Land cover analysis in wildland–urban interfaces according to wildfire risk: A case study in the South of France

Lampin-Maillet, C.; Long-Fournel, M.; Ganteaume, Anne; Jappiot, Marielle; Ferrier, Jean-Paul

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.11.022

Cited by 57 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…This study highlighted the importance of fire spread modeling for risk assessment in Mediterranean environments where large fires spread through mosaics of fuel type and administrative jurisdiction [32,76,77]. Urban interface classification based on housing density has been considered a key factor in structure loss and risk mitigation in some previous studies [19,78].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Assessing Wildland Fire Risk Transmission to Communities in Northern Spain

Alcasena

Salis

Ager

et al. 2017

Forests

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Abstract:We assessed potential economic losses and transmission to residential houses from wildland fires in a rural area of central Navarra (Spain). Expected losses were quantified at the individual structure level (n = 306) in 14 rural communities by combining fire model predictions of burn probability and fire intensity with susceptibility functions derived from expert judgement. Fire exposure was estimated by simulating 50,000 fire events that replicated extreme (97th percentile) historical fire weather conditions. Spatial ignition probabilities were used in the simulations to account for non-random ignitions, and were estimated from a fire occurrence model generated with an artificial neural network. The results showed that ignition probability explained most of spatial variation in risk, with economic value of structures having only a minor effect. Average expected loss to residential houses from a single wildfire event in the study area was 7955€, and ranged from a low of 740 to the high of 28,725€. Major fire flow-paths were analyzed to understand fire transmission from surrounding municipalities and showed that incoming fires from the north exhibited strong pathways into the core of the study area, and fires spreading from the south had the highest likelihood of reaching target residential structures from the longest distances (>5 km). Community firesheds revealed the scale of risk to communities and extended well beyond administrative boundaries. The results provided a quantitative risk assessment that can be used by insurance companies and local landscape managers to prioritize and allocate investments to treat wildland fuels and identify clusters of high expected loss within communities. The methodological framework can be extended to other fire-prone southern European Union countries where communities are threatened by large wildland fires.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Assessing Wildland Fire Risk Transmission to Communities in Northern Spain

Alcasena

Salis

Ager

et al. 2017

Forests

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“…Fire frequency and area burned in Mediterranean and nonforested regions tend to be highest where population and housing densities are low-to-intermediate (Keeley 2005, Syphard et al 2007a, Lampin-Maillet et al 2011). In our study area, these are the same patterns where houses are most likely to be destroyed by fire , Alexandre et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our study area, these are the same patterns where houses are most likely to be destroyed by fire , Alexandre et al 2016). In particular, structure loss is highest at low to intermediate densities, surrounded by wildland vegetation, and in small, isolated neighborhoods (Syphard et al 2007a,b, 2009, Lampin-Maillet et al 2011. Thus, the scenarios that forced new construction into the coastal areas as higher density infill reduced fire risk not only because houses were not allowed to develop in hazardous areas, but they were also forced to occur in safer arrangements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

Syphard¹,

Butsic²,

Bar‐Massada³

et al. 2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region. These results likely generalize to any place where high species richness overlaps with hazardous wildland vegetation.

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“…Within the WUI, different land uses and densities may lead to different ignition frequencies although the absolute density, which leads to maximum ignitions seems to vary across regions. Some researchers have found isolated houses within the WUI lead to the most ignitions [53,54] while others have found clustered houses have more ignitions [50]. In areas of very high housing densities, ignition rates may be low because even though there are ample sources of ignitions, most materials simply are not flammable.…”

Section: Land Use Change and Ignition Frequencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Land Use and Wildfire: A Review of Local Interactions and Teleconnections

Butsic

Kelly

Moritz

2015

Land

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Abstract:Fire is a naturally occurring process of most terrestrial ecosystems as well as a tool for changing land use. Since the beginning of history humans have used fire as a mechanism for creating areas suitable for agriculture and settlement. As fires threaten human dominated landscapes, fire risk itself has become a driver of landscape change, impacting landscapes through land use regulations and fire management. Land use changes also influence fire ignition frequency and fuel loads and hence alters fire regimes. The impact of these changes is often exacerbated as new land users demand alternative fire management strategies, which can impact land cover and management far from where land use change has actually occurred. This creates nuanced land use teleconnections between source areas for fires and economic cores, which demand and fund fire protection. Here we will review the role of fire and fire risk as a driver of land use change, the ways land use changes impact drivers of fire, and suggest that the integration of land use teleconnections into the fire/land use discussion can help us better understand and manage the complex interactions between fire and land use.

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Land cover analysis in wildland–urban interfaces according to wildfire risk: A case study in the South of France

Cited by 57 publications

References 22 publications

Assessing Wildland Fire Risk Transmission to Communities in Northern Spain

Assessing Wildland Fire Risk Transmission to Communities in Northern Spain

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

Land Use and Wildfire: A Review of Local Interactions and Teleconnections

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