditions for the biosphere functioning. Forest ecosystems in most parts of the world are affected by fires. According to the latest data, the forest fire situation has become complicated in Ukraine, and this issue requires ongoing investigation. The aim of the study was to analyse the dynamics of wildfires in Ukrainian forests over recent decades and to assess the complex indicator of wildfire occurrence in various forest management zones and administrative regions. The average annual complex indicator of fire occurrence, in terms of wildfire number and burned area, was studied in detail in the forests of various administrative regions and forest management zones in Ukraine from 1998 to 2017. The results show that fire occurrence in both the number and area of fires can vary significantly in various forest management zones. There is a very noticeable difference in these indicators in some administrative regions within a particular forest management zone. The data show that the number of forest fires depends not only on the natural and climatic conditions of such regions, but also on anthropogenic factors.

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Statistical analysis of fire frequency models for Catalonia (NE Spain), 1975 - 1998) based on fire scar maps from Landsat MSS data

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf02051 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 89 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Ricardo Díaz-Delgado ◽

Francisco Lloret ◽

Xavier Pons

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Rotation Period ◽

Fire Frequency ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Natural Fire ◽

Fire Scar ◽

Fire Intervals ◽

Ne Spain

This paper estimates fire frequency in Catalonia (NE Spain) for the last quarter of the 20th Century (1975–1998) from historical burned area maps. Remote sensing images provided perimeters of fires ≥ 30 ha, which were used to characterize the temporal patterns of fire occurrence in Catalonia. Several fire frequency models were used to reproduce the observed pattern of wildfires occurrence in the study period. Natural fire rotation period was estimated to be 133 years. Poisson tests were carried out to check random fire occurrence either along the time period or across the analysed region. Observed fires were not randomly generated either in space or in time, despite being sampled using two different plot sizes. This sampling design was also used for Mean Fire Interval (MFI) analysis, which allowed us to significantly fit a Weibull distribution to the observed proportion of fire intervals (for both sample sizes), enabling us to estimate the hazard of burning, mortality, and survivorship functions. Finally, MFI was also applied to forest regions of Catalonia, which are defined according to forest management plans based on their homogeneous climatic conditions. Such an analysis revealed relevant differences in forest management and their consequences on fire occurrence.

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Spatial and temporal characteristics of wildfires in Mississippi, USA

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf08104 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 14 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Katarzyna Grala ◽

William H. Cooke

Keyword(s):

Palmer Drought Severity Index ◽

Severity Index ◽

The State ◽

Anthropogenic Factors ◽

Burned Area ◽

Drought Severity ◽

Temporal Characteristics ◽

Wildfire Occurrence ◽

Spatial And Temporal Characteristics ◽

Drought Severity Index

Forests constitute a large percentage of the total land area in Mississippi and are a vital element of the state economy. Although wildfire occurrences have been considerably reduced since the 1920s, there are still ~4000 wildfires each year in Mississippi burning over 24 000 ha (60 000 acres). This study focusses on recent history and various characteristics of Mississippi wildfires to provide better understanding of spatial and temporal characteristics of wildfires in the state. Geographic information systems and Mississippi Forestry Commission wildfire occurrence data were used to examine relationships between climatic and anthropogenic factors, the incidence, burned area, wildfire cause, and socioeconomic factors. The analysis indicated that wildfires are more frequent in southern Mississippi, in counties covered mostly by pine forest, and are most prominent in the winter–spring season. Proximity to roads and cities were two anthropogenic factors that had the most statistically significant correlation with wildfire occurrence and size. In addition, the validity of the Palmer Drought Severity Index as a measure of fire activity was tested for climatic districts in Mississippi. Analysis indicated that drought influences fire numbers and size during summer and fall (autumn). The strongest relationship between the Palmer Drought Severity Index and burned area was found for the southern climatic districts for the summer–fall season.

