Abstract

WONG GONZALEZ, Julio César  and  VILLERS RUIZ, María de Lourdes. Fuels assessment and its availability in forest fire: a study in the Malinche National Park. Invest. Geog [online]. 2007, n.62, pp.87-103. ISSN 2448-7279.

Studies of forest fire danger and control considers the interaction between the weather factors and fuels characteristics. The fuels moisture was evaluated in relation on its diameter and the relative humidity. Fuels from 0.6 to 2.5 and from 2.6 to 7.5 cm of diameter were analyzed in the communities where dominate genera was: Quercus, Alnus, Abies and Pinus at National Park Malinche, Tlaxcala, Mexico. The results show: a) the fuels moisture content varied according to the atmospheric conditions in different places and hourly, b) the fuels with greater diameter had a smaller relation between the exposition surface and its volume (120 m2/m3) and for the smaller diameter the relation enlarged (235 m2/m3), having a greater probability of ignition. During the fires season in the months of February, March and April, the fuels moisture content in Alnus jorullensis and Pinus montezumae was greater to 25% where the combustion is not produced, this is the humidity of extinction. In Quercus crassipes, Pinus hartwegii and Abies religious-Pinus teocote, the fuels moisture was smaller to 25% these communities were more vulnerable to fires hazard.

Keywords : Forest fuel; forest fires; weather; Malinche National Park.

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