A Region of the Global Wildland Fire Network

Network Meetings and other Networking Activities

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ALPFFIRS Mid-term Meeting

The ALPFFIRS mid-term meeting will be held 1-2 February 2012 in Desenzano del Garda (Brescia-Italy)

• Draft Meeting Agenda (PDF)

ALPFFIRS Workshop

L’atelier Alpin sur les Brûlages Dirigés et les Feux Tactiques (Workshop on Prescribed Burning and Tactical Fires) will be held 7-8 March 2012, Vence, Alpes Maritimes, France.

• Draft Workshop Agenda (PDF)

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A Region of the Global Wildland Fire Network

Introduction

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In July 2008 the UNISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group (WFAG) followed the suggestions of the countries of the European Alpine region to address the specific forest fire problems in the high-altitude region of the Alps and to establish a Sub-Regional Wildland Fire Network. The sub-regional network is located between the geographic areas of the Eurasian, the SE European / Caucasus and the Mediterranean Regional Wildland Fire Networks. It is also part of the region of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN-ECE) region in which the UNECE/FAO Team of Specialists on Forest Fire was operational until 2014 (since 2018: Eurasian Team of Specialists on Landscape Fire Management. With the launch of the Austrian Forest Fire Research Initiative (AFFRI) and the Alpine Forest Fire Warning System (ALPF FIRS) project in 2009 consensus was reached that these two projects would play an important role in advancing research and development in the Euro-Alpine region.

The project Alpine Forest Fire Warning System (ALPF FIRS) aimed and achieved an improvement of forest fire prevention in the Alpine Space with the creation of a shared warning system based on weather condition affecting fire potential. The main goal is the development of a decision support tool for actors involved in forest fire prevention and suppression, consisting in a daily fire danger level assessment and forecast to identify critical periods in advance of their potential occurrence.

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A Region of the Global Wildland Fire Network

Background Information, Regional and National Wildland Fire Reports

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Euro-Alpine Fire Management Strategy

Muller M.M., Vila-Vilardell L., Vacik H. (2020): Forest fires in the Alps – State of knowledge, future challenges and options for an integrated fire management. EUSALP Action Group 8 (PDF, 3.8 MB)

Online Publications

Hartmut Gossow, H., R. Hafellner, H. Vacik, T. Huber. 2008. Major Fire Issues in the Euro-Alpine Region – the Austrian Alps. UNECE/FAO int. Forest Fire News No. 38 (in press) (PDF, 0.5 MB)

Valese, E. 2008. Wildland fires in the Alpine Region of Italy: what’s old, what’s new. What’s next?UNECE/FAO int. Forest Fire News No. 38 (in press) (PDF, 0.2 MB)

Zumbrunnen, T., H. Bugmann, M. Conedera, M. Buergi. 2009. Linking Forest Fire Regimes and Climate – A Historical Analysis in a Dry Inner Alpine Valley. Ecosystems, DOI: 10.1007/s10021-008-9207-3 (PDF, 1 MB)

Pezzatti, G.B., S. Bajocco, D. Torriani and M. Conedera. 2009. Fire Regimes In Southern Europe. Selective burning of forest vegetation in Canton Ticino (southern Switzerland). Plant Biosystems 143, 609-620. DOI: 10.1080/11263500903233292 (PDF, 0,3 MB)

Conedera, M., G. Cesti, G.B. Pezzatti, T. Zumbrunnen, F. Spinedi. 2006. Lightning-induced fires in the Alpine region: An increasing problem. Forest Ecology and Management 234 (Supplement 1), doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.08.096 (PDF, 1.3 MB)

Gossow, H., R. Hafellner, N. Arndt. 2007. More forest fires in the Austrian Alps – a real coming danger? In: Managing Alpine Future – Proceedings of the Innsbruck Conference, 15-17October 2007 (A. Borsdorf, J. Stötter and E. Veuillet, eds.), 356-362.Verlag der Österreichischen Wissenschaften (PDF, 1 MB)

Valese, E. 2009. FDR Implementation and Calibration in the Alpine Region of Italy. (PDF, 0.2 MB)

Conedera, M., L. Peter, P. Marxer; F. Forster, D. Rickenmann, L. Re. 2003. Consequences of forest fires on the hydrogeological response of mountain catchments: A case study of the Riale Buffaga, Ticino, Switzerland. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 28, 117-129

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) in January 2010 published a comprehensive guideline document for practitioners “Living with Forest Fire”. The document is available for download at the GFMC repository (WSL download expired):

• Eidg. Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft (WSL) Merkblatt 46 “Leben mit Waldbrand“ (Januar 2010) (PDF, 2.8 MB)

• WSL Notice pour le praticien No. 65 : Écologie du feu des hêtraies Montagnardes. Services écosystémiques et mesures sylvicoles après un incendie de forêt (Janet Maringer, Davide Ascoli, Eric Gehring, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Massimiliano Schwarz, Marco Conedera) (PDF, 4.7 MB)

Non-online Publications

Wohlgemuth, T., M. Moretti, M. Conedera, B. Moser. 2006. Ecological resilience after fire in mountain forests of the Central Alps. Forest Ecol. Manage. 234, Supp. 1, S200, doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2006.08.319.

Gossow, H., R. Hafellner, N. Arndt. 2007. More forest fires in the Austrian Alps – a real coming danger? In: Managing Alpine Future – Proceedings of the Innsbruck Conference October 15-17 2007 (A. Borsdorf, J. Stötter and E. Veuillet, eds.), 356-362. Verlag der Österreichischen Wissenschaften.

Arndt, N., A. Arpaci; H. Gossow, P. Ruiz Rodrigo, H. Vacik. 2009: A forest fire hazard based on the estimation of tourist hot spot activities in Austria, In: Advances in Remote Sensing and GIS applications in Forest Fire Managenment. Towards an Operational Use of Remote Sensing in Forest Fire Management. 7th International Workshop of the EARSeL Special Interest Group (SIG) on Forest Fires, Matera, Italy, 2-5 September 2009 (E. Chuvieco and R. Lasaponara, eds.), 51-55.

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