Optimizing prescribed burning to reduce wildfire propagation atthe landscape scale

摘要

This study has been carried in a maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). The objectives were to assess to what extent the application of prescribed burning achieves a reduction in fuel continuity at the landscape level, and to optimize its spatial and temporal distribution. The FRAGSTATS software was used to quantify changes in the structure and continuity of the overall fuel patch, coupled to information concerning fuel accumulation patterns. Alternative scenarios in terms of the spatial distribution of the burned plots were simulated using a percolation theory approach. In order to optimize the fuel continuity reduction effect of prescribed burning and examine spatial configurations that minimize catastrophic fire spread, fire behavior was simulated at the landscape level with FARSITE software. Some recommendations to optimize the PB effect in space and time are proposed.