Rural Fires Research Articles

Characterization of Cytisus striatus (Hill) Rothm.: Waste Biomass Energy Recovery as a Measure to Reduce the Risk of Rural Fires

Shrub species play a critical ecological role in ecosystems, covering significant areas. However, with the current development of vegetation cover, conditioned by climate change, certain species have acquired a dominant role, which suffocates the other ecosystem species in a natural monoculture model. Thus, some species, such as Cytisus striatus (Hill) Rothm., have acquired preponderance, mainly due to the dense forests they establish. This situation has contributed to the increased risk of rural fires, forcing permanent actions to control the settlements. These actions entail costs that make the continuity and permanence of control unsustainable. The energetic valorization of residual biomass resulting from operations to reduce fuel load is an option that seems viable, mainly if used in the production of biomass pellets in a mixture with other biomasses, such as Pinus pinaster or Eucalyptus globulus. The laboratory characterization tests demonstrated that the residual biomass of C. striatus presents parameters that fall within limits defined by the standard ENPlus®. The processing of this residual biomass on an industrial scale line is also feasible. However, given the configuration of the material to be processed, production lines may be necessary, especially concerning the detachment of the material. The logistical issue may also impose restrictions since the material has a low density, even when baled.

Carbon Sequestration Potential of Forest Invasive Species: A Case Study with Acacia dealbata Link

Biological invasions are of complex solution, consuming resources for their control and eradication. However, in many of the documented processes that are available, this is an attempt with no solution in sight. The possibility of increasing the pressure over these species while creating value chains has been presented as a method for ensuring the sustainability of their control and eradication processes. In the case of invasive forest species in Portugal, such as Acacia dealbata Link, this control is becoming increasingly important. In addition to the negative impacts on biodiversity, the proliferation of this species has economic implications due to its competition with forest production species such as Pinus pinaster Aiton and Eucalyptus globulus Labill. Another critical aspect to be considered is the increase of the risk of rural fires, which is enhanced by the accumulation of low-value biomass around production forests. In this work, the possibility of using this species as a vehicle for the capture and sequestration of carbon in the medium and long-term was evaluated from a perspective of providing ecosystem services as a measure to mitigate climate change. However, due to its highly heliophilous character, it was found that the growth capacity of this species is rapidly conditioned by the position of each tree within a stand, not being able to maintain that capacity in the medium and long term.

The Impact of Rural Fires on the Development of Invasive Species: Analysis of a Case Study with Acacia dealbata Link. in Casal do Rei (Seia, Portugal)

Biological invasions can affect ecosystems in different ways. Invasive forest species, such as Acacia dealbata Link., affect forests’ productivity, because they compete directly with native species for access to light and nutrients, contributing to the loss of biodiversity. In this study, an area occupied by A. dealbata, located in Casal do Rei (Seia, Portugal) was studied to evaluate the influence of fire in the dispersion of this species, analyzing the historical occurrence of rural fires in the region, as well as through the determination of its annual biomass production and comparing its growth with other species using satellite images. The research shows a competitive advantage for A. dealbata, even when compared to species, such as Eucalyptus globulus and Pinus pinaster, which practically disappeared from the location under study after a significant fire occurred in 2005, while A. dealbata continued to thrive.

Energy Recovery from Invasive Species: Creation of Value Chains to Promote Control and Eradication

The use of biomass as an energy source presents itself as a viable alternative, especially at a time when the mitigation of climate change requires that all possibilities of replacing fossil fuels be used and implemented. The use of residual biomass also appears as a way to include in the renewable energy production system products that came out of it, while allowing the resolution of environmental problems, such as large volumes available, which are not used, but also by the elimination of fuel load that only contributes to the increased risk of rural fires occurrence. Invasive species contribute to a significant part of this fuel load, and its control and eradication require strong investments, so the valorization of these materials can allow the sustainability of the control and eradication processes. However, the chemical composition of some of these species, namely Acacia dealbata, Acacia melanoxylon, Eucalyptus globulus, Robinia pseudoacacia and Hakea sericea, presents some problems, mainly due to the nitrogen, chlorine and ash contents found, which preclude exclusive use for the production of certified wood pellets. In the case of Eucalyptus globulus, the values obtained in the characterization allow the use in mixtures with Pinus pinaster, but for the other species, this mixture is not possible. From a perspective of local valorization, the use of materials for domestic applications remains a possibility, creating a circular economy process that guarantees the sustainability of operations to control and eradicate invasive species.

