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Determination of fire risk to assist fire management for insular areas: the case of a small Greek island

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Abstract

Forest fire risk estimation constitutes an essential process to prevent high-intensity fires which are associated with severe implications to the natural and cultural environment. The primary aim of this research was to determine fire risk levels based on the local features of an island, namely, the impact of fuel structures, slope, aspects, as well as the impact of the road network and inhabited regions. The contribution of all the involved factors to forest fires ignition and behavior highlight certain regions which are highly vulnerable. In addition, the influence of both natural and anthropogenic factors to forest fire phenomena is explored. In this study, natural factors play a dominant role compared to anthropogenic factors. Hence essential preventative measures must focus on specific areas and established immediately. Indicative measures may include: the optimal allocation of watchtowers as well as the spatial optimization of mobile firefighting vehicles; and, forest fuel treatments in areas characterized by extremely high fire risk. The added value of this fire prediction tool is that it is highly flexible and could be adopted elsewhere with the necessary adjustments to local characteristics.

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Source: Toukiloglou et al. (2013), own processing

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Notes

  1. This paragraph was derived from the opinion of experts in this field through interview process. Professor Mike Flannigan (Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta) and Research Scientist Bill de Groot (Canadian Forest Service) contributed to the section of the estimated fire behavior of fuel.

  2. In this evaluation, we obtained the opinion of experts in this field through an interview process. Professor Mike Flannigan (Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta) and Research Scientist Bill de Groot (Canadian Forest Service) contributed to the section of the estimated fire behavior of fuel.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Research Scientist Bill de Groot (Canadian Forest Service) for his contribution to the section of the estimated fire behavior of fuels as well as the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly, Pedion Areos, 38334, Volos, Greece

    S. Sakellariou, S. Tampekis, F. Samara & O. Christopoulou

  2. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 751 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H1, Canada

    M. Flannigan

  3. Institute of Forest Sciences, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Chair of Forest Operations, Werthmannstraße, 679085, Freiburg, Germany

    D. Jaeger

  4. Department of Agriculture Crop Production and Rural Environment, University of Thessaly, Fytokou Street, N. Ionia, 38446, Volos, Greece

    A. Sfougaris

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  1. S. Sakellariou
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  2. S. Tampekis
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  4. M. Flannigan
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Correspondence to S. Sakellariou.

Additional information

Project funding: Significant part of this research was co-financed by the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Education and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)— Research Funding Program: Thales. Investing in knowledge society through the European Social Fund.

The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com

Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo.

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Sakellariou, S., Tampekis, S., Samara, F. et al. Determination of fire risk to assist fire management for insular areas: the case of a small Greek island. J. For. Res. 30, 589–601 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-018-0666-x

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