1. RISKS CONSORTIUM Forest Fires
Ciência 2010
Lisboa, 4-7 Julho, 2010

2. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Introduction
Forest fires are perceived by the population of many parts of the World as one of the major and most recurring natural risks.
Forest fires have the potential to destroy natural and socio economic resources and to threaten human life as well.
Changing climatic conditions indicate that this problem can become even worse in the future, especially in some regions.
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3. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
To cope with this complex and multidisciplinary problem a common and sustained effort of the society is required.
The scientific community must be part of this effort in a concerted and organized form.
In some other countries there are national research programs dedicated to forest fires. It is amazing that this is not the case of Portugal.
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4. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
There is already a significant tradition of research in the field of forest fires that is recognized internationally.
Unfortunatelly this research community is not well organized and supported in order to cope with the dimension of the problem.
The Consortium RISCOS aims to adress this challenge through its thematic area of Forest Fires that joins several members of the Consortium but it is open to the collaboration of other persons and institutions.
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5. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Given the recent creation of the Consortium the activities of this Thematic Area are not still evident.
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6. Thematic Area of Forest Fires
Work Program for five years:
WP 1 - Establishing the Context
WP 2 - Risk Assessment
WP 3 - Risk Treatment
WP 4 - Monitoring and Review
WP 5 - Communication and Consultation
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Partnership
Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, I. P. (LNEC)
Instituto de Meteorologia, I.P. (IM)
Centro de Estudos Sociais (CES)
Instituto Dom Luíz (IDL)
INOV – INESC INOVAÇÃO (INOV)
Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Aerodinâmica Industrial (ADAI)
Instituto Nacional de Engenharia e Tecnologia Industrial (INEGI)
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8. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA)
Centro de Geofísica de Évora (CGE)
Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa (CEAUL)
Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (UAvr-CESAM).
Centro de Informática e Tecnologias de Informação (CITI)
Instituto de Sistemas e Robótica – Polo de Coimbra (ISR-UC)
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9. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
DEIMOS Engenharia SA (DEIMOS)
Empresa de Serviços e Desenvolvimento de Software, SA (EDISOFT)
TECMIC – Tecnologias de Microelectrónica, SA (TECMIC)
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10. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Topics of Research
There are many topics to deal with the problem of forest fires, associated to their various stages namely:
Before the fire
Land planning and fire management organization
Forest management to prevent fires
Risk assessment, management and reduction
Fire detection and alarm
Socio-economic constraints
Training.
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During the fire
Fire ignition and propagation
Fire suppression
Fire safety
Urban Wildland Interface
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12. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
After the fire:
Assessment of damage to fauna, flora, soil, water and atmosphere
Recovery of burned areas
Recovery of socio-economic activities.
Each one of these activities involve several topics, most of them of an inter-disciplinar nature.
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13. Examples of Research Activities
In order to illustrate the relevance of this reresearch area I will present some examples:
Extreme fire behaviour in canyons
The 2009 Fires in Victoria (Australia)
Training of fire fighters.
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14. Extreme fire behaviour in canyons
One of the main problems in forest fires is when they spread in extreme conditions: fire behaviour models work poorly, fire suppression is inneficient and fire safety is in jeopardy.
One of such cases is the eruptive fire behaviour in canyons that has been responsible for the large majority of fatal accidents in the World.
My team studied this problem and proposed a solution that is now accepted and used by the international community.
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15. Forest Fire Research Laboratory (Lousã)
2004
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16. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Fire spread in canyons
3 m
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17. Rate of spread change with time
Comparison between an analytical model and results of the rate of spread R’ as a function of time.
Tests with pine needles.
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18. Extension of the model to other fuels
Eruptive behaviour of the fire for various fuels:
Herbaceous
Litter
Shrubs
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Mortágua - Portugal
28 February 2005
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4 Fire Fighters of Coimbra killed
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Famalicão da Serra 6
9 July 2006
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22. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
The 2009 Fires in Victoria
In the beginning of February 2009, following a period of drought and a heat wave without precedent, several fires started in Victoria, Southern Australia.
On the 7th February, new fires started after mid day agravating the situation.
With winds of the order of 60 to 90 km/h these fires quickly became catastrophic.
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23. The main fires of 7th January
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In less than 10 hours these fires destroyed more than hectares of forest and killed 178 persons, all of them civilians.
This is one of the worst fire related disasters that occurred in modern times. Unfortunatelly it may not be a unique event.
We have to learn from these disasters and be better prepared to face them.
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25. The main fires on the 7 de February
Name
Hour
Área (Ha)
Victims
Houses
Bunyip
(4 Fev.)
Kilmore
11:49
90.000
121
1.244
Horsham
12:26
2.200 68
Coleraine
12:36
775 1
Pomborneit
13:17
1.300
Churchill
13:33
24.500 11
247
Murrindindi
15:00 39
590
Redesdale
15:11
9.500
Narre Warren
15:32 7
Bendigo
16:34
330 58
Beechworth
18:09
31.000 2 29
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Most victims died inside or near
their houses
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Pine Ridge Road
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Range of fire line intensities that can be produced by forest fires.
Effective fire suppression can be achieved in the lower part of the spectrum.
Range of intensities for wich fire behaviour is not feasible with present day tools
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30. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Lessons learned
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31. Training of Fire Fighters
In Portugal the results of the research community are being transferred to the operational institutions.
Unfortunately this is not a very general and sustained process and more effort should be put to integrate science in operational decisions.
One example that we give is the protocol that ADAI team has with the Fire Brigade School (Escola Nacional de Bombeiros) that uses our Laboratory for their training.
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32. RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires
Training of fire fighters at the Fire Laboratory in cooperation with the National Fire Brigade School.
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Conclusion
In Portugal there is a build up research community in forest fires, with experience and international recognition.
We need to coordinate our expertise and to work in collaboration with the national and local authorities to help to face this problem.
The Consortium RISCOS is a good platform to join these efforts and the problem is too much important for the authorities to ignore them.
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34. Forest Fires - Partners
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RISKS CONSORTIUM – Forest Fires