Forest fires in Mediterranean ecosystems are a common phenomenon. In Greece, only 5% of forest fires are related to natural causes, whereas human activities are responsible for 95%, heightening the severity and complexity of these fires. However, in cross-border regions, different fire management systems can result in a variety of factors that drive forest fires.
The objective of this work was to evaluate the fire risk in the Region of Central Macedonia, Greece, for the prevention and mitigation of fire disasters in the cross-border area, adhering to the technical specifications of the national fire protection plan. The datasets used for this study were obtained from national official sources and OpenStreetMap, while their completeness and reliability were checked using visual interpretation methods, with medium-high and very-high spatial resolution remote-sensing data available from Copernicus, National Cadastre and Mapping Agency, and Google Earth imagery.
Wildfire risk assessment considered two parameters, namelyfire hazard and fire vulnerability. Fire hazard combines vegetation flammability as a potential for the easy initiation and rapid progression of fire, with fire cause elements such as voltage network, road network, settlements, forest/rural fire-starting points, and explosion risk elements. The final fire hazard map was evaluated and refined using actual fire data from the past decade. Fire vulnerability considers the combustibility of vegetation types under weather and topographical conditions that favor fire spread, as well as threaten values regarding tangible and intangible elements-at-risk such as areas of high natural value, as well as socio-economic data. Both parameters received a score (1 to 10), and wildfire risk was assessed on a qualitative rating scale of five categories from low to very high.
Overall, the present work, as part of the eFIDAR project, is a step towards common forest fire management in the cross-border region, increasing forest fire preparedness and knowledge transfer between Greece and North Macedonia
