Social preferences for fuel break management programs in Spain: a choice modelling application to prevention of forest fires

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Varela ◽  
Marek Giergiczny ◽  
Pere Riera ◽  
Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu ◽  
Mario Soliño
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Choice Modelling ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention ◽  
Fire Prevention Management

This article reports on an economic valuation study of alternative fire prevention programs in the province of Málaga, southern Spain. The main aim of this study was to explore the social preferences for several forest fire prevention management issues. Fuel break programs were presented that differed in terms of cleaning technique (controlled grazing, prescribed burning and mechanical treatments), design (from traditional linear unshaded fire breaks to more landscape and environmentally friendly structures, such as shaded fuel breaks) and density (linked to annual burnt area). Results show that the population was clearly interested in the potential of the proposed programs to reduce fire. Lessons learnt from this study could be relevant for the development of fire prevention policies and specific prevention campaigns in Mediterranean forests.

scholarly journals Incorporating economic valuation into fire prevention planning and management in southern European countries

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. e026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Varela ◽  
Mario Soliño
Keyword(s):  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Southern European Countries

<p><em>Aim of study</em>: This article describes and analyzes the links between the fire-based scientific knowledge, the social perception of fire prevention and forest fires and the economic valuation requirements to assess social preferences for fire prevention measures.</p><p><em>Area of study</em>: Southern European countries.</p><p><em>Material and Methods</em>: For that purpose, we develop a critical revision of the existing literature on economic valuation of social preferences for fire risk reduction and fire prevention in terms of its links with fire science and social perceptions and the applicability of these results in fire management policies.</p><p><em>Research highlights</em>: The assessment of social preferences for fire related issues is challenging due to the difficulty of setting sound valuation scenarios that can simultaneously be relevant for the respondents and derive conclusions useful for fire management. Most of the revised studies set up valuation scenarios focused on the final management outcome e.g. number of burnt hectares, what is easier for the respondents to evaluate but weakens the scientific relationship with fire management, making difficult reaching conclusions for sound management advice. A more recent set of valuation studies have been developed where risk perception of homeowners is further assessed as a key variable determining their preferences in valuation scenarios. These studies are relevant for mangers setting fire prevention programs in wildland urban interface areas as understanding the factors that may promote or hinder the enrolment of these homeowners in fire prevention activities may have direct implication in addressing communication programs to promote fire prevention management.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: fire prevention; fire risk reduction; economic valuation.</p><p><strong>Abbreviations used</strong>: WTP- willingness to pay; CV- contingent valuation; CM- choice modelling.</p>

scholarly journals Unveiling the Factors Responsible for Australia’s Black Summer Fires of 2019/2020

Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Noam Levin ◽  
Marta Yebra ◽  
Stuart Phinn
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Average Area ◽  
Southeast Australia ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Fire Area ◽  
Response Variables

The summer season of 2019–2020 has been named Australia’s Black Summer because of the large forest fires that burnt for months in southeast Australia, affecting millions of Australia’s citizens and hundreds of millions of animals and capturing global media attention. This extensive fire season has been attributed to the global climate crisis, a long drought season and extreme fire weather conditions. Our aim in this study was to examine the factors that have led some of the wildfires to burn over larger areas for a longer duration and to cause more damage to vegetation. To this end, we studied all large forest and non-forest fires (>100 km2) that burnt in Australia between September 2019 and mid-February 2020 (Australia’s Black Summer fires), focusing on the forest fires in southeast Australia. We used a segmentation algorithm to define individual polygons of large fires based on the burn date from NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fires product and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) burnt area product (MCD64A1). For each of the wildfires, we calculated the following 10 response variables, which served as proxies for the fires’ extent in space and time, spread and intensity: fire area, fire duration (days), the average spread of fire (area/days), fire radiative power (FRP; as detected by NASA’s MODIS Collection 6 active fires product (MCD14ML)), two burn severity products, and changes in vegetation as a result of the fire (as calculated using the vegetation health index (VHI) derived from AVHRR and VIIRS as well as live fuel moisture content (LFMC), photosynthetic vegetation (PV) and combined photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic vegetation (PV+NPV) derived from MODIS). We also computed more than 30 climatic, vegetation and anthropogenic variables based on remotely sensed derived variables, climatic time series and land cover datasets, which served as the explanatory variables. Altogether, 391 large fires were identified for Australia’s Black Summer. These included 205 forest fires with an average area of 584 km2 and 186 non-forest fires with an average area of 445 km2; 63 of the forest fires took place in southeast (SE) Australia (the area between Fraser Island, Queensland, and Kangaroo Island, South Australia), with an average area of 1097 km2. Australia’s Black Summer forest fires burnt for more days compared with non-forest fires. Overall, the stepwise regression models were most successful at explaining the response variables for the forest fires in SE Australia (n = 63; median-adjusted R2 of 64.3%), followed by all forest fires (n = 205; median-adjusted R2 of 55.8%) and all non-forest fires (n = 186; median-adjusted R2 of 48.2%). The two response variables that were best explained by the explanatory variables used as proxies for fires’ extent, spread and intensity across all models for the Black Summer forest and non-forest fires were the change in PV due to fire (median-adjusted R2 of 69.1%) and the change in VHI due to fire (median-adjusted R2 of 66.3%). Amongst the variables we examined, vegetation and fuel-related variables (such as previous frequency of fires and the conditions of the vegetation before the fire) were found to be more prevalent in the multivariate models for explaining the response variables in comparison with climatic and anthropogenic variables. This result suggests that better management of wildland–urban interfaces and natural vegetation using cultural and prescribed burning as well as planning landscapes with less flammable and more fire-tolerant ground cover plants may reduce fire risk to communities living near forests, but this is challenging given the sheer size and diversity of ecosystems in Australia.

