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Fire Science pp 175–257Cite as

Extreme Fires

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Abstract

Large, often severe fires are increasingly affecting the places people live including the built environment, the ecosystems, and the goods and services that benefit people around the world, especially in North and South America, Europe, and Australia. What are the conditions that allow for extreme fires? What effects do they have? How do scientists and managers define and identify these fires? Fires that have significant social, economic, or ecological impacts or that exhibit fire behavior beyond the limits of fire control are generally referred to as extreme. Our goal is for readers to understand the characteristics of extreme fires, the conditions associated with extreme fires, and the fire behavior associated with extreme fires. We explain the start and spread of crown fires, spotting, and complex fire-atmospheric interactions as these are part of extreme fires, and all fires. In this chapter of our book, Fire science from chemistry to landscape management, we draw on principles of fire science and examples of large fires from around the world to illustrate key concepts associated with extreme fires and their implications. Three interactive spreadsheets facilitate visualizing the main factors affecting the start and spread of crown fires and the likely spotting distances.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Centro de Ecologia Aplicada Prof. Baeta Neves, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Francisco Castro Rego

  2. Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Fire Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA

    Penelope Morgan

  3. Departamento de Ciências Florestais e Arquitetura Paisagista, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

    Paulo Fernandes

  4. Department of Forestry and Rangeland Stewardship, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Chad Hoffman

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  3. Paulo Fernandes
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  4. Chad Hoffman
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Castro Rego, F., Morgan, P., Fernandes, P., Hoffman, C. (2021). Extreme Fires. In: Fire Science. Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69815-7_8

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