An innovative approach for wildfire risk spatial assessment in wildland-urban-interfaces: a study case in South of France

The submission presents a methodology to obtain a spatial total fire risk map in wildland-urban interfaces using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and spatial analysis. The study area is located in the county of Provence, South-eastern of France. The following fire risk variables were generated for this area: housing configuration, nature and structure of vegetation, topography, land cover data, etc. Combined, these variables indicate the intermediate fire risk indicators, which represent the density of fire ignition, the density of wildfire and the burned surface ratio. The coefficients for generating these intermediate indicators as well as the final index were obtained from PLS regressions, where density of fire ignition, density of wildfire and burned surface ratio data were considered as the dependent variables. A total fire risk index was also built from these three indicators bearer of information of hazard and/or vulnerability. This index was mapped and results are promising in terms of fire risk assessment. Finally spatial implications of the results, and their potential use for prevention planning appeared interesting in terms of fire management