Distribution patterns of wildfire sizes in Mississippi from 1991 to 2007 were examined by descriptive and extreme value statistics. Wildland fires occurred most frequently between February and May and in the ecoregion of outer coastal plain mixed-forest province. Wildfires in Mississippi followed the generalised Pareto distribution.

Common wildland fire fuels of pine savannas in the south-eastern US Coastal Plain were collected to determine energy content. Measured energy contents were then used in the BehavePlus fire behaviour modelling system to determine the relative advantage of using the newly measured energy contents v. the default value.

Wildland fires caused by lightning are examined for Victoria in south-east Australia. The examination includes fire duration, area burnt, temporal variability in the average chance of fire per lightning stroke, and the time period from lightning ignition until a fire is first observed. Results are compared with other international studies.

Post-bushfire litigation and non-litigated claims against the New South Wales Rural Fire Service are reviewed to determine the true extent of claims for compensation arising from Australian unplanned wildfires and hazard reduction activities. The effect of litigation is compared with other judicial proceedings such as coroner’s inquests and Royal Commissions.

This study investigated the effects of grasslands on fire frequency and occurrence within the ponderosa pine-dominated forests of the Colorado Front Range. Owing to proximity to prevalent fine fuels able to support surface fires, stands adjacent to grasslands experienced more frequent fire and a greater response to interannual wet–dry patterns than stands not adjacent to grasslands.

Spatial patterning of soil properties is important for the ecology of many semiarid rangelands. Interactions of fire, vegetation and erosion appear to reinforce the spatial patterning of soil properties in sagebrush steppe, a critical semiarid rangeland habitat increasingly affected by wildfire. However, increased fire frequency could decrease ability to withstand change.

Wildfires have the potential to affect the water chemistry and biological communities of streams. This paper investigates the short-term effects (12 months) of a fire on a saline stream in a semiarid region of Australia. Small increases in nutrients, colour and turbidity and decreases in dissolved oxygen occurred but these returned to pre-fire conditions within 2–3 months. No effect on the macroinvertebrate community was apparent.

The objective of this study was to compare moisture of different size classes of fuels between unthinned and thinned stands. It has been suggested that thinning treatments reducing canopy cover might lead to greater drying of surface fuels; however, differences in fuel moisture between unthinned and thinned stands were minor and only occurred in the spring, before the main fire season.

Prediction of fires in British Columbia is a challenging proposition. We demonstrate significant year effects in logistic-type models for predicting fires and propose to use an ensemble of year-specific model predictions for computing a prediction with a confidence interval. Good results were achieved at the regional level.

Preventing or suppressing fire in a wetland requires consideration of the consequences of fire-management action on water quality. A preliminary investigation of chemical fire retardants on heat treated sediments indicated changes in the soluble nutrient load and buffering the acidity generated by the heating and burning of organic sediment.

A two-phase method for modelling drying processes with initial moisture content above the fibre saturation point is proposed. Experimental results indicate that one type of two-phase model, namely a two-timelag model, yields consistent results in Scots pine fuelbeds with different structural characteristics that may improve fuel moisture modelling.

Management of Mediterranean-type shrublands frequently includes application of prescribed fire. This paper examines the use of fuel age (time since fire) and fire weather conditions to predict fire propagation and behaviour in 35 experimental fires in three shrubland types in Western Australia. Model predictions are evaluated against empirical observations.

Firebrand transport is studied for disc and cylindrical firebrands by modelling their trajectories with a coupled-physics fire model HIGRAD/FIRETEC. Simulations with eight firebrand models are performed to investigate the effect of firebrand shape, combustion, the terminal velocity assumption and fuel conditions. The coupled fire–atmosphere behaviour is critical to firebrand transport.

We present a method for estimating spatial probabilities of burning as a function of fuels treatments for any wildland fire-affected landscape. Treatment effects within 14 large wildfires reduced average wildfire size by 7.2%, redistributing landscape fire risk such that fire risk was promoted in some areas and reduced in others.

We describe how burn probability changes with fuel age in Portugal. The time-dependency of hazard of burning is moderate. Larger fires and fires impelled by extreme weather conditions are associated to increased burn likelihood of young fuels but are also selective for older fuels. Fire management implications are discussed.

We used satellite images at spatial resolutions between 0.6 and 250 m to monitor vegetation recovery on vegetated linear dunes following wildfires in Western Australia. Although wildfires allow sand to be mobilised by wind, after just 1–5 years, vegetation recovers, limiting sand movement.

Fire susceptibility models provide a quantitative understanding of the environmental controls of forest fires over the period 2003–07 in the Western Ghats of India. They allow identification of large fire-prone areas from the climatic conditions of the monsoon season before the fire season, and local vulnerable sites based on vegetation types.

We studied how fire severity and distance from unburned habitat affected small-mammal communities in southern California chaparral. Vegetation characteristics associated with post-fire recovery and other habitat features drove small-mammal responses, whereas distance and fire severity had few substantial effects.

Spatial and temporal variation in seven fire regime variables are described for Canada’s managed forests. Opportunities for sharing forest fire suppression resources are explored with simulations of fire regimes and quantifying the degree of temporal and spatial synchrony in peak fire-activities.

We mapped wildfire probability in the western United States using statistical models relating fire during a 25-year period to environmental variables representing ignitions, fuels, climate and topography. Results reveal highly heterogeneous patterns of wildfire probability and also enhance understanding of controls on wildfire activity in the western USA.