2/3/2020
Efectis is offering an innovative approach to assess building vulnerability when facing forest, grassland or agricultural fires: it has been developed and applied in different fire-prone regions in South-East France. It is also in ongoing adaptation to neighbouring countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy, which face severe vegetation fire conditions near urban areas.
Protection against vegetation fires needs to dovetail with the national, regional and provincial regulations on forestry, construction and housing, environment and land management. For some specific sites, dedicated industrial regulations also have to be taken into account (e.g. cable car construction).
In France, the ‘Plan Prevention du Risque incendie de forêt’, or ‘PPRif’, defines the risk zoning and also provides some fire resistance/reaction performance requirements for construction projects, whereas the ‘Obligations Légales de Débroussaillement’, or ‘OLD’, define the vegetation cleaning requirements and methodology. Additionally, the local fire-fighting services have the ability, according their expertise, to redefine the risk on the project site to be at a higher or lower level than provided for in the regulation. There are considerable uncertainties in the interpretation of the PPRif and OLD and sometimes a dedicated analysis on site is needed to help determine the risk and vulnerability.
Efectis aims to give construction project managers the best possible assistance in their iterations with public services such as firefighting and land management. They are able to benefit from Efectis’ great experience in FSE, as well as long-term collaboration with wildfire and fire ecology scientific partners in the South-East of France.
Contact: Bruno Guillaume – [bruno.guillaume@efectis.com]