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Fire
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Firefighting Approaches and Extreme Wildfires
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Firefighting Approaches and Extreme Wildfires

A special issue of Fire (ISSN 2571-6255). This special issue belongs to the section "Fire Research at the Science–Policy–Practitioner Interface".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 14878

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Fantina Tedim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre of Studies on Geography and Spatial Planning, Geography Department, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Porto, Via Panorâmica, 4150-564 Porto, Portugal
Interests: natural hazards; extreme wildfires; social dimensions of wildfires; resilience assessment; vulnerability assessment; wildfire risk reduction; fire smart territories; wildfire causes; wildfire science-policy interface
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wildfires are a world problem but the majority of the events remain small and low intensity while extreme wildfire events (high intensity, sudden, chaotic, and rapid progression of flames and spotting activity at high distance from the front) are a scant minority in the total number of fires (about 10%) but are responsible of 90% of losses and damage. Extreme wildfires are set to become more frequent, increasing by around 50% by the end of this century, according to a recent United Nations Report (2022), despite growing wildfire control budgets, improved coordination, better knowledge, equipment and technology, and trained workforce. Although firefighting systems cope quite well with small to medium fires, extreme wildfires are very difficult or impossible to control, since they largely exceed control capacity. In addition, frequent communication difficulties or even their collapse affect the correct use and efficiency of suppression means, strategies, and tactics.

Such a situation can only get worse, and this can happen not only in ill-equipped countries or not sufficiently trained to deal with this emerging problem but in all countries because, under the current technology conditions, control capacity is largely exceeded by extreme wildfires behavior.

This Special Issue aims to explore firefighting approaches and extreme wildfires, giving particular attention but not exclusively to:

  • Anatomy of extreme wildfires across the world;
  • Conditions favorable to the occurrence of extreme wildfires and prediction models;
  • Limits of firefighting activities and efficacy of different firefighting approaches;
  • The constraints in the use and efficiency of aerial means;
  • Personal safety of firefighters and training of coping skills and team building;
  • Evacuation procedures and experiences;
  • Firefighters risk perception;
  • Firefighting at wildland-urban interface;
  • Communities’ awareness, perception, and preparedness to prevent and cope with extreme wildfires;
  • Risk and emergency communication;
  • Governance models and policies approaches.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: social sciences, forestry science, political sciences, natural sciences.

Prof. Dr. Fantina Tedim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Fire is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • firefighting
  • control capacity
  • safety
  • modelling
  • science-policy-practitioner interactions
  • prevention
  • mitigation
  • preparedness
  • suppression
  • wildfire management

