Wildfire Impact and the “Fire Paradox” in a Natural and Endemic Pine Forest Stand and Shrubland

Abstract

Fire is a powerful force that has shaped forests for thousands of years. It also provokes widespread social concern due to possible economic damage, social effects, impact on homes and properties, and other social effects including fatalities. Regions with seasonal variations in aridity have a fire regime dependent on climate resulting from the role of precipitation and temperature in fire occurrence, implying a synchrony of fire occurrence at regional scale. This spatial and temporal variation of fire regimes regulates the structure, diversity, regeneration dynamics, and nutrient cycle of an area. In the Canary Islands, fires are recurrent in pine forests, although their occurrence in the same area more than once within a 20-year period is rare. The main aim of this work is to reveal, over a 50-year period, fire occurrence and impact on the Canary Islands and how the islands are immersed in a “fire paradox”—a process typical of protected areas, where fire suppression becomes one of the main aims of forest management.

The Safe Development Paradox in Flood Risk Management: A Critical Review

“…Throughout this paper the Safe Development Paradox shall refer to all three keyphrases for the process described. Even outside of flood risk, structural measures are often used to mitigate natural hazards with similar challenges in tackling the Safe Development Paradox: strengthening infrastructure in earthquake zones [12]; larger dams for avalanches [13]; stronger housing design in tornado zones [14]; and the fire paradox, whereby preventing forest fires against a steady increase in fire risk and subsequent wildfire damage [15], to name a few.…”

How Does Fire Suppression Alter the Wildfire Regime? A Systematic Review

“…While fire suppression has led to a significant decline in global fire activity in the 20th century [28], it has been suggested that fire suppression may lead to a paradox: the more effective the fire suppression, the more severe future fires [29][30][31][32]. This is known as the wildfire paradox [33].…”

“…Theoretically, fire suppression can lead to larger fires by increasing fuel load and continuity. Specifically, the prolonged absence of wildfires may result in the significant accumulation of combustible biomass, such as dead wood, that should have been periodically burned [29][30][31][32], along with vegetation encroachment [38], especially in regions lacking fire prevention measures [39]. Over time, the increase in fuel load can create conditions for more intense fires.…”

Innovative Action for Forest Fire Prevention in Kythira Island, Greece, through Mobilization and Cooperation of the Population: Methodology and Challenges

“…This term, in business, describes a "quick-fix" management strategy, which focuses on fixing rather than preventing problems, often resulting in unintended negative consequences [18]. In the realm of forest fire management, such a strategy can initially appear successful as it is likely to reduce damage in the short term, but in the long term it fails to address the roots of the increasing wildfire potential [19] resulting in the so-called "fire paradox" [20,21]. This problem has been documented clearly and current scientific thinking calls for shifting the focus from fire suppression to mitigation, prevention, and preparation, as such a policy is more likely to reduce the negative socioeconomic and ecological effects of fire than the current, largely one-dimensional, focus on fire exclusion [22].…”