Abstract:

Forest fuels are the material basis for forest fires and the main carrier for the spread of forest fires. As one of the three elements of forest combustion, the load, combustion characteristics and continuous distribution of forest fuels affect the occurrence, spread and prevention of forest fires. Once a major fire occurs, it will cause serious damage to the forest ecosystem and forest resources. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out forest fuel management, reduce fuel accumulation, improve the combustion characteristics, change their horizontal and vertical continuity to reduce forest fire risk and intensity. This article summarizes the current research status at home and abroad from two aspects: combustible control technology (manual control, mechanical removal, planned burning, chemical weed control, microbial degradation, and the construction of biological fire prevention forest belts) and evaluation methods (forest fire behavior, forest combustibility, fire risk, and ecological effects, etc.). Summarized and collated forest fuel control technology and evaluation methods for control effectiveness, the effectiveness of different regulation measures is compared, and the advantages and disadvantages of various evaluation methods are analyzed. The future research directions and evaluation methods of fuel control technology are prospected. It was pointed out that basic research on forest fuel should be carried out, appropriate control measures should be discussed for key fire risk areas, long-term monitoring and dynamic evaluation of control effect should be carried out, and the time change of control effect and ecological environment impact should be quantified. On the basis of understanding the principle of fire resistance, it is an important direction for future forest fire prevention research and management to help achieve the goal of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” by combining the concept of “green fire prevention” with comprehensive technologies such as forest ecological regulation.

Key words: fuel management, prescribed burning, mechanical removal, biological firebreak, forest fire behavior, flammability