Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)

In October 2017, an extreme wildfire outbreak in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula burned thousands of hectares, resulting in human deaths and important economic damage. This paper provides a first comprehensive assessment of the exposure of the local communities in the Spanish region of Galicia, wher...

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Authors: Chas Amil, María Luisa, García Martínez, Eduardo Daniel, Touza, Julia
Format: article
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Repository:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/43856
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43856
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Wildfire perimeters
Wildfire severity
Wildfire exposure
Wildland-urban interface
Galicia
Spain
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spelling Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)Chas Amil, María LuisaGarcía Martínez, Eduardo DanielTouza, JuliaWildfire perimetersWildfire severityWildfire exposureWildland-urban interfaceGaliciaSpainIn October 2017, an extreme wildfire outbreak in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula burned thousands of hectares, resulting in human deaths and important economic damage. This paper provides a first comprehensive assessment of the exposure of the local communities in the Spanish region of Galicia, where forestlands routinely experience fire outbreaks, as the one that occurred in 14th, 15th and 16th October with more than two hundred fire incidents. We delimitate the wildfire perimeters, characterize the area burned in regards to vegetation characteristics, evaluate the affected wildland-urban interface (WUI), and quantify the population and buildings exposed to wildfires. The burned area was found to be unevenly distributed, concentrated in the south of the region, and in municipalities with nearly half of their lands under WUI. This resulted in a high level of exposure in the affected lands. We estimated that 51 communities were inside fire perimeters. Moreover, 873 communities with more than 87,000 people residing on them, were at a close distance of less than 1 km away. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding extreme wildfire events and their potential impacts which can guide how best communities can respond to them. The high number of population exposed to the studied event shows the necessity of integrating land-use planning with wildfire risk prevention and preparedness.ElsevierUniversidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Economía Cuantitativa20202020-01-0120202020-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501AMhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/10347/43856reponame:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostelainstname:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:minerva.usc.gal:10347/438562026-06-15T12:47:27Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
title Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
spellingShingle Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
Chas Amil, María Luisa
Wildfire perimeters
Wildfire severity
Wildfire exposure
Wildland-urban interface
Galicia
Spain
title_short Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
title_full Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
title_fullStr Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
title_full_unstemmed Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
title_sort Iberian Peninsula October 2017 wildfires: Burned area and population exposure in Galicia (NW of Spain)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Chas Amil, María Luisa
García Martínez, Eduardo Daniel
Touza, Julia
author Chas Amil, María Luisa
author_facet Chas Amil, María Luisa
García Martínez, Eduardo Daniel
Touza, Julia
author_role author
author2 García Martínez, Eduardo Daniel
Touza, Julia
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Departamento de Economía Cuantitativa
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Wildfire perimeters
Wildfire severity
Wildfire exposure
Wildland-urban interface
Galicia
Spain
topic Wildfire perimeters
Wildfire severity
Wildfire exposure
Wildland-urban interface
Galicia
Spain
description In October 2017, an extreme wildfire outbreak in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula burned thousands of hectares, resulting in human deaths and important economic damage. This paper provides a first comprehensive assessment of the exposure of the local communities in the Spanish region of Galicia, where forestlands routinely experience fire outbreaks, as the one that occurred in 14th, 15th and 16th October with more than two hundred fire incidents. We delimitate the wildfire perimeters, characterize the area burned in regards to vegetation characteristics, evaluate the affected wildland-urban interface (WUI), and quantify the population and buildings exposed to wildfires. The burned area was found to be unevenly distributed, concentrated in the south of the region, and in municipalities with nearly half of their lands under WUI. This resulted in a high level of exposure in the affected lands. We estimated that 51 communities were inside fire perimeters. Moreover, 873 communities with more than 87,000 people residing on them, were at a close distance of less than 1 km away. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding extreme wildfire events and their potential impacts which can guide how best communities can respond to them. The high number of population exposed to the studied event shows the necessity of integrating land-use planning with wildfire risk prevention and preparedness.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2020-01-01
2020
2020-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
AM
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aa
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43856
url https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43856
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
instname:Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
instname_str Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
reponame_str Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
collection Minerva. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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