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3761 KiB  
Article
Assessing Forest Road Network Suitability in Relation to the Spatial Occurrence of Wildfires in Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems
by Mohsen Mostafa, Mario Elia, Vincenzo Giannico, Raffaele Lafortezza and Giovanni Sanesi
Fire 2024, 7(6), 175; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire7060175 - 22 May 2024
Viewed by 1046
Abstract
Identifying the relationship between forest roads and wildfires in forest ecosystems is a crucial priority to integrate suppression and prevention within wildfire management. In various investigations, the interaction of these elements has been studied by using road density as one of the anthropogenic [...] Read more.
Identifying the relationship between forest roads and wildfires in forest ecosystems is a crucial priority to integrate suppression and prevention within wildfire management. In various investigations, the interaction of these elements has been studied by using road density as one of the anthropogenic dependent variables. This study focused on the use of a broader set of metrics associated with forest road networks, such as road density, the number of links (edges), and access percentage based on two effect zones (road buffers of 75 m and 97 m). These metrics were employed as response variables to assess forest road network suitability in relation to wildfires, specifically the number and size of fires (2000–2021), using the Apulia region (Italy) as a case study. In addition, to enhance the comprehensive understanding of road networks in forest ecosystems in relation to wildfires, this study considered various affecting factors, including land-cover data (forest, maquis, natural grassland), geomorphology (slope, aspect), vegetation (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)), and morphometric indexes (Topographic Position Index (TPI), Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI), Topographic Wetness Index (TWI)). We used geographically weighted regression (GWR) and ordinary least squares (OLS) to analyze the interaction between forest road metrics and dependent variables. Results showed that the GWR models outperformed the OLS models in term of statistical results such as R2 and the Akaike Information Criterion (AICc). We found that among road metrics, road density and number of links do not effectively demonstrate the correlation between roads and wildfires as a singular criterion. However, they prove to be a beneficial supplementary variable when considered alongside access percentage, particularly within the 75-m buffer zone. Our findings are used to discuss implications for forest road network planning in a broader wildfire management analysis. Our findings demonstrate that forest roads are not one-dimensional and static infrastructure; rather, they are a multi-dimensional and dynamic structure. Hence, they need to be analyzed from various perspectives, including accessibility and ecological approaches, in order to obtain an integrated understating of their interaction with wildfire. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Firefighting Approaches and Extreme Wildfires)
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20 pages, 2227 KiB  
Article
Socio-Psychological, Economic and Environmental Effects of Forest Fires
by Stavros Kalogiannidis, Fotios Chatzitheodoridis, Dimitrios Kalfas, Christina Patitsa and Aristidis Papagrigoriou
Fire 2023, 6(7), 280; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070280 - 21 Jul 2023
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6525
Abstract
One of the most common forest disturbances, fire, has a significant influence on the people, societies, economies, and environment of countries all over the world. This study explores the different environmental and socioeconomic effects of forest fires to establish priorities for countries in [...] Read more.
One of the most common forest disturbances, fire, has a significant influence on the people, societies, economies, and environment of countries all over the world. This study explores the different environmental and socioeconomic effects of forest fires to establish priorities for countries in battling and mitigating the harmful effects of forest fires based on data collected from 382 professionals working in Greece’s forestry and agriculture sectors. Secondary data, especially from Statista, were further utilized to enhance the analytical comparisons and conclusions of this study. Wildfires in Greece destroy agricultural land and greatly impact the rural economy and community. This study showed that forest fires have led to several economic costs, mainly affecting the incomes of different investors in the forest sector in Greece. It was revealed that the overall cost of a fire is determined by the direct and indirect expenditures as well as the price of fire control and preventative methods. Direct expenses are broken down into two categories: direct damage that occurs immediately and direct losses that are caused immediately after a fire. Governments should take the initiative to create and expand bilateral and/or multilateral cooperation and coordination, as well as exchange necessary financial resources, technology, and training, to reduce the effects of forest fires in a fragile international man-made and natural environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Firefighting Approaches and Extreme Wildfires)
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22 pages, 370 KiB  
Article
The 2017 Extreme Wildfires Events in Portugal through the Perceptions of Volunteer and Professional Firefighters
by Vittorio Leone, Mario Elia, Raffaella Lovreglio, Fernando Correia and Fantina Tedim
Fire 2023, 6(4), 133; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6040133 - 24 Mar 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4226
Abstract
This study aimed to explore differences in the perceptions of professional and voluntary firefighters regarding the extreme wildfire events that occurred in Portugal in 2017. We collected a sample of 185 participants, professional and voluntary firefighters, who directly participated in suppression activities for [...] Read more.