Selective Shrub Management to Preserve Mediterranean Forests and Reduce the Risk of Fire: The Case of Mainland Portugal

The recurrent rural fires that occur annually in Portugal have reached great proportions due to a lack of effective landscape management. Attempts to solve this problem led to the legal imposition to cut back the vegetation in the fuel management areas, which has had a negative effect on biodiversity. National legislation protects three native plant species (Quercus suber, Q. rotundifolia and Ilex aquifolium). European legislation, through the Habitats Directive, also identifies some plant species that require strict protection, although it leaves out several endemic and rare plants. In this work we aim to differentiate the types of shrub plant material and their pyrophilic behavior, since the physical and chemical characteristics of vegetation can enhance or inhibit the progression of fire. Thus, based on phytosociological science, specifically at the class level, the dynamics of potential climatophilous vegetation in Portugal are presented and the classes that should be prioritized for control are identified. Based on ecology, it was possible to identify morphological patterns of vegetation. In short, the genera targeted for control under the National Forest Fire Protection Plan belong to the furthest states from the mature potential of a forest, generally consisting of heliophile shrubs and typically growing in degraded soils. The shrub species to be valued belong to dynamic states closer to the mature potential, consisting mainly of broad-leaved shrubs and those growing in better-preserved soils.

Fire as a Selection Agent for the Dissemination of Invasive Species: Case Study on the Evolution of Forest Coverage

Climate change has enhanced the occurrence of rural fires, since changes in the hydrological cycle have led to the occurrence of increasingly long and frequent periods of drought. This recurrence of rural fires in Portugal, in turn, has led to the successive elimination of vast areas traditionally occupied by native species or species of economic interest, which are being successively replaced by new species with invasive behavior. Among these, Acacia dealbata stands out for its dispersion capacity and for the area it has already occupied. In the present work, which reviews the evolution of forest cover over the last 18,000 years in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park, we intend to demonstrate that fire acts as a species selection agent and that it enhances the development of heliophile and pyrophyte species. For this purpose, an area of the municipality of Seia was selected, more specifically Casal do Rei, where the development of Acacia dealbata forests is monitored. In the end, it was concluded that, in fact, by analyzing the ages of the specimens present in these populations, fire acts as a selection agent by freeing up the space previously occupied by other species, opening the way for the growth of heliophiles and pyrophytes invasive species while enhancing their germination.

Assessment of superficial water quality of small catchment basins affected by Portuguese rural fires of 2017

Abstract In October of 2017 a series of rural fires affected Portugal’s Central Region, leading to the destruction of 40–60% of the forest area in some districts. A monitoring program was initiated in 5 catchments of the Mondego drainage basin, in order to understand the temporal evolution of the water’s physical and chemical characteristics in a post-fire scenario. This monitoring program was implemented in catchments with sizes between 20 km2 and 160 km2 in areas 60%–99% burnt. For each catchment a gauging point was selected near the mouth of the river. These 5 gauging points were assessed monthly, starting one month after the fire, in November 2017, and ending in June 2018. In each campaign stream water was sampled for laboratory analysis and in-situ physical-chemical proprieties were measured. Major ions in water samples were determined through ion chromatography (IC) and molecular absorption spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Trace elements were evaluated through ICP-OES and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Total organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon were evaluated through the oxidation method and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The data collected was crossed with the catchment’s morphometric, geological and land use data, including characteristics of the burnt area. Results showed that these fires affected the surface waters in the studied catchments, producing an increase in turbidity, and in the concentrations of Al, Fe, Mn and possibly NO3 and As.

The Evolution of Climate Changes in Portugal: Determination of Trend Series and Its Impact on Forest Development

