Forest Fire Spreading Using Free and Open-Source GIS Technologies
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Material and Methods
2.1. The Rothermel’s Mathematical Model
- The fuel particle total mineral content, St = 0.0555;
- The fuel particle effective mineral content, Se = 0.010;
- The fuel particle low heat content, h = 8000 B.t.u./lb;
- The Oven-dry particle density, ρp = 32 lb/ft3;
- The moisture content of extinction, Mx = 0.30.
- Upslope Headfire:
- Downslope Headfire:
- Upslope Backfire:
- Downslope Backfire:
- The slope will be positive if in the same wind direction the altitude increases in the direction concordant with the wind;
- The slope will be negative if in the same wind direction the altitude decreases in the direction concordant with the wind.
2.2. The GIS Platform
2.3. Implementation of the Rothermel Model in the GIS
- Characterization of fuel models. Recognition of fuel can take place in different ways (e.g., in the field, using existing databases of the tree species present in the area of interest, or by remote sensing);
- Choice of input parameters for the Rothermel mathematical model. The input parameters for the model are chosen for each type of fuel (among those listed in Table 3);
- Choice of output parameters for the Rothermel mathematical model. Calculation of the output parameters according to Table 2;
- Creation of vector themes, in a GIS desktop, related to the type of fuel. A shapefile is created (using the QGIS command Layer → Create vector → New shapefile), containing as many elements as the types of fuels present in the area of interest. The associated database will contain the parameters R0, Φw and β;
- Rasterization of the previously created vector thematism. The shapefile is rasterized (using the QGIS command Raster → Conversion → Rasterize), generating three different raster layers in which every pixel contains the values of the parameters R0, Φw and β;
- Calculation of the slope coefficient. The slope coefficient is calculated considering that for the diffusion of the fire front upwards with a direction concordant with that of the wind (upslope headfire), the Albini method uses the original Rothermel model, while for the remaining combinations, Equations (2) to (5) are used. The slope of the terrain is calculated from a DEM raster map (using the “r.mapcal” tool in the GRASS GIS), while the slope P is calculated as the ratio between the height difference of adjacent cells (depending on the wind direction) and their distance. Finally a conversion from decimal to degrees is performed, as required in the calculation of the slope coefficient ϕW (Table 2).
- Calculation of the diffusion speed of the fire front. Once R0, Φw and β are estimated, the fire front diffusion speed is calculated in the presence of wind and sloping land. To do this, four zones must be distinguished: Upslope Headfire, Downslope Headfire, Upslope Backfire and Downslope Backfire (Figure 3).The fire ignition point is a vector thematism with punctual geometry characterized by an attribute containing the altitude value. Subsequently, taking into account the wind direction, the cartographic representation of the area of interest is divided into Backfire and Headfire, creating two elements of a polygonal vector layer. In the “Backfire” zone, the fire front spreads against the wind, while in the “Headfire” zone the fire front spreads in the direction of the wind. In the attribute table, a weight of −1 is assigned to the windward zone and 1 to the zone in the wind direction. The vector layer was then rasterized, obtaining a raster that serves as a “mask”, where −1 represents the upwind area and 1 the area in favor of the wind. Finally, considering Figure 3, the speed of the fire front in the backfire zone is determined with the following syntax:if (slope > 0 && DEM < height of the trigger point && mask = −1,R0, R0 (1 + max (0, ϕW + ϕS)))Thanks to the sign assigned to the slope coefficient, the same syntax can be used to calculate the propagation speed of the fire front in the three scenarios: “Downslope Backfire”, “Upslope Headfire” and “Downslope Headfire”, while for the “Upslope Backfire” zone, the syntax is:if (slope < 0 && “mask” = −1, R0 (1 + max (0, −ϕS −ϕW)),Speed of the front of fire calculated in the first step)In this way, the diffusion speed of the fire front can be calculated for all possible cases of the Albini model, respecting the real propagation conditions.
- Representation of progress times of the fire front. A raster grid is created by associating the inverse of the speeds previously calculated in meters per second (m/s). Then, the raster GRID and the selection of the fire ignition point are used as input data to the “r.cost” GRASS GIS command. The output is a new raster layer in which the value of each cell represents the time (in seconds) required for each cell to be reached by the fire front generated by the fire ignition point (i.e., a geo-referenced cartographic representation relating to the distance traveled by the fire front after a certain time).
