Characterization and mapping of dwelling types for forest fire prevention

Définition des habitats isolés, diffus et groupés. Méthode de caractérisation et de cartographie de ces types d'habitat dans le contexte de prévention du risque d'incendie. Mise en relation des types d'habitat avec le risque d'incendie. / In a context of forest fire risk , the development of actions concerning wildfire prevention and land management is necessary and essential particularly in wildland urban interfaces (WUI). The term WUI' always includes components such as human presence and wildland vegetation. Both the hazard (probability of fire outbreak, distribution) and the vulnerability of urban areas can be characterized through the spatial organization of houses and vegetation. The first required step is to characterize and map WUI in large areas and at a large scale, which in turn requires qualifying different types of dwellings and mapping them. With this goal in view, the paper presents a brief synthesis of results coming from an exploratory process for the characterization of dwelling types (Lampin et al., 2007), and develops a method based on GIS-geo treatments to characterize different types of dwelling with regard to fire risk. Three types of dwellings were classified: isolated dwellings, scattered dwellings and clustered dwellings, using criteria based on the distance between houses, the size of clusters of houses and housing density, which can be mapped automatically. Within dwelling types, the density value of forest fire ignition changed and was twice as high for isolated dwellings as for clustered dwellings. The spatial organization of dwellings seems to have a real impact on fire occurrence. Thus maps of different dwelling types can be interpreted for use in developing fire fighting strategies or prevention actions concerning end-users such as forest and land planning managers or fire-fighters

Modélisation du risque incendie de forêt dans les interfaces habitats-forêts

En région méditerranéenne, les forêts sont régulièrement la proie des flammes, avec des conséquences écologiques, économiques et sociales souvent désastreuses. Les zones où l'habitat est en contact étroit avec la forêt représentent plus particulièrement un danger et deviennent une véritable préoccupation pour les gestionnaires, qui ont besoin d'outils de localisation pour agir et limiter les risques d'incendies dans ces territoires. Cet article nous présente une méthode innovante d'évaluation du risque fondée sur l’observation et la description ainsi que sur une analyse spatiale et statistique de ces zones à risque

La loi et la carte : deux outils de gestion du risque d'incendie dans les forêts méditerranéennes (The law and the map : two management tools of fire hazard in the mediterranean forests)

The forest fire is a permanent risk in the Mediterranean area. Like other countries of Mediterranean Europe, France tries to limit this risk. Through the study of two essential tools in the prevention of forest fire, which are the law and the map, the authors wonder about the specificity of the French case. Is the French strategy of forest fire control comparable with that of the other Mediterranean countries, or is France developing an original model ?L'incendie de forêt est un risque permanent en Méditerranée. A l'image des autres pays de l'Europe méditerranéenne, la France cherche à limiter ce risque. A travers l'étude de deux outils essentiels dans la prévention des feux de forêt que sont la loi et la carte, les auteurs s 'interrogent sur la spécificité du cas français. La France s'inscrit-elle dans une stratégie de lutte contre l'incendie comparable à celle des autres pays méditerranéens, ou bien est-elle porteuse d'un modèle original ?Clément Vincent, Jappiot Marielle. La loi et la carte : deux outils de gestion du risque d'incendie dans les forêts méditerranéennes (The law and the map : two management tools of fire hazard in the mediterranean forests). In: Bulletin de l'Association de géographes français, 82e année, 2005-1 ( mars). Israël-Palestine / Risques naturels et territoires. pp. 75-84

A method for characterising and mapping habitat/forest interfaces - A means for preventing forest fires

In the Mediterranean area of France, fires affect large areas and have major ecological and social and economic consequences on the landscape. Cemagref has developed a method for large scale mapping of habitat/forest interfaces on large surface areas for the benefit of forest managers, engineering firms, local land planning services, and fire fighters (in charge of drafting or implementing fire prevention and fire-fighting plans). Using data about the built system and vegetation and considering their spatial organisation, this tool determines the type of interface that any particular locality in the area considered belongs to. This information is useful in defining the way in which these spaces should be planned on the basis of their vulnerability to fire and supervising their development.En région méditerranéenne française, l’incendie concerne des territoires étendus et a des conséquences paysagères écologiques et socio-économiques importantes. Le Cemagref a développé pour les gestionnaires, les bureaux d’études, les services d’aménagement des collectivités, les acteurs de la lutte… (chargés de l’élaboration ou de la mise en oeuvre de plans de prévention contre les incendies, mais aussi de la lutte en cas d’incendie), une méthode pour cartographier les interfaces habitat-forêt sur de grandes surfaces et à grande échelle ; en utilisant des données de bâtis et de végétation et en s’intéressant à leur organisation spatiale, l’outil permet de définir à quel type d’interface appartient toute zone du territoire considéré ; ces informations permettent de mieux définir l’aménagement de ces espaces en fonction de leur sensibilité au feu et d’en maîtriser le développement

Understanding future changes to fires in southern Europe and their impacts on the wildland-urban interface

International audienceBackground. An increase in fire weather is expected in a warming climate, but its translation to fire activity (fire numbers and sizes) remains largely unknown. Additionally, disentangling the extent to which geographic and seasonal extensions as well as intensification contribute to future fire activity remain largely unknown. Aims. We aimed to assess the impact of future climate change on fire activity in southeastern France and estimate changes in spatial and seasonal distributions. Methods. We projected future fire activities using a Bayesian modelling framework combined with ensemble climate simulations. Changes in numbers of escaped fires (>1 ha), large fires (>100 ha) and burned area were studied for different emission scenarios or degrees of global warming. Key results. Fire activity could increase by up to +180% for +4°C of global warming, with large expansions of fire-prone regions and long seasonal lengthenings. Overall, changes will be dominated by intensification within the historical fire niche, representing two-thirds of additional future fire activity, half of this occurring during the high fire season. Conclusions. This study confirms that major changes in fire niches would be expected in Euro-Mediterranean regions. Implications. Long-term strategic policies for adapting prevention and suppression resources and ecosystems are needed to account for such changes