scholarly journals PERAN BADAN PENANGGULANGAN BENCANA DAERAH DALAM UPAYA PENCEGAHAN BENCANA KEBAKARAN HUTAN DAN LAHAN (KARHUTLA) DI KABUPATEN MUSI BANYUASIN

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
Tri Anggraini ◽  
Dimas Agustian
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Disaster Management ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Fire Disaster ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention ◽  
High Level ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Musi Banyuasin is a district with a high level of vulnerability to forest and land fire disasters. Therefore, prevention efforts are needed to minimize forest fires again. Forest fire prevention efforts are activities that are the responsibility of all relevant stakeholders in Musi Banyuasin, one of which is the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Musi Banyuasin Regency. This research will focus on the role of BPBD in efforts to prevent forest and land fires in Musi Banyuasin Regency. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method of observation and in-depth interviews. The results of the study show that the BPBD of Musi Banyuasin Regency plays a role in accordance with its functions and obligations as a regional BPBD, namely as an organization that conducts risk studies of Kahutlha fire-prone areas in Musi Banyuasin Regency. The area risk assessment is carried out in three main stages, namely determining the condition of the area, determining the condition of the land through the level of vulnerability and hotspots, and finally informing the condition to the local government and the community through outreach activities.   Keywords:BPBD, Fire Disaster, Kahutlha,  Prevention   Abstrak Musi Banyuasin merupakan kabupaten dengan tingkat kerawanan level tinggi terhadap bencana kebakaran hutan dan lahan, Oleh karenanya, perlu adanya upaya pencegahan untuk meminim lisirter jadi kebarakan hutan kembali. Upaya pencegahan kebakaran hutan merupakan kegiatan yang menjadi tanggung jawab seluruh stakeholder terkait di Musi Banyuasin salah satunya adalah Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin. Penelitian ini akan berfokus pada peran BPBD dalam upaya pencegahan kebakaran hutan dan lahan di Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif dengan metode observasi dan wawancana mendalam. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa BPBD Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin berperan sesuai dengan fungsi dan kewajibannya sebagai BPBD daerah yaitu sebagai organisasi yang melakukan kajian resiko Kawasan rawan kebakaran Karhutla di Kabupaten Musi Banyuasin. Kajian resiko Kawasan dilakukan dengan tiga tahapan utama yaitu menetapkan kondisi daerah, menetapkan kondisi lahan melalui tingkat kerawanan dan titik panas, dan terakhir adalah menginformasi kondisi kepada pemerintah daerah dan masyakarat melalui kegiatan sosialisasi.   Kata Kunci:BencanaKebakaran, BPBD, Karhutla, Pencegahan  

scholarly journals Chinese forest fire occurrence prediction based on machine learning methods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
yudong Li ◽  
Zhongke Feng ◽  
Ziyu Zhao ◽  
Wenyuan Ma ◽  
Shilin Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Fire Occurrence ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention ◽  
And Control

