Forest fires are a serious problem affecting many terrestrial ecosystems and causing substantial economic damage. Due to the increase of frequency and severity of large forest fire and wildland-urban interface fires, the World Health Organization has identified this problem as a threat to public health security in the 21st century. This book gathers and presents current research from across the globe in the study of fire detection techniques and applications. Some topics discussed, herein, include: early detection of forest fires from space using the RTM method; using the Lidar technique (light detection and ranging) for evaluation and fire surveillance; remotely sensed fire maps and historic fire regime reconstructions; aerosol and trace gas retrievals from remote sensing fire products; as well as using wireless thermal sensors to detect the positions of the fire front.

Forest fires analysis and mitigation requires the development of computer codes that can take into consideration a large number of different parameters. The papers in this book, presented at the third in a successful series on the topic, cover the latest research and applications of available computational tools to analyse and predict the spread of forest fires in an attempt to prevent or reduce major loss of life and property as well as damage to the environment. Featured topics include: Risk and Vulnerability Assessment; Computational Methods and Experiments; Environmental Impact Models; Air Pollution and Health Risk Models; Eco-Remediation Models; Decision Support Systems;Monitoring Systems; Emergency Response Systems; Economic Impact; Human Behaviour and Education, Rural-Urban Interface; Case Studies.

This book concerns the different aspects of forest fires, the impact of fire on both forest resources (e.g. forest cover) and communities that use different forest functions. Therefore, forest fires have their environmental, economic and social consequences, and none of them is less important. Forest fires can be caused by both natural forces and anthropogenic factors, and in the latter case, it is extremely interesting to profile the potential arsonist. Forest fires may also cause conflicts, stronger or weaker, in local communities that have been using forests for years. These conflicts can be solved both by gradually changing the law itself and through education at the local level. Not less important is the ability to detect fires early, which can be helped by the development of modern technologies. In limiting the effects of forest fires, it may also be helpful to develop mathematical models that indicate various factors affecting the possibility of a fire or affecting the rate of its spread. Not less important is the attempt to assess the direction of forest regeneration after the fire has ceased, in understanding what the help of modern technology is. These aspects of forest fire are the subject of this book. I realize, however, that the contents in it can only be an incentive for the reader to learn more, in an interesting aspect. I assume that this book will be valuable to researchers as well as students who are interested in different aspects connected to forest fires, not only from the ecological point of view but also from the social one. Both are extremely important in future forest protection and sustainable use of forest by local communities.

Introduction Increasing conflagrations of forests and other lands throughout the world during the 1980s and 1990s have made fires in forest and other vegetation emerge as an important global concern. Both the number and severity of wildfires (accidental fires) and the application of fire for land-use change, seem to have increased dramatically compared to previous decades of the twentieth century. The adverse consequences of extensive wildfires cross national boundaries and have global impacts. Fire regimes are changing with climate variability and population dynamics. Satellite remote sensing technology has the potential to play an important role for monitoring fires and their consequences, as well as in operational fire management. In response to this need as well as to respond to other needs for more rapid progress in forest observation, in 1997 the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) initiated Global Observation of Forest Cover (GOFC) as an international pilot project to test the concepts of an Integrated Global Observing System. The GOFC program is currently part of the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS). GOFC was designed to bring together data providers and information users to make information products from satellite and in-situ observations of forests more readily available worldwide. Fire Monitoring and Mapping was formed as one of three basic components of GOFC. This book contains eighteen contributions authored by scientists who represent the most active international research and development institutions, aiming at coordinating and improving international efforts for user-oriented systems and products. These papers were initially presented at a GOFC Fire Workshop held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra. The volume is a contribution of the GOFC Forest Fire Monitoring and Mapping Implementation Team to the Interagency Task Force Working Group Wildland Fire of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).