The average intensity and frequency of wildland fires have been on the rise over the years, leading to an increase in the risk to homes located in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI). Fire suppression is the most used method of wildland fire control, but this suppression can cause wildland fires to become more frequent and devastating. Increased development in the WUI also puts these homes at greater risk. Current methods of passive fire protection are effective, but these methods are expensive, time consuming to set up, and not fully effective. This research proposes a permanent passive fire protection system that is built into the structure. A flame- resistant material would be attached to the sheathing with the roofing and siding attached over the material. This system would allow the easily replaceable exterior components of the structure to burn, and the interior of the structure would be protected. This system protects the structural supports of the building, so the house does not collapse, and the exterior components can be replaced. To test this permanent passive fire protection system 21 small-scale specimens were constructed with five different flame-resistant materials and three different types of siding. The flame-resistant materials include structural wrap, Kaowool, ceramic fiber insulation, Pyrogel, and intumescent paint. The sidings include wood siding, vinyl siding, and hardie board. The testing took place in a burn room to simulate the conditions of a wildland fire. Post-burn charring evaluations and temperature analyses were conducted to determine which type of material and siding were most effective at protecting the small-scale models. The charring evaluation included determining the percent charring of the OSB face of the specimens, and the temperature analysis included determining the percent difference between the internal and external temperatures of the specimens. The performance, cost and installation, constructability, and replaceability of each of the materials were considered in deciding which materials were most effective. Overall, the Pyrogel outperformed the other materials, but this material is by far the most expensive. The ceramic fiber material was overall the second most effective flame-resistant material, and this material could be as effective as the Pyrogel if used in conjunction with the other materials tested. Further testing of material combinations is required to determine if different flame-resistant material combinations could be as effective as the Pyrogel material on its own. The results of this project did prove the feasibility of a permanent passive fire protection system, but further testing of large-scale specimens is required to test the effectiveness of the system in more complex circumstances.

Today, people are used to having technology as a constant aid. This also sets expectations that information should always be available. This, together with ongoing climate change that has led to more natural disasters, has laid the foundation for the need to change the methodology for how geographical data is collected, compiled and visualized when used for crisis communication. This study explores how authorities, at present, communicate with the public during a crisis and how this can be done in an easier and more comprehensible way, with the help of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The goal is to present a new way of collecting, compiling and visualizing geographical data in order to communicate, as an authority, with the public during a crisis. This has been done using a case study with focus on wildfires. Therefore, most of the work consisted of the creation of a prototype, CMAP – Crisis Management and Planning, that visualizes fire-related data. The basic work of the prototype consisted of determining what data that exists and is necessary for the information to be complete and easily understood together with how the data is best implemented. The existing data was retrieved online or via a scheduled API request. Eventrelated data, which is often created in connection with the event itself, was given a common structure and an automatic implementation into the prototype using Google Fusion Tables. In the prototype, data was visualized in two interactive map-based sections. These sections focused on providing the user with the information that might be needed if one fears that they are within an affected location or providing the user with general preparatory information in different counties. Finally, a non-map-based section was created that allowed the public to help authorities and each other via crowdsource data. This was collected in a digital form which was then directly visualized in the prototype’s map-based sections. The result of this showed, among other things, that automatic data flows are a good alternative for avoiding manual data handling and thus enabling a more frequent update of the data. Furthermore, it also showed the importance of having a common structure for which data to be included and collected in order to create a communication platform. Finally, by visualizing of dynamic polygon data in an interactive environment a development in crisis communication that can benefit the public’s understanding of the situation is achieved. This thesis is limited to the functionality and layout provided