Hydrological modelling for flood forecasting: Calibrating the post-fire initial conditions

•Assessment of post-fire impact on typical Mediterranean periurban catchments.•Methodological framework to estimate post-fire changes in hydrological parameters.•The term hydrological recovery, as opposed to environmental recovery is introduced.•Exploitation of fire severity in modelling post-fire hydrological behaviour.•Consideration of initial soil moisture in post-fire hydrological simulations.