Introducing wildfire into forest management planning: towards a conceptual approach

Wildfire potential was introduced as a function in the inventory and evaluation methodology of forest resources management, through a conceptual classification of fire danger and fire resistance. Fire occurrence and growth are controlled by complex and interrelated phenomena/factors that according to systems analysis were grouped into: (i) external factors (or fire danger), which formulate the surrounding environment of the forest in a large spatial and temporal scale; and (ii) internal factors (or fire resistance), which characterize the structure of the forest stands affecting flammability. Operations research techniques were employed based on the direct method of rating to evaluate the magnitude of each factor, including interactions among factors. This procedure has resulted in the synthesis of a common interval scale of four fire danger and four fire resistance classes. The inventory and evaluation procedure was accomplished in three stages concluding with synthesis of the evaluation results of all information levels (using the quality and weight of each factor). Within this synthesis, it becomes possible to calculate the function class (fire danger) and/or the suitability class (fire resistance) of each unit area and map their distribution in the forest. The proposed methodology constitutes a theoretical background on which an analytical and practical inventory procedure for forest fire potential can be developed; it also highlights the direction towards which fire management research should focus on assisting forest management and evaluation of forest functions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.