Fire danger and fire behavior modeling systems in Australia, Europe, and North America
This article is part of a larger document. View the larger document here.Abstract
Wildland fire occurrence and behavior are complex phenomena involving essentially fuel (vegetation), topography, and weather. Fire managers around the world use a variety of systems to track and predict fire danger and fire behavior, at spatial scales that span from local to global extents, and temporal scales ranging from minutes to seasons. The fire management application determines the makeup of the planning tool, which usually incorporates one or more computer models. Advanced computing technology has spawned a new generation of fire planning tools to predict fire occurrence and fire behavior. We reviewed fire danger and fire behavior modeling systems from Australia, Europe, and North America, including operational tools that have been in use for decades, and newer models that profoundly enhance the spatial and temporal resolution of the resultant predictions. Linkages between these models and air quality models could very likely improve the mapping and prediction of air pollution due to wildland fires.