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Fuel Types | Symbol | Unit of Measure |
---|---|---|
Oven-dry fuel loading | W0 | lb/ft2 |
Fuel depth | δ | Ft |
Fuel particle Surface Area to Volume Ratio (SAVR) | σ | 1/ft |
Fuel particle low heat content | h | B.t.u./lb |
Oven-dry particle density | ρp | lb/ft3 |
Fuel particle moisture content | Mf | - |
Moisture content of extinction | Mx | - |
Fuel particle total mineral content | St | - |
Fuel particle effective mineral content | Se | - |
Wind velocity at midflame height | U | ft/min |
Slope, vertical rise/horizontal distance | ϕ | % |
Description | Symbol | Unit of Measure | Equation or Value |
---|---|---|---|
Reaction Intensity | IR | B.t.u./ ft2*min | IR = Г’wn h ηM ηS |
Optimum reaction velocity | Г’ | min−1 | Г’ = Г’max (β/βop) A exp [A (1 − β/βop)] |
Maximum reaction velocity | Г’max | min−1 | Г’max= σ1.5(495 +0.0594σ1.5)−1 |
Optimum packing ratio | βop | - | βop = 3.348σ−0.8189 |
Coefficient | A | - | A = 1/(4.774σ0.1 − 7.27) |
Moisture damping coefficient | ηM | - | ηM = 1 − 2.59(Mf/Mx) + 5.11(Mf/Mx)2 − 3.52(Mf/Mx)3 |
Mineral damping coefficient | ηS | - | ηS = 0.174Se−0.19 |
Propagating flux ratio | ξ | - | ξ = (192 + 0.259σ)−1exp [(0.792 + 0.681σ0.5)(β + 0.1)] |
Wind coefficient | Φw | - | Φw = CUB (β/βop)−E |
Coefficient | C | - | C = 7.47exp(−0.133σ0.55) |
Coefficient | B | - | B = 0.02526σ0.54 |
Coefficient | E | - | E= 0.715 exp(−3.59 × 10−4σ) |
Net fuel loading | Wn | lb/ft2 | Wn = W0/(1 + ST) |
Slope factor | ΦS | - | ΦS = 5.275β−0.3(tanΦ)2 |
Oven-dry bulk density | ρb | lb/ft3 | ρb = W0/δ |
Effective heating number | ε | - | ε = exp(−138/σ) |
Heat of preignition | Qig | B.t.u./lb | Qig = 250 + 1116Mf |
Packing ratio | β | - | Β = ρb/ρp |
Fuel Types | Dead Fuel | Living Fuel | Fuel Depth | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
σ | W0 | σ | W0 | σ | W0 | σ | W0 | ||
ft−1 | lb/ft2 | ft−1 | lb/ft2 | ft−1 | lb/ft2 | ft−1 | lb/ft2 | ft | |
Grass (short) | 3500 | 0.034 | - - | - - | - - | - - | - - | - - | 1.0 |
Grass (tall) | 1500 | 0.138 | - - | - - | - - | - - | - - | - - | 2.5 |
Brush | 2000 | 0.046 | 109 | 0.023 | - - | - - | 1500 | 0.092 | 2.0 |
Chaparral | 2000 | 0.230 | 109 | 0.184 | 30 | 0.092 | 1500 | 0.230 | 6.0 |
Timber (grass and understory) | 3000 | 0.092 | 109 | 0.046 | 30 | 0.023 | 1500 | 0.023 | 1.5 |
Timber (litter) | 2000 | 0.069 | 109 | 0.046 | 30 | 0.115 | - - | - - | 0.2 |
Timber (litter and understory) | 2000 | 0.138 | 109 | 0.092 | 30 | 0.230 | 1500 | 0.092 | 1.0 |
Hardwood | 2500 | 0.134 | 109 | 0.019 | 30 | 0.007 | - - | - - | 0.2 |
Logging slash (light) | 1500 | 0.069 | 109 | 0.207 | 30 | 0.253 | - - | - - | 1.0 |
Logging slash (medium) | 1500 | 0.184 | 109 | 0.644 | 30 | 0.759 | - - | - - | 2.3 |
Logging slash (heavy) | 1500 | 0.322 | 109 | 1.058 | 30 | 1.288 | - - | - - | 3.0 |
Parameters | Symbol | Unit of Measure | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Oven-dry fuel loading | W0 | lb/ft2 | 0.138 |
Fuel depth | δ | ft | 1 |
Surface Area to Volume Ratio | σ | 1/ft | 2000 |
Fuel particle low heat content | h | B.t.u./lb | 8000 |
Oven-dry particle density | ρp | lb/ft3 | 25 |
Fuel particle moisture content | Mf | - | 0.15 |
Moisture content of extinction | Mx | - | 0.30 |
Fuel particle total mineral content | ST | - | 0.03 |
Fuel particle effective mineral content | Se | - | 0.01 |
Wind velocity at midflame height | U | ft/min | 200 |
Slope | ϕ | % | Variable |
Parameters | Symbol | Unit of Measure | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Oven-dry fuel loading | W0 | lb/ft2 | 0.230 |
Fuel depth | δ | ft | 6 |
Surface Area to Volume Ratio | σ | 1/ft | 2000 |
Fuel particle low heat content | h | B.t.u./lb | 8000 |
Oven-dry particle density | ρp | lb/ft3 | 25 |
Fuel particle moisture content | Mf | - | 0.2 |
Moisture content of extinction | Mx | - | 0.30 |
Fuel particle total mineral content | ST | - | 0.03 |
Fuel particle effective mineral content | Se | - | 0.01 |
Wind velocity at midflame height | U | ft/min | 200 |
Slope | ϕ | % | Variable |
Parameters | Symbol | Unit of Measure | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Oven-dry fuel loading | W0 | lb/ft2 | 0.034 |
Fuel depth | δ | ft | 1 |
Surface Area to Volume Ratio | σ | 1/ft | 3500 |
Fuel particle low heat content | h | B.t.u./lb | 8000 |
Oven-dry particle density | ρp | lb/ft3 | 25 |
Fuel particle moisture content | Mf | - | 0.05 |
Moisture content of extinction | Mx | - | 0.30 |
Fuel particle total mineral content | ST | - | 0.03 |
Fuel particle effective mineral content | Se | - | 0.01 |
Wind velocity at midflame height | U | ft/min | 200 |
Slope | ϕ | % | Variable |
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Mangiameli, M.; Mussumeci, G.; Cappello, A. Forest Fire Spreading Using Free and Open-Source GIS Technologies. Geomatics 2021, 1, 50-64. https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics1010005
Mangiameli M, Mussumeci G, Cappello A. Forest Fire Spreading Using Free and Open-Source GIS Technologies. Geomatics. 2021; 1(1):50-64. https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics1010005
Chicago/Turabian StyleMangiameli, Michele, Giuseppe Mussumeci, and Annalisa Cappello. 2021. "Forest Fire Spreading Using Free and Open-Source GIS Technologies" Geomatics 1, no. 1: 50-64. https://doi.org/10.3390/geomatics1010005