Mapping Forest Fire Risk—A Case Study in Galicia (Spain)

• Main Authors: Ana Novo, Noelia Fariñas-Álvarez, Joaquín Martínez-Sánchez, Higinio González-Jorge, José María Fernández-Alonso, Henrique Lorenzo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Remote Sensing
• Subjects: fire risk parameters; forest fire risk map; forest management; spatial analysis; LiDAR data; multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/22/3705

The optimization of forest management in roadsides is a necessary task in terms of wildfire prevention in order to mitigate their effects. Forest fire risk assessment identifies high-risk locations, while providing a decision-making support about vegetation management for firefighting. In this study, nine relevant parameters: elevation, slope, aspect, road distance, settlement distance, fuel model types, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), fire weather index (FWI), and historical fire regimes, were considered as indicators of the likelihood of a forest fire occurrence. The parameters were grouped in five categories: topography, vegetation, FWI, historical fire regimes, and anthropogenic issues. This paper presents a novel approach to forest fire risk mapping the classification of vegetation in fuel model types based on the analysis of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) was incorporated. The criteria weights that lead to fire risk were computed by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and applied to two datasets located in NW Spain. Results show that approximately 50% of the study area A and 65% of the study area B are characterized as a 3<i>-moderate</i> fire risk zone. The methodology presented in this study will allow road managers to determine appropriate vegetation measures with regards to fire risk. The automation of this methodology is transferable to other regions for forest prevention planning and fire mitigation.