The cypress trees shown in image resisted a fire that had devastated 20,000 hectares around Andilla (Spain) in July 2012. All around the 9,000-m2 area of cypresses, including pine, oak, holm oak, juniper and gorse trees; had been consumed by the flames, whereas, only 12 cyppresses burnt (1.26% out of more than 940 of mediterranean cyppresses in total).
After three years of research, a study about the use of cypresses as a screen against fire was published in the Journal of Environmental Management.*
The high resistance of the cypresses to ignition has raised the possibility of using this species in fighting forest fires. Especially noteworthy is the behaviour of the tops of the trees which, despite the fact that the trees are packed close together, the fire did not advance through the higher branches and on the top of that, the flames barely caused the drying out.
“La naturaleza tiene la respuesta a muchos de los problemas que enfrentamos” B. Moya.
* Della Rocca, G; Hernando, C; Madrigal, J; Danti, R; Moya, J; Guijarro, M; Pecchioli, A; Moya, B. 2015. Possible land management uses of common cypress to reduce wildfire initiation risk: a laboratory study.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Vol: 159, 68-77 pp, DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.05.020
Published: AUG 15 2015