ErWiN

  • Contact:

    Fabian Faßnacht

  • Project Group:

    Vegetation

  • Funding:

    Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe

  • Partner:

    (i) Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Institut für Waldökosysteme , (ii) Landeskompetenzzentrum Forst Eberswalde, (iii) Institut der Feuerwehr NRW, Dezernat K2, Krisenmanagement und Forschung, and (iv) KIT - ITAS (Campus Nord)

  • Startdate:

    08/2020

  • Enddate:

    07/2023

Nowadays, warmer and drier summers increase the wildfire risk in Germany. Over the last two year a series of larger wildfires as well as numerous small wildfires occurred throughout Germany. The dangers connected to these increased number of fire events are currently contrasted by a lack of knowledge with exists amongst forest practitioners, fire fighter and other recognized security institutions. This is also mirrored in the deficient education of the corresponding staff with respect to wild fire mitigation strategies. The suggested research project ErWiN aims on establishing an important basis for the knowledge-based management of wild fires using silvicultural and fire-suppression approaches. Before this background, the sub-project of KIT-IfGG is focusing on the adaptation of existing fire-spread simulation models to German condition and their subsequent application in scenario analyses to assess the efficiency of silvicultural and fire-risk reduction measures. Furthermore, the KIT-IfGG will develop a classification key for fuel types for Germany which is also an important input to the fire-spread-simulation models. These tasks will create essential knowledge about wild fires in central European forests which will also result in management recommendation for forest practitioners, fire fighters and other recognized security institutions.