by the Google platform, including Google Earth Engine, Google Forms, Google Fusion Tables etc / I dagens samhälle är människan van vid teknik som ett ständigt hjälpmedel. Detta sätter också förväntningar på att information alltid ska vara tillgänglig och uppdaterad. Detta tillsammans med pågående klimatförändringar som lett till fler och svårare naturkatastrofer har lagt grunden till att det finns ett behov av att förändra hur man samlar in, sammanställer och visualiserar geografiska data som används för kommunikation i en krissituation. Denna studie utforskar hur myndigheter, i dagsläget, kommunicerar med allmänheten vid en krissituation och hur detta kan göras på ett enklare och mer givande sätt med hjälp av GIS. Målet är att visa ett nytt sätt att samla in, sammanställa och visualisera geografiska data för att, som myndighet, kommunicera med allmänheten under en kris. Detta har gjorts som i en fallstudie med fokus på skogs- och gräsbränder. Merparten av arbetet bestod därför av framtagande av en prototyp, CMAP – Crisis Management and Planning som visualiserar brandrelaterade data. Grundarbetet till prototypen bestod av att fastställa vilken data som finns och är nödvändig för att informationen skulle bli lättförstådd och komplett samt hur denna bäst implementeras. Den existerande data som implementerades hämtades online eller via ett schemalagt anrop av APIer. Händelserelaterade data skapas ofta i samband med själva händelsen och därför skapades en gemensam struktur och direktimplementation till prototypen för denna data med hjälp av Google Fusion Tables. I prototypen visualiserades data i två interaktiva kartbaserade sektioner. Dessa sektioner fokuserade kring att förse användaren med den information som kan behövas om man befarar att man befinner sig på en drabbad plats eller att förse användaren med allmän förberedande information inom olika län. Slutligen skapades även en icke kartbaserad sektion som möjliggjorde att allmänheten kan hjälpa myndigheter och varandra genom ”crowdsource” data. Denna samlades in i ett digitalt formulär som sedan direkt visualiserades i prototypens kartbaserade delar. Resultatet av detta visade bland annat att automatiska dataflöden är ett bra alternativ för att slippa manuell hantering av data och därmed möjliggöra en mer frekvent uppdatering. Vidare visade det även på vikten av att ha en gemensam struktur för vilken data som ska inkluderas och samlas in för att skapa en kommunikationsplattform. Slutligen är visualisering av dynamiska polygondata i en interaktiv miljö en utveckling av kriskommunikation som kan gynna förståelsen för situationen hos allmänheten. Studien är begränsad till att skapa en plattform baserad på den inbyggda funktionaliteten och designen som erbjuds i Googles plattform, detta inkluderat Google Earth Engine, Google Formulär, Google Fusion Tables etc.

Besides the unsustainable exploitation, farming activities and economic development activities, forest fire is considered as one of the major threats to biodiversity and deforestation in Vietnam. In forest ecosystems, any changes in insect communities can affect species composition, nutrient cycling and numerous other ecological processes. The impact of forest fires, however, is not equal to different insect groups. In this paper, we study the impact of forest fires to hymenopteran insects at Copia species-use forest, Son La Province. This is the first time this kind of study has been taken place in Vietnam. / Bên cạnh việc khai thác không bền vững, tập quán canh tác và các hoạt động phát triển kinh tế, cháy rừng được xem là một trong những mối đe dọa chính ảnh hưởng tiêu cực tới đa dạng sinh học và mất rừng ở Việt Nam. Trong các hệ sinh thái rừng, những thay đổi trong cấu trúc của quần xã côn trùng có ảnh hưởng tới thành phần loài, chu trình dinh dưỡng và rất nhiều quá trình sinh thái khác. Tuy nhiên mức độ ảnh hưởng của cháy rừng tới các nhóm côn trùng khác nhau là khác nhau. Trong bài báo này, chúng tôi nghiên cứu tác động của cháy rừng tới nhóm côn trùng cánh màng tại khu rừng đặc dụng Copia, tỉnh Sơn La. Đây cũng là lần đầu tiên tác động của cháy rừng tới nhóm côn trùng cánh màng được thực hiện ở Việt Nam.

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Ce travail présente une technique de simulation de feux de forêt qui utilise la méthode Level-Set. On utilise une équation aux dérivées partielles pour déformer une surface sur laquelle est imbriqué notre front de flamme. Les bases mathématiques de la méthode Level-set sont présentées. On explique ensuite une méthode de réinitialisation permettant de traiter de manière robuste des données réelles et de diminuer le temps de calcul. On étudie ensuite l’effet de la présence d’obstacles dans le domaine de propagation du feu. Finalement, la question de la recherche du point d’ignition d’un incendie est abordée. / This work presents a forest fire simulation model which uses the Level-Set method. We use a partial differential equation to deform a surface on which our flame front is inscribed. The mathematical foundations of the Level-set method are presented. We then explain a reinitialization method that allows us to treat in a robust way real data and to reduce the calculation time. The effect of the presence of barriers in the fire propagation domain is also studied. Finally, we make an attempt to find the ignition point of a forest fire.

