Avaliação do comportamento do fogo em áreas de pastagem e cerrado submetidas a queimas controladas

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the behavior of fire in controlled burning, in order to establish relationships between fire behavior variables and propagation determinants (combustible material and climatic variables). This work was developed in three experimental areas divided into three periods of the day for the firing of the burns, from 07:00 to 11:00 in the morning, from 13:00 to 17:30 and from 18:00 at 21:00 hours, in the municipalities of Gurupi-TO and Dueré-TO, in June 2016. The first area, called Gurupi I, is 3 km from the municipality of Gurupi-TO, with vegetation Andropogon gayanus (average height of 1.80 cm); The second area, called Gurupi II, is 4 km from the municipality of Gurupi-TO, with Andropogon gayanus (average height between 40-60 cm) and the third area, called Dueré, is approximately 40 km from the municipality of Gurupi-TO, With vegetation typical of Cerrado Stricto Sensu. For the collection of combustible material, the methodology used was the "destructive sampling" used by different authors, which consists of the removal of all the material contained in the quadrant. The combustible material was separated in vivo and dead, and by diametric grades (<0.7 cm, 0.7 - 2.5 cm, 2.5 - 7.6 cm, >7.6 cm). According to the statistical analysis, Gurupi I was the area that presented the largest biomass of living and dead combustible material with a diameter of <0.7 cm (3.789 t.ha-1; 9.912 t.ha-1). In the Dueré area, live and dead fuel with a diameter of <0.7 cm had a load of 0.451 t.ha-1; 3.492 t.ha-1 respectively. The dead fuel material, with diameters> 0.7 cm, was observed only in the Dueré area with a total load of 0.879 t.ha-1. Regarding the results obtained in Dueré, the average wind speed ranged from 0.0 m.s-1 (afternoon period) to 0.02 m.s-1 (night time). In the fire intensity, this variation was between 118.60 kcal.m-1.s-1 (morning) and 361.45 kcal.m-1.s-1 (late) and at (night) with the lowest intensity 53.21 kcal.m-1.s-1. In Gurupi I, the height of the flames in the morning was observed the lowest value (1.12 m) and in the afternoon showed the highest height (3.47 m). In Gurupi II, the average propagation velocity was higher in the morning (0.02 m.s-1) and in the afternoon (0.04 m.s-1). The temperature and relative humidity were respectively higher and lower in the afternoon with the following values: 37.4°C and 17.0%, and presented correlation with fire behavior parameters and were included in the mathematical models General adjusted for propagation velocity prediction (R2= 0.44); of the fire intensity (R2 = 0.60) and the height of the flames (R2 = 0.74). In general, the variables that exerted most influence on fire behavior were the meteorological variables, such as relative humidity and air temperature.