I SISTEMI DI CLASSIFICAZIONE DEL COMBUSTIBILE

The probability of fire occurrence, the propagation and intensity of fire, and fire behaviour strictly depends on fuel properties namely all aboveground organic material, living or dead, available for fire ignition and combustion. There is a broad spectrum of fuel types in natural ecosystems and each of them can be characterized by really different fuel properties. Inventorying all fuelbed characteristics is extremely difficult so that, significant efforts have been devoted to develop fuel classification systems that attempt to cluster vegetation into unique categories with similar fuel properties and similar potential fire behavior. In the present chapter, after a brief description of the main fuel properties affecting fire behavior, the most common and widespread fuel classification systems are described. In addition, the approaches used to develop them, and strengths and weaknesses of each system are discussed.