A review of wildland fire spread modelling, 1990-present, 1: Physical and quasi-physical models

In recent years, advances in computational power and spatial data analysis (GIS, remote sensing, etc) have led to an increase in attempts to model the spread and behaviour of wildland fires across the landscape. This series of review papers endeavours to critically and comprehensively review all types of surface fire spread models developed since 1990. This paper reviews models of a physical or quasi-physical nature. These models are based on the fundamental chemistry and/or physics of combustion and fire spread. Other papers in the series review models of an empirical or quasi-empirical nature, and mathematical analogues and simulation models. Many models are extensions or refinements of models developed before 1990. Where this is the case, these models are also discussed but much less comprehensively.Comment: 31 pages + 8 pages references + 2 figures + 5 tables. Submitted to International Journal of Wildland Fir

A review of wildland fire spread modelling, 1990-present 3: Mathematical analogues and simulation models

In recent years, advances in computational power and spatial data analysis (GIS, remote sensing, etc) have led to an increase in attempts to model the spread and behvaiour of wildland fires across the landscape. This series of review papers endeavours to critically and comprehensively review all types of surface fire spread models developed since 1990. This paper reviews models of a simulation or mathematical analogue nature. Most simulation models are implementations of existing empirical or quasi-empirical models and their primary function is to convert these generally one dimensional models to two dimensions and then propagate a fire perimeter across a modelled landscape. Mathematical analogue models are those that are based on some mathematical conceit (rather than a physical representation of fire spread) that coincidentally simulates the spread of fire. Other papers in the series review models of an physical or quasi-physical nature and empirical or quasi-empirical nature. Many models are extensions or refinements of models developed before 1990. Where this is the case, these models are also discussed but much less comprehensively.Comment: 20 pages + 9 pages references + 1 page figures. Submitted to the International Journal of Wildland Fir

Mathematical modelling of the spread of contamination during fires in forests exposed to radioactive contamination

The paper suggested in the context of the general mathematical model of forest fires [1] gives a new mathematical setting and method of numerical solution of a problem of a radioactive spread above the forest region. Numerical solution of problems of radioactive smoke spread during crown fire in exemplified heat energy release in the forest fire front was found. Heat energy release in the forest fire front was found to cause further radioactive particles spread by the action of wind. In the absence of wind, radioactive smoke particles deposit again on the underlying surface after a time. As a wind velocity increases, these particles are transferred in the ground layer over distances proportional to a wind velocity

Mathematical modelling of the spread of contamination during fires in forests exposed to radioactive contamination

The paper suggested in the context of the general mathematical model of forest fires [1] gives a new mathematical setting and method of numerical solution of a problem of a radioactive spread above the forest region. Numerical solution of problems of radioactive smoke spread during crown fire in exemplified heat energy release in the forest fire front was found. Heat energy release in the forest fire front was found to cause further radioactive particles spread by the action of wind. In the absence of wind, radioactive smoke particles deposit again on the underlying surface after a time. As a wind velocity increases, these particles are transferred in the ground layer over distances proportional to a wind velocity

A review of wildland fire spread modelling, 1990-present 2: Empirical and quasi-empirical models

In recent years, advances in computational power and spatial data analysis (GIS, remote sensing, etc) have led to an increase in attempts to model the spread and behaviour of wildland fires across the landscape. This series of review papers endeavours to critically and comprehensively review all types of surface fire spread models developed since 1990. This paper reviews models of an empirical or quasi-empirical nature. These models are based solely on the statistical analysis of experimentally obtained data with or without some physical framework for the basis of the relations. Other papers in the series review models of a physical or quasi-physical nature, and mathematical analogues and simulation models. The main relations of empirical models are that of wind speed and fuel moisture content with rate of forward spread. Comparisons are made of the different functional relationships selected by various authors for these variables.Comment: 22 pages + 7 pages references + 2 pages tables + 2 pages figures. Submitted to International Journal of Wildland Fir

Fire behaviour simulation in Mediterranean maquis using FARSITE (fire area simulator)

In the last two decades several simulation systems were developed to provide information about temporal and spatial variations of fire spread and behaviour. FARSITE (Fire Area Simulator), one of the most common simulators, is a spatially and temporally explicit fire simulation system. The simulator is based on Rothermel's fire spread model, and describes the fire spread and behaviour as a function of relationships among fuels, topography and weather conditions. The use of FARSITE on areas different from those where the simulator was originally developed requires a local calibration in order to produce reliable results. This is particularly true for the Mediterranean ecosystems, where plant communities are characterized by high specific and structural heterogeneity and complexity, determined by the interaction of sub-arid Mediterranean climate and human factors. Therefore, to perform FARSITE calibration, the choice of the appropriate standard fuel models or the development of specific custom fuel models are required. In addition, the capabilities of FARSITE simulator can be affected by other environmental characteristics, as complex steep terrains with the resulting high spatial and temporal variability of wind speed and direction. In this work, FARSITE was employed to simulate spread and behaviour of four real fires occurred in North Sardinia during 2003, 2004 and 2006 summer seasons. The effect of fuel models, weather conditions and topography on the accuracy of FARSITE simulations was evaluated in order to assess the capabilities of the simulator in accurately forecasting the fire spread and behaviour in areas covered by Mediterranean maquis. A custom fuel model, designed and developed by our working group for maquis, provided realistic values of simulated fire behaviour. Improvements on the accuracy of both fire spread and behaviour were also obtained using raster maps of wind speed and direction. The results confirm that the use of both accurate wind field data and appropriate custom fuel models is crucial to obtain accurate simulations of fire behaviour occurring on Mediterranean vegetation during the drought season, when most wildfires occur