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Effects of Live Fuel Moisture Content on Wildfire Occurrence in Fire-Prone Regions over Southwest China

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10100887 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 887 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Kaiwei Luo ◽

Xingwen Quan ◽

Binbin He ◽

Marta Yebra

Keyword(s):

Moisture Content ◽

Southwest China ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fuel Moisture ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Subtropical Zone ◽

Wildfire Occurrence ◽

Live Fuel Moisture ◽

Grassland Fire ◽

Fuel Moisture Content

Previous studies have shown that Live Fuel Moisture Content (LFMC) is a crucial driver affecting wildfire occurrence worldwide, but the effect of LFMC in driving wildfire occurrence still remains unexplored over the southwest China ecosystem, an area historically vulnerable to wildfires. To this end, we took 10-years of LFMC dynamics retrieved from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) reflectance product using the physical Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) and the wildfire events extracted from the MODIS Burned Area (BA) product to explore the relations between LFMC and forest/grassland fire occurrence across the subtropical highland zone (Cwa) and humid subtropical zone (Cwb) over southwest China. The statistical results of pre-fire LFMC and cumulative burned area show that distinct pre-fire LFMC critical thresholds were identified for Cwa (151.3%, 123.1%, and 51.4% for forest, and 138.1%, 72.8%, and 13.1% for grassland) and Cwb (115.0% and 54.4% for forest, and 137.5%, 69.0%, and 10.6% for grassland) zones. Below these thresholds, the fire occurrence and the burned area increased significantly. Additionally, a significant decreasing trend on LFMC dynamics was found during the days prior to two large fire events, Qiubei forest fire and Lantern Mountain grassland fire that broke during the 2009/2010 and 2015/2016 fire seasons, respectively. The minimum LFMC values reached prior to the fires (49.8% and 17.3%) were close to the lowest critical LFMC thresholds we reported for forest (51.4%) and grassland (13.1%). Further LFMC trend analysis revealed that the regional median LFMC dynamics for the 2009/2010 and 2015/2016 fire seasons were also significantly lower than the 10-year LFMC of the region. Hence, this study demonstrated that the LFMC dynamics explained wildfire occurrence in these fire-prone regions over southwest China, allowing the possibility to develop a new operational wildfire danger forecasting model over this area by considering the satellite-derived LFMC product.

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Defining Deforestation Patterns Using Satellite Images from 2000 and 2017: Assessment of Forest Management in Miombo Forests—A Case Study of Huambo Province in Angola

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11010098 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 98 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Vasco Chiteculo ◽

Azadeh Abdollahnejad ◽

Dimitrios Panagiotidis ◽

Peter Surový ◽

Ram Sharma

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Bare Soil ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Forest Protection ◽

Management Zones ◽

Management Zone ◽

The Impact

A few studies have recently been published on changes in land use/land cover (LU/LC) of Angolan Miombo forests, however, none have attempted to offer forest management solutions for degraded Miombo forests. Landscapes are witness to past and present natural and social processes influencing the environment, where each period in the past leaves footprints on the landscape’s development, which can be described by a continual decrease in forest area over time. The expansion of degraded areas from 2000 to 20017 began near urban areas where many Miombo forests have been eliminated or highly degraded, particularly in the southwest and northeast of the Huambo province. Large areas of degraded forests were observed along the Benguela railway (Caminho de ferro de Benguela). Our detailed analysis of the landcover map suggests that the impact has been devastating and there is no form of forest protection, which leads to unregulated exploitation. Descriptions of the Miombo forest dynamics are explained using height–diameter curves developed for different vegetation types that provide important insights about forest structures in the management zones. The height–diameter models differed for all vegetation types, and four management zones (MZ) were created based on a set of particular attributes. The vegetation types differed in each management zone, which included agricultural land and bare soil (MZ–E), grassland or savanna (MZ–C), open Miombo forests (MZ–B), and closed Miombo forests (Miombo forests). The four management zones were easily identified on the available maps and the height–diameter models developed represent a fundamental tool for future studies on forest planning.

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Factors Influencing Modern Wildfire Occurrence in the Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri

Southern Journal of Applied Forestry ◽

10.1093/sjaf/31.2.73 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 73-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Kimberley D. Brosofske ◽

David T. Cleland ◽

Sari C. Saunders

Keyword(s):

