Rekindle Dynamics Essay -- Emergency Management

There be few natural phe noena with the scope and complexity of a set fire (Van Wagner 1). Rekindles or reignitions that reburn an area over which a previous fire has passed but leaving fuel that later ignites due to latent heat, sparks, or embers (NWCG 2) is an fearsome part of that phenomena. For instance fuel complexes that exhibit heavy fuel loads and deep organic layers. Namely under the decomposing leaf litter there are a compact organic horizon in which the ground or sub push through fires will remain burning slowly (Loureno and Rainha 3). Near rivers, peat bogs, superannuated forests, and large decaying logs are prone to such fire persistence. As a result of the dryness left after the passage of the main fire front. curiously in major dry spells or droughts (Henderson and Muraro 4, Alexander 5). Such underground burning in a smouldering stage can erupt into flames when it gets the surface exposing this heated fuel to air (6). Throughout the summer of 2010, Portugal had 14,551 primary wildfires. 17.2% of them rekindled in an additional 2,497 fires, leading to a total of 17,048 which accounted for 95% of the total annual destroy area of 132,241 ha (Pacheco 7). These figures might be worse. Several authors suggest that the amount of rekindled forest fires is higher than the officially reported (Loureno and Rainha 3, ANIF 8). Expert-judgment elicitation in our interviews points to the double. scour assuming that the available information is correct, there are too many rekindles (Beighley and Hyde 9). This is a concerning situation that has gotten worse over the years (ANIF 8), and results from ineffective mop-up operations (Loureno and Rainha 3, ANIF 8, Beighley and Hyde 9, ISA 10, Loureno 11, Murdock... .... 387-395, 2005.17AFN, I., Monitorizao e Avaliao do Plano Nacional de Defesa da Floresta Contra Incndios, 2009/2010 - Relatrio Final Preliminar, Autoridade Florestal Nacional, 2011.18Fernandes, P. M., Forest fires in Galicia (Spain) The outc ome of unbalanced fire management, Journal of Forest Economics, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 155-157, 2008.19Resoluo do Conselho de Ministros n. 65/2006, PNDFCI, 2006.20Oliveira, T., Relatrio da visita ao Chile, Proteco Florestal, grupo Portucel Soporcel, 2011.21Ahrens, M., Brush, Grass, and Forest Fires, 0877650357, National Fire Protection Association, Fire Analysis and Research Division, 2010.22Pacheco, A. P., Oliveira, T., & Claro, J., Simulation analysis of the restore of ignitions, rekindles and false alarms on the performance of forest fire suppression, FEUP, University of Porto, 2012.