Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wildfire science has made substantial progress towards mitigating and explaining the increasing societal concerns about fire effects on natural and social systems. These advances are both conceptual and applied, including topics, among others, such as how fires are spread, use of sensors and technology for early warning and monitoring of fire spread, advanced planning of alternative forest management scenarios, sophisticated fire modeling software, and informed fire hazard estimation. These major breakthroughs, although accomplished mostly in countries with a legacy in wildfire research, such as the USA, Australia, Portugal and Spain, were successfully disseminated to other regions of the world and adapted to local conditions. As a result, a new generation of fire scientists emerged in these countries which, in turn, are making considerable progress in how fire is perceived, confronted and used, and how forests and fuels are managed in relation to fire risk. This Special Issue “Fire Suppression and Fuel Management in Eastern Europe: Research Advances and Best Practices” aims to cover recent developments in Fire and Forest Management science in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Caucasus and Turkey. Submitted papers should clearly show novel contributions and innovative applications of how science can support any of the following fire-related topics (but are not limited to these):

Wildfire risk estimation and behavior modeling;
Forest management with emphasis on vegetation fuel reduction;
Silviculture;
Fire suppression tactics;
Fire hazard;
Protection of the wildland–urban interface;
Protection of values-at-risk and critical infrastructure;
Fire and radiation issues (i.e., the Chernobyl disaster);
Fire–climate interactions.

Dr. Palaiologos Palaiologou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

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Keywords

forest management
fire suppression tactics
fuel treatments
fire risk governance
fire behavior modeling
fire hazard estimation
wildland–urban interface
values-at-risk
silviculture

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 305 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Perceptions of Turkish Forest Firefighters on In-Service Trainings

by Ismail Safak, Taner Okan and Devrim Karademir

Fire 2023, 6(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6020038 - 18 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1572

Abstract

Forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean Basin experience frequent forest fires, and the risk of hazards to people and assets is expected to increase in the face of climate change. Turkey is one of the countries in the Mediterranean Basin that has faced extreme forest fires in recent years. Forest firefighters are key actors at the forefront of fighting forest fires, and their effectiveness is largely related to in-service training. This study investigates the differences in in-service training and knowledge competencies of forest firefighters working in five fire-sensitive regions in Turkey. The results of the study are based on a survey of 975 forest firefighters. Sociodemographic data are presented as frequency, mean, and percentages. The Kruskal–Wallis H test was used to determine the differences in the perceptions of forest firefighters in the five fire-sensitive regions. It was determined that 89.74% of forest firefighters participated in in-service training, and the participation in in-service training was highest in 1st degree fire sensitive regions. Turkish forest firefighters have a strong perception that in-service training is sufficient in terms of number and content, their knowledge and experience deficiencies are eliminated, and their capacities are increased. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire Suppression and Fuel Management in Eastern Europe: Research Advances and Best Practices)

12 pages, 2323 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Classification of Fire Damage to Boreal Forests of Siberia in 2021 Based on the dNBR Index

by Evgenii Ponomarev, Andrey Zabrodin and Tatiana Ponomareva

Fire 2022, 5(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire5010019 - 29 Jan 2022

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5140

Abstract

Wildfire in Siberia is extensive, affecting up to 15 Mha annually. The proportion of the vegetation affected by severe fires is yet unknown, and it is a problem that requires a solution because post-fire mortality of tree stands in Siberian taiga has a strong effect on the global budget of carbon. The impact of fire in our area of interest in eastern Siberia was analyzed using the normalized burn ratio (NBR) and its pre- versus post-fire difference (dNBR) applied to Landsat-8 (OLI) collected in 2020–2021. In this paper, we present the classification of fire impact in relation to dominant tree stands and vegetation types in boreal forests of eastern Siberia. The dNBR of post-fire plots ranged widely (0.30–0.60) in homogeneous larch (Larix sibirica, L. gmelinii) forests, pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests, dark coniferous stands (Pinus sibirica, Abies sibirica, Picea obovata), sparse larch stands, and Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila) stands. We quantified the proportions of low, moderate, and high fire severity (37%, 39%, and 24% of the total area burned, respectively) in dense tree stands, which were varied to 30%, 57%, and 13%, respectively, for sparse stands and tundra vegetation dominated in the north of eastern Siberia. The proportion of severe fires varied according to the transition from dominant larch stands (33.2% of the area burned) to pine (12.6%) and dark coniferous (up to 26.4%). The current proportion of stand-replacement fires in eastern Siberia is 12–33%, depending on vegetation type and tree density, which is about 2500 thousand hectares in 2021 in the region. According to our findings, the “healthy/unburned vegetation” class was quantified as well at least 700 thousand hectares in 2021. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fire Suppression and Fuel Management in Eastern Europe: Research Advances and Best Practices)

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