Global Rural Fires: Future Approaches Based on Climate Change, Invasive Species and Agro–Silvo–Pastoral Interactions

A special issue of Fire (ISSN 2571-6255).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 6891

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Research Unit on Materials, Energy and Environment for Sustainability, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial de Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Interests: biomass energy; biomass supply chain management; biomass product logistics; biomass combustion; forestry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With climate change on the agenda, several problems arise, and it is necessary to find solutions for their resolution and mitigation. Among the various consequences of climate change, rural fires are starting to hit repeatedly, not only in the areas where they traditionally proliferated, as is the case of regions with a Mediterranean climate but also in other regions in latitudes that are not used to this type of occurrences, as is the case in more northern regions, such as Scandinavia, Alaska or the British Isles. Knowledge about the causes and consequences, both from an environmental perspective and from the perspective of direct impacts on populations, through the analysis of socio-economic data and their evolution with the influence of the occurrence of rural fires, assumes increasing importance. The main objective of this Special Issue is to gather a set of relevant information which contributes to the perception and understanding of the evolution of rural fires on a global scale, of their impacts on the economic, social and environmental components, while at the same time launching the debate on the measures and actions to be implemented to change the trend towards an increase in the number of occurrences, recurrence and severity. Thus, the topics to be addressed in this Special Issue are the following, although others can be considered:

  • Rural fires;
  • Impacts of rural fires;
  • Relationship between climate change and occurrence of rural fires;
  • Forest management and occurrence of rural fires;
  • Agroforestry management models to minimize the occurrence of rural fires;
  • Challenges for the urban-rural interface given the increase in the occurrence, recurrence and severity of rural fires;
  • Impact of rural fires on the dispersion of invasive species;
  • Analysis of trends for the occurrence, recurrence and severity of rural fires;
  • Methodologies for acquisition, analysis and treatment of data on rural dwellings;
  • Methods of prevention, surveillance and fighting rural fires.

Dr. Leonel Nunes
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • sustainability
  • climate change
  • rural development
  • circular economy
  • forest management models
  • rural fires

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 22882 KiB  
Article
Assessing Fire Risk in Wildland–Urban Interface Regions Using a Machine Learning Method and GIS data: The Example of Istanbul’s European Side
by Ercüment Aksoy, Abdulkadir Kocer, İsmail Yilmaz, Arif Nihat Akçal and Kudret Akpinar
Fire 2023, 6(10), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6100408 - 21 Oct 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3503
Abstract
Like many places around the world, the wildland–urban interface areas surrounding urban regions are subject to variable levels of fire risk, threatening the natural habitats they contact. This risk has been assessed by various authors using many different methods and numerical models. Among [...] Read more.
Like many places around the world, the wildland–urban interface areas surrounding urban regions are subject to variable levels of fire risk, threatening the natural habitats they contact. This risk has been assessed by various authors using many different methods and numerical models. Among these approaches, machine learning models have been successfully applied to determine the weights of criteria in risk assessment and risk prediction studies. In Istanbul, data have been collected for areas that are yet to be urbanized but are foreseen to be at risk using geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing technologies based on fires that occurred between 2000 and 2021. Here, the land use/land cover (LULC) characteristics of the region were examined, and machine learning techniques, including random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGB), and light gradient boosting (LGB) models, were applied to classify the factors that affect fires. The RF model yielded the best results, with an accuracy of 0.70, an F1 score of 0.71, and an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.76. In the RF model, the grouping between factors that initiate fires and factors that influence the spread of fires was distinct, and this distinction was also somewhat observable in the other two models. Risk scores were generated through the multiplication of the variable importance values of the factors and their respective layer values, culminating in a risk map for the region. The distribution of risk is in alignment with the number of fires that have previously occurred, and the risk in wildland–urban interface areas was found to be significantly higher than the risk in wildland areas alone. Full article
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26 pages, 16721 KiB  
Article
DEMATEL, AISM, and MICMAC-Based Research on Causative Factors of Self-Build Housing Fire Accidents in Rural Areas of China
by Yandong Xing, Wenjing Meng, Jianliang Zhou, Feixiang Hu and Luyao Meng
Fire 2023, 6(5), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6050179 - 27 Apr 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2583
Abstract
In recent years, the fire safety problems in self-build housing in China’s vast rural areas have become increasingly prominent. We analyzed the interaction of causative factors and logical structure of self-build housing fire accidents (SBHFAs) to find their key causes and reduce their [...] Read more.
In recent years, the fire safety problems in self-build housing in China’s vast rural areas have become increasingly prominent. We analyzed the interaction of causative factors and logical structure of self-build housing fire accidents (SBHFAs) to find their key causes and reduce their occurrence. Using the 24Model, 30 SBHFA investigation reports were analyzed, and 44 SBHFA causative factors and 97 causal relationship codes were obtained. The causality and centrality degree of causative factors were analyzed using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to obtain the causal attribute and importance of causative factors. An adversarial hierarchical topology model of causative factors was conducted using the adversarial interpretive structural modeling (AISM) method, and the causal hierarchical relationships were obtained. Using the Matrices Impacts Croises-Multiplication Appliance Classement (MICMAC) analysis, the causative factors’ dependency degree and driving force were calculated. Combining and comparing the results of DEMATEL, AISM, and MICMAC analyses, we found that the adversarial hierarchical topology model of causative factors was reasonable, and key direct causative factors, key transitional causative factors, and key root causative factors were mined. Controlling the key causative factors could effectively reduce the occurrence of SBHFAs and guide the fire safety management of self-build housings in rural areas of China. Full article
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