This study aimed to explore differences in the perceptions of professional and voluntary firefighters regarding the extreme wildfire events that occurred in Portugal in 2017. We collected a sample of 185 participants, professional and voluntary firefighters, who directly participated in suppression activities for the Pedrógão Grande and October 2017 wildfires in Portugal. They were on duty in 149 fire stations in the Central Region of Portugal. A questionnaire was sent via Google Form to participants, based mainly on close-ended and two open-ended questions. It was structured into topics concerning the characteristics of wildfire events, the problems that occurred during the suppression activity, the emotional response of participants to the events, the lessons learned, and the consequences. We found significant differences between the two groups in their perception of wildfire characteristics and their perception of the worst fires they had ever experienced. Some differences were found in their discussion of the suppression phase and their emotional response to fires. On the contrary, the two groups appear to be homogeneous when it comes to no significant changes after the deadly 2017 experience in terms of the fight against rural fires, organization, training, prevention, and careers. The results underline the inadequacy of the suppression model vs. extreme wildfire events, and also its limits from the point of view of psychological reactions and the perception of management problems occurring in extreme and complex events. There is a research gap and no examples in Portugal about the perception of firefighters of the complex flow of activities that characterize the suppression operation of extreme wildfire events. Our research fills this gap. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Firefighting Approaches and Extreme Wildfires)
17 pages, 2382 KiB  
Article
Volatile Oil in Pinus yunnanensis Potentially Contributes to Extreme Fire Behavior
by Feng Chen, Liqing Si, Fengjun Zhao and Mingyu Wang
Fire 2023, 6(3), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6030113 - 12 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1892
Abstract
Volatile oils in forest fuel can significantly affect forest fire behavior, especially extreme fire behavior, e.g., deflagration, fire storms, blowups, eruptive fires and crown fires. However, how these oils influence fire behavior remains unclear, as few qualitative studies have been performed globally. In [...] Read more.
Volatile oils in forest fuel can significantly affect forest fire behavior, especially extreme fire behavior, e.g., deflagration, fire storms, blowups, eruptive fires and crown fires. However, how these oils influence fire behavior remains unclear, as few qualitative studies have been performed globally. In the present study, we compared the volatile oil contents and components in live branches and surface dead fuel of Pinus yunnanensis Franch, which is widely distributed in Southwest China, to explore their potential effects on extreme fire behavior. Fifteen samples of live branches and fifteen samples of surface dead fuel were collected. Volatile oils were extracted from the samples using steam distillation, and their components were identified and analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results show that the volatile oil content in live branches was as high as 8.28 mL·kg−1 (dry weight) and was significantly higher than that in surface dead fuel (3.55 mL·kg−1). The volatile oil content in the P. yunnanensis forest was 126.12 kg per hectare. The main volatile oil components were terpenoids, of which monoterpenes accounted for the highest proportion based on their content (62.63%), followed by sesquiterpenes (22.44%). The terpenoid compounds in live branches were more abundant than those in surface dead fuel. Monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes in volatile oils in forest fuel have low boiling points, high calorific values and a lower explosion limit (LEL; 38.4 g·m−3), which are important characteristics in the manifestation of extreme fire behavior such as deflagration. The analysis results indicate that when heated, the oily gases from P. yunnanensis forest could fill 3284.26 m3 per hectare, with a gas concentration reaching the LEL. We conclude that volatile oil in P. yunnanensis has an important influence on the manifestation of extreme fire behavior, and live branches have a greater effect than surface dead fuel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Firefighting Approaches and Extreme Wildfires)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Wildfires are a world problem but the majority of the events remain small and low intensity while extreme wildfire events (high intensity, sudden, chaotic, and rapid progression of flames and spotting activity at high distance from the front) are a scant minority in the total number of fires (about 10%) but are responsible of 90% of losses and damage. Extreme wildfires are set to become more frequent, increasing by around 50% by the end of this century, according to a recent United Nations Report (2022), despite growing wildfire control budgets, improved coordination, better knowledge, equipment and technology, and trained workforce.

This Special Issue aims to explore firefighting approaches and extreme wildfires, giving particular attention but not exclusively to:

  • Anatomy of extreme wildfires across the world;
  • Conditions favorable to the occurrence of extreme wildfires and prediction models;
  • Limits of firefighting activities and efficacy of different firefighting approaches;
  • The constraints in the use and efficiency of aerial means;
  • Personal safety of firefighters and training of coping skills and team building;
  • Evacuation procedures and experiences;
  • Firefighters risk perception;
  • Firefighting at wildland-urban interface;
  • Communities’ awareness, perception, and preparedness to prevent and cope with extreme wildfires;
  • Risk and emergency communication;
  • Governance models and policies approaches.
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