LAHAYE, S.; CURT, T.; FRÉJAVILLE, Thibaut; SHARPLES, J.; PARADIS, L.; HÉLY, Christelle

doi:10.1071/WF17087

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LAHAYE, S.
Service Départemental d'Incendie et de Secours des Bouches - du - Rhône
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier [UMR ISEM]

CURT, T.
Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture [IRSTEA]

FRÉJAVILLE, Thibaut
Biodiversité, Gènes & Communautés [BioGeCo]

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Article de revue

Ce document a été publié dans

International Journal of Wildland Fire. 2018, vol. 27, n° 3, p. 155-163

CSIRO Publishing

Résumé en anglais

Wildfire containment is often very challenging for firefighters, especially for large and rapidly spreading fires where the risk of firefighter entrapment is high. However, the conditions leading to these 'dangerous' fires are poorly understood in Mediterranean Europe. Here, we analyse reports and interviews of firefighters over the last 40 years in four regions of south-eastern France and investigate the weather conditions that induce large fires, fast-growing fires and fires that are conducive to entrapment. We adopt a quantile regression model to test the effect of weather conditions across different fire sizes and growth rates. The results show that strong winds drive the largest fires everywhere except in Corsica, the southernmost region, where high temperature is the main driver. Strong winds also drive entrapments whereas high temperatures induce rapidly spreading fires. This emphasises that wind-driven fire is the dominant pattern of dangerous fires in France, but it reveals that large 'convective' fires can also present considerable danger. Beyond that, the Fire Weather Index appears to be a good predictor of large fires and fires conducive to entrapments. Identifying weather conditions that drive 'dangerous' wildfires will provide useful information for fire agencies to better prepare for adverse fire behaviours.< Réduire

Mots clés

quantile regression

Mots clés en anglais

entrapment

Fire Weather Index

firefighter safety

growth rate

high temperature

large fires

strong wind