Continuous Forest Fire Propagation in a Local Small World Network Model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel continuous forest fire spread model using a weighted local small-world network to simulate fire dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes, accounting for topography and vegetation effects.

Contribution

It develops a new fire propagation model based on a weighted small-world network that incorporates radiative heat transfer and landscape heterogeneity.

Findings

Model accurately simulates fire spread in real wildfire scenarios.

Critical behavior of fire propagation is analyzed.

Incorporates topography and vegetation into fire spread dynamics.

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a new continuous forest fire model implemented as a weighted local small-world network approach. This new approach was designed to simulate fire patterns in real, heterogeneous landscapes. The wildland fire spread is simulated on a square lattice in which each cell represents an area of the land's surface. The interaction between burning and non-burning cells, in the present work induced by flame radiation, may be extended well beyond nearest neighbors. It depends on local conditions of topography and vegetation types. An approach based on a solid flame model is used to predict the radiative heat flux from the flame generated by the burning of each site towards its neighbors. The weighting procedure takes into account the self-degradation of the tree and the ignition processes of a combustible cell through time. The model is tested on a field presenting a range of slopes and with data collected from a real wildfire scenario. The critical behavior of the spreading process is investigated.