Evaluating forest fire danger and prevention measures for the management of power line routes

It is expected that forest fires will also increase in Central Europe due to climate change, societal changes and changes in land use. For the design of comprehensive prevention strategies in a changed forest fire regime, an integrated forest fire management is needed. In particular, the wildland-urban interface (WUI), the combined zone of vegetation with settlements or critical infrastructure, needs to be considered. Current knowledge on forest fire behavior, vulnerability and possible prevention measures in Europe is primarily limited to Mediterranean countries and is often derived from research results from the USA or Canada. Therefore, a situation- and demand-oriented analyses is needed to assess the local forest fire danger and to propose appropriate prevention measures. Within the framework of the project, the current forest fire situation of high-voltage power lines - as part of the critical infrastructure in Austria - is investigated and the causes for the occurrence of forest fires in the vicinity of power lines are to be identified. Particularly taking into account the effects of man-made climate change, it is necessary to assess the future forest fire danger for high-voltage power lines in Austria. Furthermore, it is necessary to investigate which measures can be taken to minimize the risk of forest fires and the potential occurrence of uncontrolled fires in the vicinity of high-voltage power lines.