Using cellular automata to simulate wildfire propagation  and to assist in fire management

Freire, Joana Gouveia; DaCamara, Carlos Castro

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-169-2019

Articles | Volume 19, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-169-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Spatial and temporal patterns of wildfires: models, theory,...

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-19-169-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 1

Research article

|

22 Jan 2019

Research article |

| 22 Jan 2019

Using cellular automata to simulate wildfire propagation and to assist in fire management

Joana Gouveia Freire and Carlos Castro DaCamara

Download

Final revised paper (published on 22 Jan 2019)
Preprint (discussion started on 06 Nov 2018)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC1: 'Model uncertainty', Anonymous Referee #1, 03 Dec 2018
- AC1: 'Reply to Referee #1', Joana Freire, 29 Dec 2018
RC2: 'Review of ms. nhess-2018-227', Anonymous Referee #2, 04 Dec 2018
- AC2: 'Reply to Referee #2', Joana Freire, 29 Dec 2018
RC3: 'Interactive comment on “Using cellular automata to simulate wildfire propagation and to assist in fire prevention and fighting” by Joana G. Freire and Carlos C. DaCamara', Anonymous Referee #3, 10 Dec 2018
- AC3: 'Reply to Referee #3', Joana Freire, 29 Dec 2018

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish as is (07 Jan 2019) by Marj Tonini

AR by Joana Freire on behalf of the Authors (11 Jan 2019) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

Cellular automata are useful tools to simulate wildfire propagation. We design a cellular automaton to simulate a severe wildfire that took place in Portugal in 2012 and resulted in almost 25 000 ha burned. The explosive stage is adequately modeled when refining the role played by the wind in fire spreading. Results show a probability of ignition out of the limits of the observed scar, information that may help choose where to allocate resources for firefighting.