Climate changes are a phenomenon that can affect the daily activities of rural communities, with particular emphasis on those directly dependent on the agricultural and forestry sectors. In this way, the present work intends to analyse the impact that climate changes have on forest risk assessment, namely on how the occurrence of rural fires are affecting the management of the forest areas and how the occurrence of these fires has evolved in the near past. Thus, a comparative analysis of the data provided by IPMA (Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere), was carried out for the period from 2001 to 2017 with the climatic normal for the period between 1971 to 2000, for the variables of the average air temperature, and for the precipitation. In this comparative study, the average monthly values were considered and the months in which anomalies occurred were determined. Anomalies were considered in the months in which the average air temperature varied by 1 °C than the value corresponding to the climatic norm, in at least 50% of the national territory. The same procedure was repeated for the variable precipitation, counting as anomaly the occurrence of a variation in precipitation of 50%, also in 50% of the national territory. Then the calculation of the moving averages for cycles of 3, 5 and 7 periods were applied, and the trend lines were projected. Subsequently, the relationship between the results obtained and the occurrence of rural fires as well as the spatial distribution of forest area, species and structure were analyzed. From the results obtained it was possible to confirm the existence of a tendency for the occurrence of climatic anomalies, highlighting the occurrence of an increasing number of months with temperatures higher by at least 1 °C. It was possible to foresee the relation between the occurrence of rural fires and the periods of anomaly and absence of precipitation. From the results obtained it is also possible to infer that, analyzing the tendency for these phenomena to occur, it can be necessary to change the “critical period of rural fires”, since it is verified that what is currently in use does not covers the entire period where anomalies occur and where large-scale rural fires potentially can happen.

From the abandonment of small agriculture to the drama of rural fires

From the abandonment of small agriculture to the drama of rural fires

Research and Countermeasures of Fire Protection in Southwest Rural Areas

Take the southwest rural areas as an example. Faced with such stern fact of rural fire accidents frequent occurrence, things were pointed out, such as characteristics and hazards of the rural fires, the current situation of fire control work and the problems existing according to the situation of rural fire control work; Combined with the research, some suggestions of solution and improvement were discussed, such as how to establish various forms of fire brigades, to improve the villagers’ fire protection soft power, to solve the financial difficulties and to build grid management of rural fire control work, etc.

IJARCCE - Computer and Communication Engineering

2 Abstract: Forest and rural fires are one of the main causes of environmental degradation in Mediterranean countries. Existing fire detection systems only focus on detection, but not on the verification of the fire. However, almost all of them are just simulations, and very few implementations can be found. Besides, the systems in the literature lack scalability. In this paper we show all the steps followed to perform the design, research and development of a wireless multisensor network which mixes sensors with IP cameras in a wireless network in order to detect and verify fire in rural and forest areas of Spain. We have studied how many cameras, sensors and access points are needed to cover a rural or forest area, and the scalability of the system. We have developed a multisensor and when it detects a fire, it sends a sensor alarm through the wireless network to a central server. The central server selects the closest wireless cameras to the multisensor, based on a software application, which are rotated to the sensor that raised the alarm, and sends them a message in order to receive real-time images from the zone. The camera lets the fire fighters corroborate the existence of a fire and avoid false alarms. In this paper, we show the test performance given by a test bench formed by four wireless IP cameras in several situations and the energy consumed when they are transmitting. Moreover, we study the energy consumed by each device when the system is set up. The wireless sensor network could be connected to Internet through a gateway and the images of the cameras could be seen from any part of the world.

Profiling forest fires along the urban gradient: a Mediterranean case study

The present paper assesses the spatial distribution and basic characteristics of 2,692 forest fires occurred along the urban gradient in a Mediterranean expanding region (Athens, Greece) during twelve years (2000–2011). Using descriptive, correlation and multivariate statistics, the study demonstrates that fringe fires significantly differ in size and frequency from peri-urban and rural fires, with the highest values recorded in the peri-urban belt (7.8 events/ha/year with an average size of 30.5 ha). Fringe fires are medium-sized (8 ha on average) and affected primarily forests, woodlands and high shrub lands. Totalizing 57 % of total events, rural fires affected primarily pastures and agricultural areas and are the smallest in size (1.5 ha) showing also the lowest density (7.3 events/ha). Fire distribution in Athens reflects the transition from a mono-centric and compact city expanding along the fringe to a more dispersed agglomeration. Results point out the increased pressure on peri-urban land due to settlement sprawl and real estate speculation and highlight the urgent need of specific forest and land management measures separately for the urban fringe and peri-urban areas.

Effects of regional climate change on rural fires in Portugal

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 57:187-200 (2013) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01176 Effects of regional climate change on rural fires in Portugal Mário G. Pereira1,2,*, Teresa J. Calado2, Carlos C. DaCamara2, Tomás Calheiros2 1Centro de Investigação e de Tecnologias Agro-Ambientais e Biológicas (CITAB), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal 2Instituto Dom Luiz, IDL, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal *Email: gpereira@utad.pt ABSTRACT: Wildfires are a major problem in Portugal. Since 1980 an area equivalent to 3/5 of the forested surface has burned. The aim of the study was to assess the potential impact of regional climate change on wildfires in Portugal using an appropriate Burnt Area Model (BAM). Based on multiple regression analysis, the model was able to estimate the decimal logarithm of the monthly burnt areas in July and August using the Daily Severe Rating as a predictor in the pre-fire season (May and June) and the fire season (July and August). The BAM, which was able to explain 63% of the total observed variance from the 1980-2011 period, was then fed with simulated data by a Global Climate Model (GCM) for the present climate and for two 30 yr periods (2051-2080 and 2071-2100) of future IPCC emission scenario B1. Comparison analysis between the logarithm of burnt area in July and August under present and future climate conditions shows an increase in the mean values of 7 and 11% for the first and second 30 yr periods, respectively, and a decrease of 32% in the SD for the first (2051-2080) period but no distinction between the observed and the simulated values for the last (2071-2100) period. Obtained estimates with the developed approach consistently point towards an increasing risk of fire under future climate conditions, and thus an increasing likelihood of much larger burnt areas. KEY WORDS: Climate change impacts · Climate scenario · Forest fire · Multiple regression · Global Climate Model · Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate · MIROC · Fire risk Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Pereira MG, Calado TJ, DaCamara CC, Calheiros T (2013) Effects of regional climate change on rural fires in Portugal. Clim Res 57:187-200. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01176 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 57, No. 3. Online publication date: October 08, 2013 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2013 Inter-Research.

The history and characteristics of the 1980–2005 Portuguese rural fire database

Abstract. We focus here on a mainland Continental Portuguese Rural Fire Database (PRFD) that includes 450 000 fires, the largest such database in Europe in terms of total number of recorded fires in the 1980–2005 period. In this work, we (a) list the most important factors for triggering and controlling the fire regime in mainland Continental Portugal, (b) describe the dataset's production, (c) discuss procedures adopted to identify and correct different fire data inconsistencies, creating a modified PRFD which we use here and make available as Supplement, (d) explore some basic temporal and completeness properties of the data. We find that the dataset's minimum measured burnt areas have changed with time between AF = 0.1 ha (1980–1990), AF = 0.01 ha (1991–1992), and AF = 0.001 ha (1992–2005), with varying degrees of completeness down to these values. These changes in minimum area measured are responsible for greater numbers of fires being recorded. A relatively small number of large fires in the PRFD are responsible for the majority of the burnt area. For example, fires with AF > 100 ha represent about 1% of all fire records but 75% of total burnt area. Finally, we consider for each Continental Portugal district and for the 26-yr period, the total number of rural fires and area burnt in forests and shrublands, each normalized by district areas. We find that the highest numbers of fires per unit area are in highly populated districts, and that the largest fraction of burnt area is in forested areas, coinciding with large parcels of continuous forests (predominantly rural and moderately urban areas).

A Wireless Sensor Network Deployment for Rural and Forest Fire Detection and Verification

Forest and rural fires are one of the main causes of environmental degradation in Mediterranean countries. Existing fire detection systems only focus on detection, but not on the verification of the fire. However, almost all of them are just simulations, and very few implementations can be found. Besides, the systems in the literature lack scalability. In this paper we show all the steps followed to perform the design, research and development of a wireless multisensor network which mixes sensors with IP cameras in a wireless network in order to detect and verify fire in rural and forest areas of Spain. We have studied how many cameras, sensors and access points are needed to cover a rural or forest area, and the scalability of the system. We have developed a multisensor and when it detects a fire, it sends a sensor alarm through the wireless network to a central server. The central server selects the closest wireless cameras to the multisensor, based on a software application, which are rotated to the sensor that raised the alarm, and sends them a message in order to receive real-time images from the zone. The camera lets the fire fighters corroborate the existence of a fire and avoid false alarms. In this paper, we show the test performance given by a test bench formed by four wireless IP cameras in several situations and the energy consumed when they are transmitting. Moreover, we study the energy consumed by each device when the system is set up. The wireless sensor network could be connected to Internet through a gateway and the images of the cameras could be seen from any part of the world.

All Russia Is Burning! A Cultural History of Fire and Arson in Late Imperial Russia

Rural fires were an even more persistent scourge in late imperial Russia than famine, as Cathy Frierson shows in this first comprehensive study. Destroying almost three billion rubles worth of property in European Russia between 1860 and 1904, accidental and arson fires acted as a brake on Russia's economic development while subjecting peasants to perennial shocks to their physical and emotional condition. The fire question captured the attention of educated, progressive Russians, who came to perceive the peasants, especially female peasants, as key obstacles to Russia's becoming a rational, modern society in the European model. Using sources ranging from literary representations and newspaper articles to statistical tables and court records from regional archives, Frierson demonstrates the many meanings fire held for both peasants and the educated elite. To peasants, it was an essential source of light and warmth as well as a destructive force that regularly ignited their cramped villages of wooden, thatch-roofed huts. Absent the rule of law, they often used arson to gain justice or revenge, or to exert social control over those who would violate village norms. Frierson shows that the vast majority of arson cases in European Russia were not peasant-against-gentry acts of protest but peasant-against-peasant acts of self-help law or plain spite. Both the state and individual progressives set out to resolve the fire question and to educate, cajole, or coerce the peasantry into the modern world. Mandatory fire insurance, building codes, scientific village layouts, and volunteer firefighting brigades reduced the average number of buildings consumed in each blaze, but none of these measures succeeded in curbing the number of fires each year.

Social and ecological correlates of rural fires in Greece

Rural fires in Greece have proliferated at alarming rates during the past two decades, seriously threatening the country's forest resources. Researchers and policy makers appear to agree on some key fire policy elements determined on the basis of reasonable hypotheses. This paper constitutes a first attempt to qualify these hypotheses by means of a simple statistical formulation of fire incidence and fire cause. Applying stepwise and OLS methods on data covering the period 1978–1987, the article concludes that political events and economic development leading to increased demand for land along with some cultural and ecological phenomena are responsible for the destruction of the Greek forests.

Smoke Production from Multiple Nuclear Explosions in Nonurban Areas

The amount of smoke that may be produced by wildland or rural fires as a consequence of a large-scale nuclear exchange is estimated. The calculation is based on a compilation of rural military facilities, identified from a wide variety of unclassified sources, together with data on their geographic positions, surrounding vegetation (fuel), and weather conditions. The ignition area (corrected for fuel moisture) and the amount of fire spread are used to calculate the smoke production. The results show a substantially lower estimated smoke production (from wildland fires) than in earlier "nuclear winter" studies. The amount varies seasonally and at its peak is less by an order of magnitude than the estimated threshold level necessary for a major attenuation of solar radiation.

Cloud heights and stratospheric injections resulting from a thermonuclear war

Two consequences of a major thermonuclear war are the injection of fireball material into the atmosphere and the production of vast quantities of dense smoke from fires which are ignited by the blasts. A major concern for assessment of impact on the environment is the height reached by this material. Fireball rise data are presented and a model for the plume rise from large fires in standard ambient conditions is validated with available data. It is concluded that injection of bomb debris into the stratosphere at mid and high latitudes should take place for all explosions with yield greater than approx. 30 kt of TNT equivalent. At low latitudes yields greater than 1 Mt are evidently required. Thus most fireball material would reach into the stratosphere under recently postulated scenarios. Fires would require a power output of 1.5 × 10 7 MW at middle and higher latitudes and 8 × 10 7 MW at low latitudes for significant injection of smoke into the stratosphere in standard conditions. Study of possible fires ignited in a thermonuclear war in rural and urban areas suggests that smoke from rural fires would reach the tropopause but that significant injections into the stratosphere are unlikely. Conflagration of large, medium- and high-density city-centres would, it is predicted, result in much smoke reaching to the tropopause and into the lower stratosphere at higher but not at low latitudes.

Bushfire Disasters in Australia, 1945–1975

SUMMARY Conflagrations occur whenever there is a favourable combination of fuel, weather and ignition source and may be disastrous when human resources are affected; the role of these factors in past conflagrations is discussed. Some of the most severe fire seasons and the major fires between 1945 and 1975 are discussed briefly with reference to the areas burnt and the losses of life and property. While past disaster fires have been quite variable a common characteristic is that the period when the fire exhibits violent behaviour and when most damage occurs is relatively short (generally less than 8 hours) although these periods can recur in close succession. The frequency of large fires has been used to delineate fire-hazardous areas; the frequency ranges from once every 3 years in coastal districts of New South Wales and eastern Victoria to less than once every 30 years in central Australia. Likely changes in the patterns of large fire frequency and in the nature and intensity of disaster fires are discussed. Forest fires are likely to decrease in frequency and intensity but rural fires may become more destructive in the future.