Comparing fire behavior and severity between a wildfire and a controlled burn in an Atlantic shrubland
[EN] Background Climate and land‑use changes are leading to landscape homogenization and fire regime modification in many fire‑prone ecosystems. Controlled burns are increasingly being used as a landscape management tool, and a full understanding of the characteristics and impacts of this practice i...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de León |
| Repositorio: | BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/27552 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42408-025-00401-3 https://hdl.handle.net/10612/27552 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Ecología. Medio ambiente Fire behavior Fire ignition patterns Prescribed fire Technical fire High‑intensity burn Smoldering |
| Sumario: | [EN] Background Climate and land‑use changes are leading to landscape homogenization and fire regime modification in many fire‑prone ecosystems. Controlled burns are increasingly being used as a landscape management tool, and a full understanding of the characteristics and impacts of this practice is essential. Here we compared a high‑moderate intensity controlled burn, carried out outside the normal prescribed burning period, with a wildfire in Atlantic shrublands (NW Iberian Peninsula) which occurred only one week after the controlled burn. We assessed fire behavior, fire severity, and fuel load reduction under different fire behaviors/ignition patterns in both types of fires. Fire behavior was analyzed using weather stations, thermocouples, unmanned aerial vehicles, and photos, and fire severity was assessed in the field using the Composite Burn Index, the post‑fire branch diameter, and the percentageof smoldering, and also via remote sensing metrics. Results The wildfire showed higher values for most fire intensity and severity parameters, although the controlled burn was still highly effective for fuel reduction, with over 93% of fuel eliminated. Soil smoldering was much more extensive in the wildfire site (95%) compared to the controlled burn site (17%). Within the controlled burn, ignition pattern influenced fire behavior and impacts: flanking fire produced high aboveground fuel consumption while minimizing soil smoldering, unlike head fire which led to greater soil impact. Remote sensing fire severity metrics derivedfrom multispectral and radar imagery did not detect differences between the controlled burn and the wildfire, probably due to the nearly complete vegetation consumption in both cases. Conclusions We show that, in Atlantic shrublands, where controlled burning is currently underused, it can be a useful tool for fuel reduction. Moreover, by choosing appropriate ignition patterns, the impacts on soils can be minimized while still maintaining operational effectiveness. Even under the exceptional scenario of high fire intensity and severity for our controlled burn, wildfire showed higher values of most intensity and severity parameters, probably due to lower fine fuel moisture, higher wind speeds, and a wider fire front. |
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