Logistic Regression ◽

Population Density ◽

Mark Twain ◽

Easy Access ◽

Anthropogenic Factors ◽

National Forest ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Fire Size ◽

Wildfire Occurrence ◽

Factors Influencing

Abstract Understanding relative influences of ecological and anthropogenic factors on wildfire occurrence can assist decisionmakers in allocating fire management resources. We examined the influences of ecological and anthropogenic variables on probability of modern fire occurrence in the Mark Twain National Forest (MTNF), Missouri, using classification and regression tree (CART) and logistic regression analyses. Models were developed for five classes of fire size. Although CART distinguished some effects of fire size on results, logistic regression indicated a single model developed for all fires was sufficient for predictions. Ecological subsection was a dominating influence on fire occurrence for final CART and logistic models, highlighting the potential usefulness of ecosystem classification as a framework for considering factors influencing modern wildfires. Other influential predictors included ecosystem fire resistance; distance to roads, cities, and railroads; road density; mean October precipitation; elevation; median house value; and population density. Wildfires in the MTNF are caused overwhelmingly by arson, which, when combined with our results, suggests that arsonists may seek out flammable fuel types in remote areas with easy access. Within this general anthropogenic fire regime, we found a more subordinate effect of specific human variables (e.g., population density) on modern fire occurrence than did similar studies in the Upper Midwest, perhaps because our study area encompassed primarily federal forestlands with low population density.

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ABOUT THE CONDITION AND FIRE-FIGHTING MEASURES OF PROTECTION IN THE BRYANSK FORESTRY

Forestry Engineering Journal ◽

10.12737/article_5ab0dfc6c3aba1.38810767 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 189-198

Author(s):

Борис Ковалев ◽

Boris Kovalev ◽

Наталия Сакович ◽

Nataliya Sakovich ◽

Евгений Христофоров ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Sandy Loam ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Fire Fighting ◽

Resource Potential ◽

Natural Fire ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

Management Measures

Bryansk forestry is located in the north-east of the Bryansk region, in the territories of the Bryansk and Karachev administrative districts, with a total area of 62,339 hectares, including 59,219 hectares of forest, and 16593 ha of forest cultures. Forests of the forest range are classified as protective, they are used in recreational, water-protective, environmental-forming purposes, grow on sands, moraines, sandy loam, loam. Forest management in the Bryansk forestry is aimed at rational forest management and management, enhancement of the forest resource potential, protection and protection of forests, expansion and rational use of forests through the systematic implementation of a set of forest management measures, growing forests to meet the needs of the Bryansk region in wood. The climatic conditions in the area of Bryansk forestry are mainly favorable for forest-forming coniferous and deciduous species. However, in recent years, dry periods of different duration and intensity have regularly occurred, which create conditions for the occurrence of fires. Research indicators that for the period from 2003 to 2015 in the territory of the forestry there were 2039 fires, a total area of 4,499.9 hectares. Only in 2014, the damage from forest fires amounted to 17434.2 thousand rubles, while directly to extinguish fires spent 1,434.2 thousand rubles. In 2015, the main causes of fires are: the human factor - 66 fires; grass fires - 27 fires; through the fault of the railway -10; other reasons - 3 fires and others. Elimination of forest fires in the forestry is carried out by land means, while the artificial and natural fire barriers created in advance, in particular, created with the help of a tractor, aggregated by the device for laying and reconstructing mineralized strips, and fire-fighting mineralized strips, are of great help in eliminating fires. In order to improve the microclimate in the tractor cab, the authors propose to use a control pedal with a hermetic terminal. Timely detection of fire and liquidation of a fire, reduces economic, natural, technological and social damage

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COMPARAÇÃO ENTRE O PERFIL DOS INCÊNDIOS FLORESTAIS DE MONTE ALEGRE, BRASIL, E DE PINAR DEL RÍO, CUBA

FLORESTA ◽

10.5380/rf.v43i2.27650 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 231 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Marcos Pedro Ramos Rodríguez ◽

Ronaldo Viana Soares ◽

Antonio Carlos Batista ◽

Alexandre França Tetto ◽

Luis Wilfredo Martínez Becerra

Keyword(s):

