Forest Fires Distribution in the Continental Area of Kavala

• Main Author: D Filiadis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology 2016-05-01
• Series: Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review
• Subjects: Forest Service; Forest/shrub; Forest wildfires; Kavala; Statistical analysis
• Online Access: http://www.jestr.org/downloads/Volume9Issue2/fulltext16922016.pdf
• ISSN: 1791-2377; 1791-2377

The prefecture of Kavala has a long history of devastating forest fire events in both its continental part and Thasos Island. Forest fire records provide useful information on spatial and temporal distribution of forest fire events after statistical analysis. In this case study, the distribution of forest fires in the continental area of Kavala prefecture is presented for the period 2001-2014 through a series of simple-method statistics and charts/graphs. The number of forest fire events and burned area are presented on a month to month and annual basis. Burned forest area is categorized in three types (forest, shrub, meadow) according to Forest Services statistical records. Legislation changes on forest-shrub definition during the aforementioned period, could potentially affect the consistency of forest fire records. Thus spatial imagery was used for a more uniform interpretation of forest-shrub definitions on the forest fire spatial data. The most destructive wildfire years were 2013 and 2001, affected mainly by a respective single large forest fire event. On the opposite 2004, 2005 and 2010 were the least destructive years for the time period studied. Mediterranean type shrub lands were by far the most affected vegetation type that were also affected by the two single large wildfire event in 2001 and 2013. The 2014 had a zero forest fire record which coincides with a shift in the legislation implementation from the associated authorities regarding pasture management. The relationship between pasture management and forest fires has been widely recognized among scientists and land managers in Greece. Spatial distribution of forest fires in comparison with the recognized protected areas and the established infrastructure for fire protection was conducted using ArcGIS graphic environment and tools.