Forest fires are one of the major threats to the environment, to socio-economic activity and also to human life. Throughout history several generations have attempted to understand the role played by fire in the forest and to manage it. The scientific community with its contribution to the understanding of this complex problem is part of this effort. The availability of new tools and technologies has promoted a quick development of the scientific research in this field and its application in the decision making process. The IV International Conference on forest Fire Research/2002 Wildland Fire Safety Summit brought together scientists and managers from all over the World with their latest developments in tropics like risk assessment, fire management, fire behaviour, fire safety, fire mitigation and fire effects.This Book contains around 200 contributions presented by some of the most prominent and wellknown researchers in the field. All published contributions were revised and accepted by a Scientific Committee. This publication is essential to forestry managers, decision makers, fire safety officers, fire bosses, professors and researchers. The printed book contains the abstracts of the articles; their full version is presented at the enclosed CD-ROM.