An innovative approach to modelling forest fire risk based on the mapping of wildlife-urban interfaces, a new key to understanding the territory

Abstract

A method to characterize and to map wildland-urban interfaces (WUI) is developed in the context of wildfire risk. The WUI mapping on the territory allows a new compartimentalisation of the territory: inside WUI and outside WUI. By establishing relationships between WUI distribution and forest fire history (departure of fires and burned areas), certain types of territory appear with high levels of risk: high fire ignition density values, high wildfire density and high-burned area ratio. A model of a total fire risk index has also been developed.