A mixed integer programming approach to reduce fuel load accumulation for prescribed burn planning

The increasing frequency of destructive wild land fires, with a consequent loss of life and property, has led to fire and land management agencies initiating extensive fuel management programs. This involves long-term scheduling of the location of fuel reduction activities such as prescribed burning or mechanical clearing. In this paper a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model is formulated which includes multiple vegetation types in the landscape. The model keeps track of the age of each vegetation class in each treatment unit. Each vegetation type is subject to a minimum and maximum Tolerable Fire Interval (TFI). The objective is to minimise fuel load over the planning horizon. The efficacy of the model was tested using randomised data from 711 treatment units in the Barwon-Otway district of Victoria. For a landscape comprising this many treatment units, solutions could be obtained for up to 10-year prescribed burn planning using a standard implementation utilising CPLEX.

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