Battling on against forest fires
Forest fires destroy half a million hectares of `wild' land every year in Europe, principally in the south1. They result in considerable loss of life, destroy fauna and flora, and have serious economic implications. While man causes most fires, natural factors such as drought, wind and topography all influence their spread and effects. The European Commission (DGXII and JRC) has funded a series of important research projects over the last decade to tackle this major hazard, covering all areas of fire management, including fire detection, fire danger prediction, better technology in support of fire suppression, and refinement of knowledge for post-fire rehabilitation and management. Background Forest fires affect all European Union countries. They are a common phenomenon world-wide but their characteristics vary widely from one ecosystem to another. Such fires are a major problem in the five southern-most Member States - France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Between 1993 and 1997, 2.1 million hectares of land were destroyed in these countries alone. It has been calculated that fire fighting and restoration cost between 1,000 euro and 5,000 euro per hectare burnt - an indication of the economic scale of this problem. Fire has always been a part of natural forest ecosystems and is an important complementary process to decay in removing dead biomass that would otherwise prevent new growth. Both processes release carbon dioxide, water and heat. While natural fires brought about by phenomena such as lightning and volcanoes are processes which can be considered as an integral part of natural ecosystems, most fires these days are man-caused, and their overwhelming number has upset the natural process. Furthermore, forest fires often cause the destruction of valuable timber, damage to buildings and non-reversible degradation of soil, which has become a major problem in Mediterranean countries, inducing near-desert conditions which now affect up to 10% of some regions. The environmental impact of fires on carbon dioxide production has been highlighted increasingly in recent years. Research has shown that massive man-caused fires in the Amazon and Indonesia have aggravated the effect of `greenhouse' gases on the earth and its weather system. Such major releases of carbon dioxide must be avoided. This has been underlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which says that, in order to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at present levels, emissions must be reduced by 50% to 70%. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions made a timid step towards this by producing the world's first legally binding agreement to oblige industrialised countries to reduce emissions by an average of 5.2% below 1990 levels during the period 2008-2012. Fires caused by man can be accidental or on purpose. While pyromaniacs do exist, most deliberate fires are intended to deliver some benefit - better grazing for a shepherd's flock or clearing woodland for agriculture or housing. To obtain an overview of the causes of fires, comprehensive records must be kept. All Mediterranean Member States do just that, and report the figures back to the European Commission in Brussels. In 1996, the Commission published its first report on fire data from France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain for 1989 to 19932. This was a pilot project preparing for a Community forest-fire information system. Protecting forests from fire is a complex task involving: fire prevention - public education, legislation and law enforcement as well as pre-suppression activities such as fuel management and personnel training; fire suppression - controlling the spread of a fire, a dangerous task requiring substantial equipment and personnel; the rehabilitation and management of burnt areas. Role of EU research European research into forest fires started slowly in the 1960s and 1970s and concentrated on the ecological role of fire. But this altered rapidly in the 1980s, following a sharp increase in the number and scale of forest fires, triggered by social and economic changes as well as the failure of forest and fire management policies to adapt. It became obvious that simply throwing more resources at the problem was not sufficient. All aspects of fire management had to be improved and existing gaps in knowledge filled. Two major international conferences on fire in Mediterranean-type ecosystems were held in California in 1977 and 1981. These summarised current knowledge, identified key research issues and helped establish international contacts. At the same time, improvements in computer power and advances in technologies, such as remote satellite sensing, provided an impetus for the production of new tools and equipment. Country-specific projects followed in Europe, such as the development of a fire-risk index for southern France and a computerised fire-behaviour prediction system for Spain. By the end of the 1980s, the European Commission had recognised the need for a pan-European research effort. The first multinational projects started within larger, more general programmes, such as EPOCH, and focused on technologies such as fire modelling and automatic fire detection. In 1990, the four-year Environment programme provided funding for forest fire research, drawing on international knowledge. More work followed under the Fourth Framework Programme (1994-1998) as the Environment programme evolved into the Environment and Climate programme, and greater efforts were made to involve potential users. Special attention was paid to the natural role of forest fires, the causes and socio-economic effects, and the development and