Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Annals of Silvicultural Research, 1(39)
DOI: 10.12899/asr-946
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This review presents a multidisciplinary framework for integrating the ecological, regulatory, procedural and technical aspects of forest management for fi res prevention under Mediterranean environments. The aims are to: i) provide a foreground of wildfi re scenario; ii) illustrate the theoretical background of forest fuel management; iii) describe the available fuel management tech-niques and mechanical operations for fi re prevention in forest and wildland-urban interfaces, with exemplifi cation of case-studies; iv) allocate fi re prevention activities under the hierarchy of forest planning. The review is conceived as an outline commentary discussion targeted to professionals, technicians and government personnel involved in forestry and environmental management. Basic defi nitions used in the text (Forest) fuel management: The planned manipula-tion of fl ammable materials to adjust fi re behavior (e.g., rate of spread and intensity), fi re effects, and the effectiveness and costs of fi re suppression (the European Glossary for Wildfi res and Forest Fires, 2012, EUFOFINET; http://www.fi re.uni-freiburg.de/literature/EUFOFI-NET-Fire-Glossary.pdf) (Forest) fi re management: The activities concerned with the protection of people, property, and forest areas from wildfi re and the use of prescribed burn-ing for the attainment of forest management and other land use objectives, all conducted in a manner that considers environmental, social, and economic criteria (2003 Glossary of Forest Fire Management Terms; http://bcwildfire.ca/mediaroom/Background-ers/2003_Fire_Glossary.pdf) (Forest) fi re hazard: i) Any situation, process, material or condition that can cause a wildfi re or that can provide a ready fuel supply to augment the spread or intensity of a wildfi re ,all of which pose a threat to life, property or the environment; EUFOFINET; http://www.fi re.uni-freiburg.de/literature/EUFOFI-NET-Fire-Glossary.pdf) ii) fi re hazard (potential): The diffi culty of control-ling potential wildfi re. It is commonly determined by fi re behavior characteris-tics such as rate-of-spread, intensity, torching, crowning, spotting, and fi re per-sistence, and by resistance to-control EUFOFINET; http://www.fi re.uni-freiburg.de/literature/EUFOFI-NET-Fire-Glossary.pdf) iii) A fuel complex, defi ned by volume, type condi-tion, arrangement, and location, that determines the