Numerical study of an experimental high-intensity prescribed fire across Corsican Genista salzmannii vegetation

This paper reported a high intensity experimental fire conducted during field-scale experiment on steep sloped terrain (28°) as part of winter prescribed burns campaign managed by the local firefighter service in north-western region Corsica. The rate spread (ROS) fire, measured using UAV cameras (thermal and visible), was evaluated at 0.45 m/s. numerically reproduced completely physical 2D model, namely FireStar2D, comparison with measurements mainly concerned ROS heat fluxes received three distant targets placed end plot. results analysis shows that considered has wind-driven regime propagation higher than 7 MW/m. numerical are fairly good agreement measurements, within 11% difference for 5% fluxes, validating consequently relevance approach to tackle such high-intensity wildfires. Despite unfavorable wind humidity conditions (U = 1.67 m/s RH 82%), this confirms can exhibit dangerous behavior due slope terrain.