L’évaluation de performance de modèles est une étape fondamentale de leur développement et amélioration. Le travail de recherche présenté dans ce manuscrit est consacré l’évaluation des modèles de propagation des incendies des forêts. Une revue des travaux a montré que si de nombreux éléments étaient disponibles, aucune solution normalisée et automatisable était proposée dans ce champ applicatif. Une solution à ce problème est proposée en déclinant une approche formelle développée dans le cadre de la théorie de la modélisation et simulation. Cette étape a permis de déterminer conceptuellement quels composants devaient être développés et comment les interconnecter.La réalisation de ce cadre a requis premièrement la normalisation de données disponibles pour les incendies de forêts, aucun standard de fichier ou même nomenclature n’étant disponible et/ou utilisé par les modélisateurs ou ingénieurs (observations ou simulation). Un ensemble de nom, notation et format d’encodage des données dans un conteneur NetCDF a pour cela été proposée. Une seconde étape a consisté à déterminer les métriques nécessaires à quantifier les erreurs de simulation (score de simulation). Si quatre méthodes standard ont pu être identifiées dans la littérature, nous avons pu montrer qu’elles se limitaient à la comparaison à un instant donné, ne pouvant donc rendre compte de la performance de la dynamique d’une simulation incendie. Cette problématique a été traitée en proposant deux nouvelles méthodes de calcul de score spécifiques. Ces différentes méthodes d’évaluations ont étés implantées au sein d’une bibliothèque de calcul. Enfin la réalisation d’une évaluation de modèles a été réalisée à l’aide d’une implantation du cadre définit précédemment. Cette évaluation a consisté à confronter quatre formulations de modèles de vitesse de front de flammes effectué sur 80 simulations d’incendies réels de manière complètement automatique. L’automatisation, et le non ajustement de paramètres, a ainsi permis de se rapprocher au plus près du contexte opérationnel où peu d’information locale est disponible, peu de temps après l’alerte de l’éclosion d’un incendie. Les résultats ont démontrés que cette approche est de nature à laisser apparaître une hiérarchie des performances de paramétrisations ou formulation relativement à une autre, sans toutefois être en mesure de donner une mesure absolue et objective de l’erreur modèle. / Performance evaluation of models is a fundamental step towards an efficient development and improvement. The research work presented in this manuscript is devoted to the evaluation of forest fire simulation models. Review of current work showed that if many elements were available, there were not any standardized and automated solutions proposed in this field. A solution for this problem is thus proposed, built upon a formal approach from the theory of modelling and simulation. This formal framework allowed to identify conceptually which components should be developed and how they would be interconnected.Realization of this frame required to start with a normalization of available wildfires data, as no standardized file or even nomenclature were available and/or used by all modellers and engineers (observations or simulation). A set of standard notation and name as well as a standard encoding data format in a scientific container NetCDF is proposed along with associated software.A second step is devoted to the identification of the scoring methods required to quantify the simulation error. If four standard methods have been defined in the literature, we have shown that these methods were limited for the comparison at specific time, not reporting clearly the performance of the simulation dynamics. This issue has been solved by proposing two new specific score calculation. These different evaluations methods are implanted in an open source computation library.Eventually, the realization of models evaluation was performed using an implementation of the proposed experimental frame. This evaluation consisted to confront four formulations of flame front velocity models on 80 real wildfire simulations in a fully automatic way. Because it was automatic, it implied that no parameters adjustments could be performed by an operator after the fire was observed; being more representative of an operational context with little information available immediately after a fire has been reported.The results have shown that this approach, while unable to provide an absolute measure of the model error is capable to reveal a hierarchy of performances between parameterizations or formulations.

