  The scope of this work was to show the utility of thermal analysis and
calorimetric experiments to study the thermal oxidative degradation of
Mediterranean scrubs. We investigated the thermal degradation of four species;
DSC and TGA were used under air sweeping to record oxidative reactions in
dynamic conditions. Heat released and mass loss are important data to be
measured for wildland fires modelling purpose and fire hazard studies on
ligno-cellulosic fuels. Around 638 and 778 K, two dominating and overlapped
exothermic peaks were recorded in DSC and individualized using a experimental
and numerical separation. This stage allowed obtaining the enthalpy variation
of each exothermic phenomenon. As an application, we propose to classify the
fuels according to the heat released and the rate constant of each reaction.
TGA experiments showed under air two successive mass loss around 638 and 778 K.
Both techniques are useful in order to measure ignitability, combustibility and
sustainability of forest fuels.
