Citation

Castillo ME, Molina JR, Rodríguez y Silva F, García-Chevesich P, Garfias R. Sci. Total Environ. 2016; 579: 1410-1418.

Affiliation

International Hydrology Research Group, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Nature Conservancy, University of Chile.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.139

PMID

27923572

Abstract

Wildfires constitute the greatest economic disruption to Mediterranean ecosystems, from a socio-economic and ecological perspective (Molina et al., 2014). This study proposes to classify fire intensity levels based on potential fire behavior in different types of Mediterranean vegetation types, using two geographical scales. The study considered >4 thousand wildfires over a period of 25years, identifying fire behavior on each event, based on simulations using "KITRAL", a model developed in Chile in 1993 and currently used in the entire country. Fire intensity values allowed results to be classified into six fire effects categories (levels), each of them with field indicators linking energy values with damage related to burned vegetation and wildland urban interface zone. These indicators also facilitated a preliminary assessment of wildfire impact on different Mediterranean land uses and, are therefore, a useful tool to prioritize future interventions.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en