Data on the optical absorption properties (expressed as a specific absorption, Ba) of the smoke emissions from fires with forest fuels have been determined for a series of low-intensity field fires and a series of laboratory scale fires. The B, data have been used to estimate the emission factors for graphitic carbon [EF(c~)] for these test fires to provide data needed for regional visibility s...

The massive forests of central Amazonia are often considered relatively resilient against climatic variation, but this view is challenged by the wildfires invoked by recent droughts. The impact of such fires that spread from pervasive sources of ignition may reveal where forests are less likely to persist in a drier future. Here we combine field observations with remotely sensed information for...

In Southern France, where most wildfires occur, the fire size has never exceeded 6 744 ha since 1991, whereas mega-fires have burned huge areas in other Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Portugal. It was interesting to find out what main factors drove the ignition of the largest fires that had occurred in this region of France. The study was carried out using the forest fires database P...

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 t...

of OPERATIONAL FIRES ON THE URBAN BATTLEFIELD: AN UNDERDEVELOPED CONCEPT The US military will continue to be confronted in asymmetric warfare by adversaries who establish their power centers in urban terrain. Recent history has demonstrated that US forces can defeat adversaries on the conventional battlefield through overwhelming tactical and operational fires. Specifically, the employment of o...

Crown fires associated with extreme fire severity are extremely difficult to control. We have assessed fire severity using differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) from Landsat imagery in 15 historical wildfires of Pinus halepensis Mill. We have considered a wide range of innovative topographic, fuel and fire behavior variables with the purposes of (1) determining the variables that influence f...

Jet fires have received only a rather reduced attention as compared to other types of fires; this is probably due to the fact that they are usually much smaller that fireballs, pool fires or tank fires. However, jet fires often occur in areas where there is other equipment and the probability of flames impinging on a pipe or a vessel can be high. Furthermore, due to the turbulence of the phenom...

Recent drought events underscore the vulnerability of Amazon forests to understorey fires. The long-term impact of fires on biodiversity and forest carbon stocks depends on the frequency of fire damages and deforestation rates of burned forests. Here, we characterized the spatial and temporal dynamics of understorey fires (1999-2010) and deforestation (2001-2010) in southern Amazonia using new ...