Forest Fires ◽

Fire History ◽

Fire Season ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Fire Control ◽

Spatial And Temporal Distributions ◽

Del Rio ◽

Pinus Spp ◽

Control Service

É importante se determinar onde, quando e porque ocorrem os incêndios florestais, com vistas a estruturar os serviços de prevenção e combate dentro de limites economicamente viáveis. Esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida com o objetivo de comparar o comportamento histórico dos incêndios florestais ocorridos no período de 2002 a 2011 no Distrito Florestal de Monte Alegre, estado do Paraná, Brasil, e nas empresas florestais da Província de Pinar del Río, Cuba. Foram consideradas as distribuições temporal e espacial dos incêndios, tendo sido analisada também a eficiência do serviço de proteção. Os registros de ocorrência de incêndios foram fornecidos pela Klabin S/A e pelo Corpo de Guardabosques de Pinar del Río. Os resultados mostraram um maior número de ocorrências e uma menor área queimada em Monte Alegre. Os incêndios se concentraram nos meses de agosto a outubro (77,97% do total) em Monte Alegre e de março a maio (86,80%) em Pinar del Río. A cobertura vegetal mais afetada nas duas regiões foi “Pinus spp.” e a principal causa foi “incendiário” (71,66% do total) em Monte Alegre e “raios” (39,26%) em Pinar del Río. Conclui-se que há uma similaridade no perfil dos incêndios para os dois lugares, com exceção da época de incêndios.Palavras-chave: Estatísticas de incêndios; época de incêndios; prevenção de incêndios. AbstractComparison between the forest fires statistics in Monte Alegre, Brazil, and Pinar del Río, Cuba. It is important to determine where, when and why forest fires occur in order to structure the prevention and suppression within economically viable limits. This research was developed in order to compare the historical behavior of forest fires in the period 2002 to 2011 in the Forest District of Monte Alegre, Paraná State, Brazil, and forestry companies in the province of Pinar del Río, Cuba. Spatial and temporal distributions of fire occurrence were considered and the efficiency of fire control service was analyzed. Records of fire occurrence were provided by Klabin S/A and the Forest Department of Pinar del Río. The results revealed a higher number of occurrences and a lower burned area in Monte Alegre. The fires were concentrated from the month of August to October (77.97% of total) in Monte Alegre and March-May (86.80%) in Pinar del Río. The most affected vegetation in both regions was "Pinus spp" and the main cause of the occurrence was "incendiary" (71.66% of total) in Monte Alegre and "lightning" (39.26%) in Pinar del Río. There was a similarity in the fire profile for the two regions, except in the fire season.Keywords: Fire statistics; fire history; fire season; fire prevention.

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OCORRÊNCIA DE INCÊNDIOS FLORESTAIS NO ESTADO DO PARANÁ, NO PERÍODO DE 2005 A 2010

FLORESTA ◽

10.5380/rf.v42i2.22516 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 42 (2) ◽

pp. 391 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Alexandre França Tetto ◽

Antonio Carlos Batista ◽

Ronaldo Viana Soares

Keyword(s):

Forest Fires ◽

Fire Department ◽

Northern Region ◽

Fire Season ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Affected Area ◽

Factors Associated ◽

The Third ◽

Northwest Region

O Paraná possui a terceira maior área de cultivos florestais do país. Uma das preocupações com a cobertura vegetal existente está relacionada com os danos causados pela ocorrência de incêndios florestais. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o número e época de ocorrência de incêndios, a área atingida e as principais regiões do estado impactadas por esses eventos. Para isso foram analisados os dados do Corpo de Bombeiros do Estado, no período de 2005 a 2010. Os resultados permitiram concluir que nesse período ocorreram 54.793 incêndios, que atingiram 172.130 ha. O período normal de ocorrência de incêndios se concentrou nos meses de junho a setembro, com 52,5% dos registros. O maior impacto, com relação à vegetação atingida, se deu nos meses de julho a setembro, com 76,0% da área. A região mais atingida foi a noroeste, com 30,4% das ocorrências, seguida pela nordeste, com 17,3%. Em termos de área atingida, o destaque se dá para o noroeste, com 65,6% da área atingida, seguida pela sudoeste, com 19,0%. Conclui-se que a região norte foi a mais sujeita à ocorrência de incêndios florestais, em função dos fatores ambientais associados aos incêndios, sobretudo o clima, a tipologia florestal e o uso do fogo em práticas agropecuárias.Palavras-chave: Área queimada; estação normal de perigo de incêndios; prevenção. AbstractForest fire occurrence in Parana State, in the period 2005 to 2010. Parana holds the third largest area of forest plantations in the country. One of the concerns about the existing vegetation is related to the damages caused by forest fires. This research aimed to determine the fire season, the number of fire occurrences, the burned area, and the main state regions affected by these events. The analyzed data were collected from the State Fire Department, from 2005 to 2010. The results showed that in the analyzed period 54,793 fires, affecting 172,130 ha, were recorded.The main fire season was concentrated in the months of June to September, with 52.5% of the recorded occurrences. The biggest impact to the vegetation occurred in the months of July to September, with 76.0% of the affected area.The northwest region was the most affected, with 30.4% of the occurrences, followed by the northeast, with 17.3%. Regarding the affected area, the northwest region, with 65.6% of the total, run in first place, followed by the southwest, with 19.0%. The results allowed to conclude that the northern region was more susceptible to the occurrence of forest fires, due to environmental factors associated to the fires, like climate characteristics, vegetation cover, and the use of fire in agricultural practices.Keywords: Affected area; fire season; prevention.