validation of fire-behaviour and fire-fighting models as well as the prediction of fire danger. Three major conferences held in Portugal in the 1990s highlighted the significant activities taking place in Europe: The First International Conference on Forest Fire Research in 1990 summarised international and state-of-the-art and research directions and offered the opportunity for European researchers to present their achievements. The Second International Conference on Forest Fire Research in 1994 allowed European researchers to show each other and the rest of the world the enormous effort being made in Europe on forest fire research, and to present their first results. The Third International Conference on Forest Fire Research in 1998 offered a prime opportunity for European scientists to show their achievements, which are clearly comparable with the best research results in the rest of the world. Another conference will be organised at the end of 1999 by the DELFI network which aims to coordinate and disseminate knowledge and research results through a series of activities including the publication of newsletters and an information website. Results to date Fire-behaviour modelling European research groups have created several computer-based models based on earlier empirical modelling work in the USA, Canada and Australia. Furthermore, they have developed some new, advanced, fire-behaviour models (AIOLOS-F, PRINCE and DYNFFP) which address complex problems such as crown fire behaviour, non-homogenous fuel beds, wind field description and fire-wind field interaction. These models are used with GIS (geographical information system) data and special algorithms to simulate fire spread. Overall, the state of European knowledge has progressed markedly and models have been developed with significant application potential. Fuel modelling Fuel modelling as an input to fire-spread simulation started in Spain in the early 1990s. More detailed work was carried out in a variety of Mediterranean forest ecosystems and fuel descriptions are now generally available for Mediterranean forest fuels. Satellite detection Fuel mapping is essential for successful fire control. Such mapping formed part of the first fire research projects funded by the EPOCH programme. Initial work used aerial photographs but later projects focused on satellite data. Although satellite sensors are still limited, the data simplifies automated mapping and allows highlighting of changes such as illegal housing developments. Use of satellites for fire detection has also been studied in Europe. Existing satellite resources are still too slow for practical fire detection since fires must be detected within minutes of their breaking out - but the MEGAFIRES project is now studying the feasibility of a new group of dedicated satellites with sensors specifically adapted to this task. Fire prevention and pre-suppression planning Much work has gone into understanding and predicting fire danger. Various meteorological indices tested in France, Italy and Portugal have lead to the development of an improved combined index. The result of another project, a `bio-climatic' risk sensor based on the detection of volatile essences emitted by stressed plants, shows promise. Low-resolution satellite data (NOAA- AVHRR) are used for retrieval of Vegetation Indices and Surface Temperature to provide daily fire-risk maps for southern European countries over the Internet. And an innovative computerised system based on multiple simulations of possible fire scenarios (FOMFIS) has been developed to enable forest managers to analyse fire-prevention measures and pre-suppression planning. Automated ground-based fire detection Modern sensor and computer technology is being used increasingly to replace expensive and unreliable human detection methods. European commercial developments include video, infra-red and multispectral cameras, as well as laser scanners coupled to computer-based fire information systems. Algorithms have been developed to reduce the high rate of false alarms. Currently, the AFFIRM research project aims to develop and demonstrate a complete system that integrates intelligent sensors, multispectral cameras, data processing and a satellite communication system in a single device. Ecological role of fire Post-fire dynamics have been studied in many Mediterranean ecosystems. Most of the information on ecology and management has been integrated into a comprehensive computerised system (PROMETHEUS) focusing on management techniques to optimise fire suppression and minimisation of effects. The system also incorporates a methodology for fuel treatment selection. Future research directions European forest fire research has covered much ground in the last ten years. While the understanding behind fire-spread mechanisms has improved markedly, there is still much to learn. Additional areas also require research, such as cross-border socio-economic effects of fire, modelling of fire fighting and use of fire retardants and other technological aids in fighting forest fires. And new knowledge about the ecological role of fire should be incorporated into normal forest management operations. The Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002) will continue the research work on forest fires. Under the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development programme, generic and technological development research activities will focus on the fight against major natural hazards, such as wildfires, through the development of forecasting, prevention, impact assessment and mitigation techniques. This will be complemented by research into earth-observation satellite technologies to enhance the understanding of environmental hazards.