Five methods for the evaluation of fire danger, based on meteorological factors, were tested using statistical data for daily number of fires and burned area from six different regions in France, Italy and Portugal, for a period of 3-9 years, both for Winter and Summer fires. A normalised scale for the output of the various methods was adopted to compare the variation of number of fires and burned area predicted by each method. Based on a statistical test, the relative performance of the various methods is assessed. From the five methods that were analysed in this research, the Canadian and the modified Nesterov methods showed the best overall performance.

Field measurements of moisture content of several fine fuels (shrub vegetation and live foliage) were performed in Central Portugal and in Catalunya (NE Spain) for 1–10 years. Seasonal and interannual variation of live fine fuels of several species in two regions of the Iberian Peninsula are analysed. The species were grouped in three sets according to their relatively high, intermediate or low seasonal variability. Meteorological data from nearby stations were collected in each study area and used in the evaluation of some indicators of fuel moisture that are used in the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System, namely the Drought Code (DC). It was found that in the summer season the slow response of live fine fuel moisture content (LFFMC) to meteorological conditions, namely to precipitation, was well described by the DC. Empirical correlations between LFFMC and DC for each species and site are proposed.

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