La modélisation de la propagation des feux de forêt est une matière complexe pouvant être abordée de différentes manières (approche physique, semi-physique, empirique). Nombre de simulateurs existent avec chacun leurs particularités, leurs avantages et leurs points faibles. Les travaux qui ont conduits à la rédaction de cette thèse visent à l’amélioration du modèle physique simplifié de propagation de Balbi et al, 2007 ainsi qu’à la pose des premières pierres visant à le faire évoluer vers un modèle de comportement du feu. Ils se sont articulés autour de 3 grands axes :• La modélisation de la propagation d’un feu de surface avec pour principal moteur le transfert de chaleur radiatif. Cette modélisation à conduit à réaliser des améliorations concernant la formulation de la vitesse à plat sans vent. Elle a enfin conduit à caractériser de deux critères d’extinction portant sur des valeurs critique de deux paramètres du combustible (l’indice de surface foliaire et de la teneur en eau du combustible).• La quantification de l’énergie rayonnée par le front de flamme. Cette quantification, a été réalisée en prenant pour hypothèse le modèle de flamme solide. Cette approche a conduit à l’obtention d’une relation analytique permettant l’évaluation des Distances de Sécurité Admissibles (DSA) dans un temps très restreint.• L’étude de sensibilité des différents résultats obtenus afin de valider l’ensemble de ceux-ci et identifier l’influence relative des différents paramètres / Modeling the spread of forest fires is a complex affair which can be examined in different ways (physical, semi-physical, empirical). Numerous simulators exist, each one bearing its own particularities, benefits and weak points. The work which has led to the writing of this thesis aims at improving the simplified physical model of fire propagation (Balbi et al, 2007), as well as at laying down the first foundation stones of what will favor an evolution towards a fire behavioral pattern. This study is based upon three main themes :• Modeling the spread of a surface fire with the main engine the radiative heat transfer. This modeling leads to achieve improvements in the formulation of its speed on flat ground, without wind. It finally led to the characterization of two criteria of extinction with characterization of critical values of two parameters (leaf area index and the water content of the fuel).• Quantification of the energy radiating from the flame front. This quantification was performed assuming the solid flame model. This approach has led to obtaining an analytical relationship for the evaluation of Admissible Safety Distance (ASD) in a very short time. • Sensitivity analysis of the different results attained in order to confirm them as a whole and identify the relative influence of various parameters.

Ce travail présente une technique de simulation de feux de forêt qui utilise la méthode Level-Set. On utilise une équation aux dérivées partielles pour déformer une surface sur laquelle est imbriqué notre front de flamme. Les bases mathématiques de la méthode Level-set sont présentées. On explique ensuite une méthode de réinitialisation permettant de traiter de manière robuste des données réelles et de diminuer le temps de calcul. On étudie ensuite l’effet de la présence d’obstacles dans le domaine de propagation du feu. Finalement, la question de la recherche du point d’ignition d’un incendie est abordée. / This work presents a forest fire simulation model which uses the Level-Set method. We use a partial differential equation to deform a surface on which our flame front is inscribed. The mathematical foundations of the Level-set method are presented. We then explain a reinitialization method that allows us to treat in a robust way real data and to reduce the calculation time. The effect of the presence of barriers in the fire propagation domain is also studied. Finally, we make an attempt to find the ignition point of a forest fire.

Ces travaux de thèse ont porté sur le développement d’un modèle de propagation d’un incendie de forêt et son intégration dans une chaîne opérationnelle d'aide à la lutte tactique. C'est un modèle dont la propagation s'effectue sur un réseau de sites combustibles qui prend en compte les mécanismes principaux de transfert de chaleur radiatifs et convectifs des sites en feu vers les sites sains et l'environnement. Ce modèle tient également compte du relief et des conditions locales de vent et végétation. La simulation « temps réel » a nécessité deux développements distincts. Le premier a consisté à combiner la méthode de Monte Carlo à un algorithme génétique pour créer une base de données des facteurs de vue radiatifs de la flamme sur la végétation environnante, pour une large gamme de propriétés de flammes et de conditions environnementales. Le second repose sur une méthode de suivi du front de feu afin de limiter les données manipulées aux seules données utiles au calcul de sa propagation. La phase de validation a porté sur l’analyse comparative des contours de feux calculés par le modèle avec ceux mesurés lors de deux brûlages dirigés, dont un réalisé en Thaïlande dans le cadre de cette thèse, et ceux mesurés lors du feu de Favone de 2009 en Corse et d'un feu de grande ampleur aux États-Unis. Les temps de calcul sont très inférieurs au temps réel. Le modèle a été ensuite étendu pour permettre une évaluation du risque incendie à l’interface forêt-habitat. Dans le cadre du projet TechForFire, porté par la société NOVELTIS, il a été enfin couplé aux différents modules de la chaîne opérationnelle. La chaîne complète a été validée sur le feu historique de Velaux de 2015. / This thesis work is focused on the development of a wildfire spread model and its integration into a decision-making tool for planning firefighting operations. The fire spread model is based on a network model to represent vegetation distribution on land and considers the main heat transfer mechanisms from burning to unburnt vegetation items (i.e. radiation from the flaming zone and embers, surface convection and wind-driven convection through the fuel bed, and radiative cooling from the heated fuel element to the environment). The effects of local conditions of wind, topography, and vegetation are included. To address the challenge of real-time fire spread simulations, the model is also extended in two ways. First, the Monte Carlo method is used in conjunction with a genetic algorithm to create a database of radiation view factors from the flame to the fuel surface for a wide variety of flame properties and environment conditions. Second, the front-tracking method is introduced in order to reduce the amount of data to store and handle during propagation. The fire spread model is validated against data from different fire scenarios, showing it is capable of capturing the trends observed in experiments in terms of rate of spread, and area and shape of the burn, with reduced computational resources. It is then extended to evaluate fire risk at the wildland fire interface. In the frame of the TechForFire project coordinated by the NOVELTIS company, the new version of the fire spread model is coupled with the other modules of the operational chain. Finally, data from the fire of Velaux in 2015 are used to evaluate the TechForFire solution.