Abstract Forest fires can cause serious harm. Scientifically predicting forest fires is an important basis for preventing them. Currently, there is little research on the prediction of long time-series forest fires in China. Choosing a suitable forest fire prediction model and predicting the probability of Chinese forest fire occurrence are of great importance to China’s forest fire prevention and control work. Based on fire hotspot, meteorological, terrain, vegetation, infrastructure, and socioeconomic data collected from 2003 to 2016, we used a random forest model as a feature-selection method to identify 13 major drivers of forest fires in China. The forest fire prediction models developed in this study are based on four machine-learning algorithms: an artificial neural network, a radial basis function network, a support-vector machine, and a random forest. The models were evaluated using the five performance indicators of accuracy, precision, recall, f1 value, and area under the curve. We used the optimal model to obtain the probability of forest fire occurrence in various provinces in China and created a spatial distribution map of the areas with high incidences of forest fires. The results showed that the prediction accuracy of the four forest fire prediction models was between 75.8% and 89.2%, and the area under the curve value was between 0.840 and 0.960. The random forest model had the highest accuracy (89.2%) and area under the curve value (0.96); thus, it was used as the optimal model to predict the probability of forest fire occurrence in China. The prediction results indicate that the areas with high incidences of forest fires are mainly concentrated in north-eastern China (Heilongjiang Province and northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) and south-eastern China (including Fujian Province and Jiangxi Province). In areas at high risk of forest fire, management departments can improve forest fire prevention and control by establishing watch towers and using other monitoring equipment. This study helps in understanding the main drivers of forest fires in China, provides a reference for the selection of high-precision forest fire prediction models, and provides a scientific basis for China’s forest fire prevention and control work.

scholarly journals Understanding the heterogeneity of social preferences for fire prevention management

2014 ◽  
Vol 106 ◽  
pp. 91-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Varela ◽  
Jette Bredahl Jacobsen ◽  
Mario Soliño
Keyword(s):  
Social Preferences ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Fire Prevention Management

scholarly journals Forest Fire Prevention, Detection, and Fighting Based on Fuzzy Logic and Wireless Sensor Networks

Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josué Toledo-Castro ◽  
Pino Caballero-Gil ◽  
Nayra Rodríguez-Pérez ◽  
Iván Santos-González ◽  
Candelaria Hernández-Goya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wireless Sensor Networks ◽  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Sensor Networks ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Wireless Sensor ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Dynamic Risk Factors ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention

Huge losses and serious threats to ecosystems are common consequences of forest fires. This work describes a forest fire controller based on fuzzy logic and decision-making methods aiming at enhancing forest fire prevention, detection, and fighting systems. In the proposal, the environmental monitoring of several dynamic risk factors is performed with wireless sensor networks and analysed with the proposed fuzzy-based controller. With respect to this, meteorological variables, polluting gases and the oxygen level are measured in real time to estimate the existence of forest fire risks in the short-term and to detect the recent occurrence of fire outbreaks over different forest areas. Besides, the Analytic Hierarchy Process method is used to determine the level of fire spread, and, when necessary, environmental alerts are sent by a Web service and received by a mobile application. For this purpose, integrity, confidentiality, and authenticity of environmental information and alerts are protected with implementations of Lamport’s authentication scheme, Diffie-Lamport signature, and AES-CBC block cipher.

scholarly journals PREVENTION AND AVOIDANCE OF FIRES WITH INNOVATIVE MEANS IN THE PUBLIC INSTITUTION MAVROVO

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 1517-1522
Author(s):  
Pavle Trpeski ◽  
Samir Ajdini ◽  
Almendina Mehmedi
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Public Institution ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Detection Systems ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention ◽  
Forest Enterprises

