Acta Univ. Agric. Silvic. Mendelianae Brun. 2019, 67(5), 1285-1295 | DOI: 10.11118/actaun201967051285

Comparison of Methods for the Assessment of Fire Danger in the Czech Republic

František Jurečka, Martin Možný, Jan Balek, Zdeněk Žalud, Miroslav Trnka
Global Change Research Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i, Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic

The performance of fire indices based on weather variables was analyzed with a special focus on the Czech Republic. Three fire weather danger indices that are the basis of fire danger rating systems used in different parts of the world were assessed: the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), Australian Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) and Finnish Forest Fire Index (FFI). The performance of the three fire danger indices was investigated at different scales and compared with actual fire events. First, the fire danger indices were analyzed for different land use types during the period 1956-2015. In addition, in the analysis, the three fire danger indices were compared with wildfire events during the period 2001-2015. The fire danger indices were also analyzed for the specific locality of the Bzenec area where a large forest fire event occurred in May 2012. The study also focused on the relationship between fire danger indices and forest fires during 2018 across the area of the Jihomoravský region. Comparison of the index values with real fires showed that the index values corresponded well with the occurrence of forest fires. The analysis of the year 2018 showed that the highest index values were reached on days with the greater fire occurrence. On days with 5 or 7 reported fires per day, the fire danger indices reached values between 3 and 4.

Keywords: fire danger, fire danger rating system, fire danger index, fire event, forest fire, wildfire
Grants and funding:

This study was supported by SustES - Adaptation strategies for sustainable ecosystem services and food security under adverse environmental conditions (CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000797).

Received: January 11, 2019; Accepted: September 27, 2019; Published: October 31, 2019  Show citation

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Jurečka, F., Možný, M., Balek, J., Žalud, Z., & Trnka, M. (2019). Comparison of Methods for the Assessment of Fire Danger in the Czech Republic. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 67(5), 1285-1295. doi: 10.11118/actaun201967051285
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