Une protection améliorée contre les feux de foudre au Québec

A joint effort by scientists from the Petawawa National Forestry Institute and technicians of the Société de Conservation de l'Outaouais (SCO) has made possible the development of lightning fire detection methods and appropriate initial attack strategies in the Ottawa Valley region. Analysis of data collected since 1972 has made it possible to identify high fire concentration zones in the Province of Québec, which are generally associated with large burned areas except in the Ottawa Valley, where, in spite of a very high fire concentration, smaller burned areas are observed. These observations suggest that it would be advisable to implement lightning fire detection and initial attack systems similar to that of the SCO in Quebec's protected forests to the north of the St. Lawrence and to encourage forest fire protective associations (Sociétés de Conservation) to make provisions for inter-associations mobility of fire fighting personnel. Key words: lightning fires, detection, initial attack, Société de Conservation