Forests are the lungs of the planet Earth. As in all countries, one of the natural treasures of RSM is the forests in our country. protection of forests is the responsibility of state owned forest enterprises and national parks that manage them. Forests today have numerous risks where they are reduced or destroyed and one of the major risks is forest fires which we as a state cannot afford. and we are exempt.Forest fires are the spontaneous and uncontrolled spread of fire in the natural environment. The size of the burned area and the severity of the fire depend on the type of vegetation affected by the fire. The dimensions of these natural disasters are often of such magnitude as are visible from space, such as the fires in Siberian rainforest and the Amazon this year. Characteristic of forest fires is the very rapid spread and sudden changes of direction due to weather conditions.The strategy for combating forest fires includes their prevention to prevent, early detect and suppress and to develop means to effectively combat this type of natural disaster.European Commission reports on forest fires in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa for 2017 say more than 1.2 million hectares of forest and land in Europe have been destroyed - more than the total area of Cyprus.The forest fires killed 127 civilians and firefighters and caused nearly 10 billion euros in economic damage.Mavrovo National Park undertakes fire prevention measures in the area covered primarily by appropriate forest endangerment plans, operational fire protection measures as well as innovative means of drone drone use in the area. as part of the ASPires Advanced Forest Fire Prevention and Early Detection Systems that control the area for early fire warning.The strategy for combating forest fires includes their prevention to prevent, early detect and suppress and to develop means to effectively combat this type of natural disaster.

scholarly journals PERIODS OF HIGHEST OCCURRENCE OF FOREST FIRES IN BRAZIL

FLORESTA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Dayane Lopes Pinto ◽  
Aline Gonçalves Spletozer ◽  
Sergio Guedes Barbosa ◽  
Gumercindo Souza Lima ◽  
Carlos Moreira Miquelino Eleto Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Conservation Units ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Homogeneous Groups ◽  
And Control

Forest fires affect ecosystems and cause damage that can be minimized by fire prevention programs. The objective was to determine the periods with the highest probability of occurrence of forest fires in Brazil. Heat source records detected by satellites between 1999 and 2014, and the frequency of occurrences of fire and burnt area sizes from 2006 to 2014, were evaluated. A statistical analysis of averages grouping allowed to separate the months with the highest number of heat sources into homogeneous groups, being possible to validate them with the months with the highest record of fires in the Conservation Units, thus defining the normal fire season. The number of heat sources records in Brazil was higher in winter and spring, dry seasons with lower rainfall and higher temperatures, with normal fire season from August to November. The fire occurrences were higher between August and October, with the higher burnt area in September. The periods of highest fire occurrence in Brazil varied between regions according to the climatological characteristics, and therefore strategies for fire prevention and control in vegetation must be intensified during the normal fire season. The period from August to November needs the greatest attention from the public authorities regarding the implementation of prevention and control fire programs. The months September and October make up the normal fire season from all regions of the Brazil.

The role of central government and local government and the moderating effect of good governance on forest fire policy in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-159
Author(s):  
Raffles Brotestes Panjaitan ◽  
Sumartono Sumartono ◽  
Sarwono Sarwono ◽  
Choirul Saleh
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Fire Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate forest fires and their relationship to prevention and mitigation strategies based on the empirical problems raised by this study. Public policy implementation (in this case, the policy of forest fire management) is influenced by the role played by government and by the participation of the public and stakeholders (in this case, companies), as well as the effects of good governance. Thus, from the empirical problems associated with theoretical problems and normative problems, this study raises the influence of the role of central and local government on the implementation of forest fire prevention policy in Indonesia, which is moderated by the good governance variable. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach by adopting survey methodology. The study has aimed to assess both large and small population groups, by selecting and reviewing carefully chosen samples of the population to find the incidence, distribution and relative interrelation of the variables considered (Kerlinger and Lee, 2000). The survey was undertaken in areas of Indonesia that have a high level of vulnerability to forest fires. There are currently six provinces – Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan – that have the highest intensity of forest fires. The study population was taken from 105 villages in those six major provinces experiencing forest fires. Sample size precision was determined by using Slovin’s formula with a precision of 10 percent and, thus, a sample size of 52 was obtained. Findings The central government’s activities have no significant effect on regional forest fire prevention. However, the results found that there is a significant effect caused by the interaction between the central and local governments and their governance of forest fire prevention. Even though the direct effect is not significant, the interaction effect significantly influences the forest fire prevention governance variable, which is a pure moderator. This study found that the role of central government has no effect on forest fire prevention. If the role of the central government is high, it will not impact the effectiveness of forest fire prevention, which is reflected in the aspects of prevention and early warning, reward and punishment, the improvement and management of ecosystems by reviewing courts, law enforcement and national and regional synergy. Originality/value This is one of the few public administration science studies to have investigated the relationship between good governance and forest fire policy in Indonesia, particularly the combined roles played by central and local governments.

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