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Short-Term Effects of Fire Severity on Vegetation Based on Sentinel-2 Satellite Data

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13010432 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 432

Author(s):

Aru Han ◽

Song Qing ◽

Yongbin Bao ◽

Li Na ◽

Yuhai Bao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Fire ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Vegetation Change ◽

Fire Severity ◽

Dynamic Change ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fire Event ◽

Vegetation Dynamic ◽

Area Index ◽

Sentinel 2

An important component in improving the quality of forests is to study the interference intensity of forest fires, in order to describe the intensity of the forest fire and the vegetation recovery, and to improve the monitoring ability of the dynamic change of the forest. Using a forest fire event in Bilahe, Inner Monglia in 2017 as a case study, this study extracted the burned area based on the BAIS2 index of Sentinel-2 data for 2016–2018. The leaf area index (LAI) and fractional vegetation cover (FVC), which are more suitable for monitoring vegetation dynamic changes of a burned area, were calculated by comparing the biophysical and spectral indices. The results showed that patterns of change of LAI and FVC of various land cover types were similar post-fire. The LAI and FVC of forest and grassland were high during the pre-fire and post-fire years. During the fire year, from the fire month (May) through the next 4 months (September), the order of areas of different fire severity in terms of values of LAI and FVC was: low > moderate > high severity. During the post fire year, LAI and FVC increased rapidly in areas of different fire severity, and the ranking of areas of different fire severity in terms of values LAI and FVC was consistent with the trend observed during the pre-fire year. The results of this study can improve the understanding of the mechanisms involved in post-fire vegetation change. By using quantitative inversion, the health trajectory of the ecosystem can be rapidly determined, and therefore this method can play an irreplaceable role in the realization of sustainable development in the study area. Therefore, it is of great scientific significance to quantitatively retrieve vegetation variables by remote sensing.

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Are Climate Factors Driving the Contemporary Wildfire Occurrence in China?

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12040392 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 392

Author(s):

Zige Lan ◽

Zhangwen Su ◽

Meng Guo ◽

Ernesto C. Alvarado ◽

Futao Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Factors ◽

Large Scale ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Climate Factors ◽

Wildfire Occurrence ◽

Prediction And Prevention ◽

Data Resolution ◽

Main Driver ◽

Landscape Factors ◽

Modelling Approach

Understanding the drivers of wildfire occurrence is of great value for fire prevention and management, but due to the variation in research methods, data sources, and data resolution of those studies, it is challenging to conduct a large-scale comprehensive comparative qualitative analysis on the topic. China has diverse vegetation types and topography, and has undergone rapid economic and social development, but experiences a high frequency of wildfires, making it one of the ideal locations for wildfire research. We applied the Random Forests modelling approach to explore the main types of wildfire drivers (climate factors, landscape factors and human factors) in three high wildfire density regions (Northeast (NE), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE)) of China. The results indicate that climate factors were the main driver of wildfire occurrence in the three regions. Precipitation and temperature significantly impacted the fire occurrence in the three regions due to the direct influence on the moisture content of forest fuel. However, wind speed had important influence on fire occurrence in the SE and SW. The explanation power of the landscape and human factors varied significantly between regions. Human factors explained 40% of the fire occurrence in the SE but only explained less than 10% of the fire occurrence in the NE and SW. The density of roads was identified as the most important human factor driving fires in all three regions, but railway density had more explanation power on fire occurrence in the SE than in the other regions. The landscape factors showed nearly no influence on fire occurrence in the NE but explained 46.4% and 20.6% in the SE and SW regions, respectively. Amongst landscape factors, elevation had the highest average explanation power on fire occurrence in the three regions, particularly in the SW. In conclusion, this study provides useful insights into targeted fire prediction and prevention, which should be more precise and effective under climate change and socio-economic development.

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