A Review of the Main Driving Factors of Forest Fire Ignition Over Europe
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A Review of the Main Driving Factors of Forest Fire Ignition Over Europe Anne Ganteaume • Andrea Camia • Marielle Jappiot • Jesus San-Miguel-Ayanz Marle`ne Long-Fournel • Corinne Lampin
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Received: 9 May 2012 / Accepted: 26 September 2012 / Published online: 21 October 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
Abstract Knowledge of the causes of forest fires, and of the main driving factors of ignition, is an indispensable step towards effective fire prevention policies. This study analyses the factors driving forest fire ignition in the Mediterranean region including the most common human and environmental factors used for modelling in the European context. Fire ignition factors are compared to spatial and temporal variations of fire occurrence in the region, then are compared to results obtained in other areas of the world, with a special focus on North America (US and Canada) where a significant number of studies has been carried out on this topic. The causes of forest fires are varied and their distribution differs among countries, but may also differ spatially and temporally within the same country. In Europe, and especially in the Mediterranean basin, fires are mostly human-caused mainly due arson. The distance to transport networks and the distance to urban or recreation areas are among the most frequently used human factors in modelling A. Ganteaume (&) M. Jappiot M. Long-Fournel C. Lampin IRSTEA, UR EMAX, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence, France e-mail: [email protected]
exercises and the Wildland-Urban Interface is increasingly taken into account in the modelling of fire occurrence. Depending on the socio-economic context of the region concerned, factors such as the unemployment rate or variables linked to agricultural activity can explain the ignition of intentional and unintentional fires. Regarding environmental factors, those related to weather, fuel and topography are the most significant drivers of ignition of forest fires, especially in Mediterranean-type regions. For both human and lightning-caused fires, there is a geographical gradient of fire ignition, mainly due to variations in climate and fuel composition but also to population density for instance. The timing of fires depends on their causes. In populated areas, the timing of human-caused fires is closely linked to human activities and peaks in the afternoon whereas, in remote areas, the timing of lightning-caused fires is more linked to weather conditions and the season, with most such fires occurring in summer. Keywords Ignition factors Fire occurrence Mediterranean region
M. Jappiot e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction
M. Long-Fournel e-mail: [email protected]
Early in the Holoce`ne, high climate seasonality favoured fire expansion in southern Europe, as it did in many other ecosystems of the northern and southern hemispheres. Later on, during the Neolitic Age, humans began affecting the fire regime that was previously related only to climatic conditions, leading to higher fire frequency (
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