Orientador: Paulo Torres Fenner / Banca: Jair Rosas da Silva / Banca: Elias Taylor Durgante Severo / Resumo: Este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar os incêndios florestais ocorridos na Fazenda Monte Alegre localizada no município de Agudos/SP e de propriedade da Duratex S/A, no período de janeiro 1997 a dezembro 2003, diagnosticando as principais características desses incêndios e de seu combate. Trata-se de unidade de produção florestal de 13.581,79 hectares cuja atividade principal é o reflorestamento em Pinus spp. Foram utilizados dados constantes dos relatórios de incêndios florestais da empresa, bem como aqueles relativos à meteorologia, como precipitação pluviométrica e umidade relativa do ar as 13:00 horas, coletados na estação meteorológica localizada junto à portaria principal da fazenda. Foi verificado que a unidade mantém um sistema de prevenção e combate a incêndios florestais que atua em sua área e também em propriedades adjacentes, cujos incêndios possam colocar em risco suas florestas, como é o caso da Rodovia SP 300. No período estudado ocorreram 74 incêndios, com as seguintes características. 65,0% foram na Fazenda Monte Alegre, 31,0% as margens da Rodovia SP 300 e 4% em outras propriedades. Quanto à área queimada, 96,3% pertencem à fazenda, 3,4% à Rodovia SP 300 e 0,3% a outros proprietários. Quanto ao tipo de vegetação queimada, 89,0% é de pinus, 6,0% de vegetação nativa e 5,0% de vegetação rasteira. Em 48,0% dos dias o grau de perigo, calculado através da Fórmula de Monte Alegre, esteve classificado como alto ou muito alto e nesta faixa é que se localizaram 77,0% dos incêndios. 5,4% foram provocados por raios, 82,4% causas antrópicas e 12,2% não foram possíveis apurar. 73,0% dos incêndios ocorreram entre 07:00 e 18:00 horas. O combate apresentou as características que seguem. Em 75,7% dos casos o alarme foi dado pelas torres de vigia. Em 97,0% dos casos o combate se iniciou em até 60 minutos e em 65,0% tivemos a extinção...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This work had as objective to study the forest fires that have taken place at Farm Monte Alegre which is located in the city of Agudos/SP and is property of Duratex S/A, from January 1997 to December 2003, diagnosing the main characteristics of these fires and of the fighting against them. It is made up of an unit of forest production of 13,581.79 hectares and its main activity is the reforestation with Pinus spp. Data from forest fires reports from the company were used as well as the meteorological reports with rainy precipitation and relative humidity of the air at 1:00 PM from the station located beside the Farm main entrance. It was verified that the unit keeps a forest fires fighting and prevention system that works not only in its own area but also in neighboring areas whose fires bring dangers to its own forests, such as SP 300 Road. 74 fires occurred in the studied time period with the following characteristics. 65,0% inside the Farm Monte Alegre, 31,0% around SP 300 Road banks, and 4% in other properties. As for the burned area, 96,3% belong to the Farm, 3,4% to SP 300 Road, and 0,3% to other owners.As for the kind of burned vegetation, 89,0% was Pinus, 6,0% native vegetation and 5,0% trailing vegetation. In 48% of the days the fire danger rate, calculated through Monte Alegre formula, was high or very high and in this range are 77% of fires. 5,4% were caused by lightning, 82,4% by man made reasons, and 12,2% were impossible to establish. 73,0% of fires occurred between 7:00 AM and 6:00 PM. The fighting presented the following characteristics. In 75,7% the alarm was given by the watch tower. In 97,0% the fighting started in 60 minutes. In 65,0% the fighting was finished in 60 minutes. 169:17 hours were spent in the fighting, 24:13 hours in SP 300 Road, and 1:25 hours in other properties. As for the cost of the fighting, 92,0% were applied inside the Farmland...(Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre