ICHNUSA Fire Index: Development and Preliminary Evaluation at Regional Scale

A dynamic fire risk model (Ichnusa Fire Index - IFI) was recently developed for Mediterranean forest types of Sardinia (Italy). IFI is based on meteorological, micrometeorological and ecophysiological variables and includes four codes (a Drought Code, DC, describing water status of vegetation; a Meteorological Code, MC, accounting for weather conditions; a Topological Code, TC, for site exposure, orography and wind direction; a Fuel Code, FC, which describes fuel characteristics and vegetation structure). IFI can be computed from meteorological or micrometeorological data and danger level values are normalised over 1 to 5 range. FC was developed for six vegetation types (broad leaf forest, cork oak forest, short and tall shrubland, garigue, grassland) using observations of LAI, height, water content and ground cover. In this paper we report on the performance of IFI calculated during the 2000-2004 period. The results were statistically analysed with several fire events occurred in different forest areas. Based on the results, IFI gave good estimates of fire danger and can provide useful informations for fire potential assessment.