Article

A Country-Wide Forest Fire Weather Hazard Index

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Abstract

Unless precipitation is considered, no sound basis is available either for rating the relative difficulty of a fire season or for judging comparative accomplishments in fire control from year to year. This article describes the development and use of a single index of precipitation conditions for the counrty as a whole. It also points out the necessity of considering the effect of surpluses or deficiencies in precipitation over extended periods in gauging the degree of fire danger, rather than being influenced in this respect solely by current or short term weather conditions. For general index purposes it is held that cumulative weather records will serve this purpose fairly well, but for local and more accurate gauges of this factor research has yet to produce a satisfactory measuring device.

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... A utilização de índices como indicadores de perigo de incêndio iniciou-se nos anos de 1930no Canadá (WRIGHT, 1933 e nos Estados Unidos (LOVERIDGE, 1935). Os índices são divididos em métodos não cumulativos e cumulativos (PEREIRA et al., 2002). ...
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This study aimed at analyzing the historic of the forest fire danger in the last 70 years in Piracicaba and to validate the Monte Alegre Formula (FMA) with data of heat spots from remote sensing. A database of relative humidity (RHd) and rainfall from a conventional weather station (EMC) and from an automatic weather station (EMA), both located in ESALQ/USP, were used. Heat spots data of Piracicaba municipality, between 1999 and 2012, were recovered from monitoring of vegetation fires system of INPE in order to test the FMA. Since FMA requires the use of relative humidity observed at 13 p.m. (RH13) and using the EMA data, a highly significant exponential relationship between the RHd and RH13 was achieved (R-2 = 0.86, p < 0.0001). Using this model it was possible to implement the FMA to EMC time series, from 1943 to 2012. The occurrences of the forest fire danger classes null, small, medium, high and very high, were respectively, of 14.2%, 10.9%, 17.8%, 22.4% and 34.8%. During the period 1999 - 2012 a total of 1943 heat spots were detected in the rural area of Piracicaba, concentrated in autumn and winter. Even in a climate type region different from where the FMA was developed, it was efficient for the prediction of fire danger, as shown by the significant correlations between the forest fire danger classes and heat spots obtained by remote sensing.
... A utilização de índices como indicadores de perigo de incêndio iniciou-se nos anos de 1930no Canadá (WRIGHT, 1933 e nos Estados Unidos (LOVERIDGE, 1935). Os índices são divididos em métodos não cumulativos e cumulativos (PEREIRA et al., 2002). ...
Article
Full-text available
O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar o histórico do perigo de incêndio florestal dos últimos 70 anos na região de Piracicaba e validar a Fórmula de Monte Alegre (FMA) com dados de focos de calor provenientes de sensoriamento remoto orbital. Foram usados dados de umidade relativa do ar (URd) e precipitação de uma estação meteorológica convencional (EMC) e de uma estação meteorológica automática (EMA), ambas localizadas na ESALQ/USP. Dados de focos de calor do município Piracicaba, entre 1999 e 2012, foram resgatados do sistema de monitoramento de queimadas do INPE a fim de testar a FMA. Uma vez que a FMA requer o uso da umidade relativa registrada às 13 h (UR13), e usando-se os dados da EMA, foi obtida uma relação exponencial altamente significativa entre a URd e a UR13 (R2 = 0,86; p < 0,0001). Usando-se essa equação foi possível aplicar a FMA à série histórica da EMC, de 1943 a 2012. As ocorrências das classes de perigo de incêndio nulo, pequeno, médio, alto e muito alto, foram, respectivamente, iguais a 14,2%, 10,9%, 17,8%, 22,4% e 34,8%. No período de 1999 a 2012 um total 1943 focos de calor foram detectados na área rural de Piracicaba, concentrados no outono e inverno. Mesmo em uma região de tipo climático diferente de onde ela foi desenvolvida, a FMA demonstrou eficiência na previsão do grau de perigo de incêndios, conforme mostraram as significativas correlações entre os graus de perigo e os focos de calor obtidos por sensoriamento remoto.
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With the aid of experiments and the known properties of timber and combustion, an objective fire-danger rating system is developed, where each contributing factor can be expressed by a numerical value.
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