52
A. Hysa
4.1 Introduction
The main objective of this chapter is to present a rapid and cost-free method
based on Geographic Information System (GIS) for indexing the forest surfaces
in metropolitan areas by their Wildfire Ignition Probability (WIPI) and Wildfire Spreading Capacity Index (WSCI). This is achieved by utilizing open-source
software and open-access spatial data during all phases of the analytical work.
The metropolitan area is accepted among the first priority territories to be considered in respect to forest fire regimes. This is because it includes the intermediate
zone between natural and artificial surfaces, which an impact of wildfire hazards on
socio-economic and landscape systems is the highest. This transitory zone known as
well as the Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) includes the human settling activities
which are located close or within the natural lands (Davis 1990; Radeloff et al. 2005;
Theobald and Romme 2007).
Within this work, the wildfire phenomena are considered as processes rather than
as events. In other words, they are accepted as socio-natural hazards implicating
several social, environmental, and geomorphological factors of the place. In literature, forest fires are defined as events that under certain circumstances are increased
in occurrence much beyond their natural probabilities (ISDR 2009). The dominant
presence of anthropogenic factors in affecting wildfire regimes is well reported by
several scholars (Martínez et al. 2009; San-Miguel-Ayanz et al. 2013; Zambon et al.
2019).
This approach leads to the definition of a set of diverse factors having measurable
implications with wildfire systems. As an integrated disaster risk assessment, this
study covers three main categories of causing factors; (i) social/anthropogenic, (ii)
geophysical, and (iii) hydrometeorological. Distance from human activity, such as
distance to urban centers, distance to settlements, distance to main roads, distance to
any road, and distance to agricultural lands are among the social criteria defined in
this study. While the geophysical ones include altitude, aspect, slope, and distance
to surface water. In addition, there are certain environmental factors such as solar
radiation, maximum temperature, precipitation, and wind speed, which are accepted
crucial in wildfire spreading phases (de Souza et al. 2015).
At this stage, the study is focusing on a specific study area located in the central
Albania named “Durana Metropolitan Area”. It includes Tirana as the capital city,
the city of Durres as the main port of the country, and the area between them. The
total surface of the study area is 1,670 km
2 , with a total of 614 km
2 forest surfaces.
These surfaces are the core focus of this study being indexed by their WIPI and
WSCI values. Yet, the method presented in this work is flexible enough to be applied
to other metropolitan areas, given that its geospatial data are available.
This study is a direct contribution to the wildfire disaster risk reduction at the local
level at which Albania is majorly urging for. According to the Official Statement
made by the Albanian ex-President H.E. Bujar Nishani, at the fifth session of the
Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in May 2017 in Mexico, Albania is
declared to be proactive in the implementation of 2030 agenda and is fully committed
A. Hysa
4.1 Introduction
The main objective of this chapter is to present a rapid and cost-free method
based on Geographic Information System (GIS) for indexing the forest surfaces
in metropolitan areas by their Wildfire Ignition Probability (WIPI) and Wildfire Spreading Capacity Index (WSCI). This is achieved by utilizing open-source
software and open-access spatial data during all phases of the analytical work.
The metropolitan area is accepted among the first priority territories to be considered in respect to forest fire regimes. This is because it includes the intermediate
zone between natural and artificial surfaces, which an impact of wildfire hazards on
socio-economic and landscape systems is the highest. This transitory zone known as
well as the Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI) includes the human settling activities
which are located close or within the natural lands (Davis 1990; Radeloff et al. 2005;
Theobald and Romme 2007).
Within this work, the wildfire phenomena are considered as processes rather than
as events. In other words, they are accepted as socio-natural hazards implicating
several social, environmental, and geomorphological factors of the place. In literature, forest fires are defined as events that under certain circumstances are increased
in occurrence much beyond their natural probabilities (ISDR 2009). The dominant
presence of anthropogenic factors in affecting wildfire regimes is well reported by
several scholars (Martínez et al. 2009; San-Miguel-Ayanz et al. 2013; Zambon et al.
2019).
This approach leads to the definition of a set of diverse factors having measurable
implications with wildfire systems. As an integrated disaster risk assessment, this
study covers three main categories of causing factors; (i) social/anthropogenic, (ii)
geophysical, and (iii) hydrometeorological. Distance from human activity, such as
distance to urban centers, distance to settlements, distance to main roads, distance to
any road, and distance to agricultural lands are among the social criteria defined in
this study. While the geophysical ones include altitude, aspect, slope, and distance
to surface water. In addition, there are certain environmental factors such as solar
radiation, maximum temperature, precipitation, and wind speed, which are accepted
crucial in wildfire spreading phases (de Souza et al. 2015).
At this stage, the study is focusing on a specific study area located in the central
Albania named “Durana Metropolitan Area”. It includes Tirana as the capital city,
the city of Durres as the main port of the country, and the area between them. The
total surface of the study area is 1,670 km
2 , with a total of 614 km
2 forest surfaces.
These surfaces are the core focus of this study being indexed by their WIPI and
WSCI values. Yet, the method presented in this work is flexible enough to be applied
to other metropolitan areas, given that its geospatial data are available.
This study is a direct contribution to the wildfire disaster risk reduction at the local
level at which Albania is majorly urging for. According to the Official Statement
made by the Albanian ex-President H.E. Bujar Nishani, at the fifth session of the
Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held in May 2017 in Mexico, Albania is
declared to be proactive in the implementation of 2030 agenda and is fully committed