Forest road and fuelbreak siting with respect to reference fire intensities

Abstract

Forest roads and permanent fuelbreaks are an important part of fire suppression infrastructure, but due to maintenance and environmental costs many forest agencies seek to reduce the extent of these networks. The question of which roads should be retained or where fuelbreaks should be established is contentious, and few quantified methods exist to aid management decisions. This study uses GIS procedures and develops a metric for road network vulnerability, which may be used to determine the relative effectiveness of a road network or a particular fuelbreak as a fire control line. The method constructs 'reference fire' intensities, and compares the fire intensity at roadsides or fuelbreaks with the overall forest average. In the case study area in Victoria's Central Highlands (southeast Australia), average fire intensities on the forest road network are found to closely match the forest average, indicating that roads in their current locations are not skewed towards more dangerous parts of the forest. The fuelbreak network however is likely to face fire intensities substantially greater than those in the average forest area.Key words: Fire infrastructure; GIS; Eucalypt; Australia; wildfires. Resumen Ubicación de pistas forestales y áreas cortafuegos con respecto a la intensidad de incendios de referenciaLos caminos forestales y las áreas cortafuegos permanentes son una parte importante de la infraestructura de extinción de incendios, pero debido a mantenimiento y los costes medioambientales muchos organismos forestales buscan reducir el alcance de estas redes. Nos preguntamos qué caminos y pistas deben mantenerse o dónde deben establecerse las áreas cortafuegos y surge el debate. Hay muy pocos métodos cuantitativos para ayudar a tomar estas decisiones de gestión. Este estudio, utiliza procedimientos basados en SIG y desarrolla un indicador de vulnerabilidad de una red vial, que se puede utilizar para determinar la eficacia relativa de dicha red, o de un área cortafuegos específico, como una línea de control de incendios. El método establece intensidades de referencia del fuego y compara la intensidad de los incendios en las pistas o las áreas cortafuegos con el valor promedio (de intensidad del incendio) en otros lugares de esa masa forestal. En el área de estudio, en las Tierras Altas Centrales del estado de Victoria (sudeste de Australia), las intensidades promedio de fuego en la red de caminos forestales resultaron semejantes a la media de los bosques, lo que indica que las carreteras en sus ubicaciones actuales no están sesgadas hacia las partes más peligrosas de la masa forestal. La red de áreas cortafuegos, sin embargo, si hace frente a intensidades de fuego significativamente mayores que las de otros lugares de la superficie forestal.

Fatalities in Wildland Fires From 1945 to 2015 in Sardinia (Italy)

“…Today, not all roads in Sardinia are safe enough to locate fire engines to attack a wildland fire. Eastaugh and Molina (2012) have shown how to assess which roads are safer using extensive simulations with FlamMap (FINNEY, 2002). With that Eastaugh and Molina (2012) criteria some roads could be classify as unsafe for most firefighters in suppression action.…”

Multi-Objective Scheduling of Fuel Treatments to Implement a Linear Fuel Break Network

“…The creation of effective linear fuel break segments requires the delineation of the connected network segments across landscapes. This is a rigorous process that combines local expertise and spatial analyses to identify efficient fuel break network designs [7][8][9][10]. Multiple aspects are considered when locating segments of the fuel break network, including access, terrain, and vegetation [4,[11][12][13][14].…”

Deriving forest fire ignition risk with biogeochemical process modelling

“… Pitman et al., 2007; Malevskii-Malevich et al., 2007; Good et al., 2008; Krawchuk et al., 2009; Holsten et al., 2013 ). Well-validated predictive tools for forest fire risk would be useful for resource allocation ( Cantwell, 1974; McCarthy et al., 2003; Prestemon and Donovan, 2008 ), emergency services budgeting ( Thompson et al., 2013 ), infrastructure planning ( Eastaugh and Molina, 2011, 2012 ) and warning systems ( Valese et al., 2010; Arpaci et al., 2013 ). Such studies generally rely on defining some meteorological index of fire risk, and calculating the development of that index under future climate scenarios.…”