Wildfires and wildland-urban interface in Andean Patagonia, Argentina: first assessment in a rapid growing community

GODOY, MARÍA MARCELA; DEFOSSÉ, GUILLERMO; MARTINUZZI, SEBASTIÁN; KRAMER, H. ANU; ARGAÑARAZ, JUAN PABLO; RADELOFF, VOLKER C.

Orlando

Congreso; 7th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress; 2017

Asociation for Fire Ecology

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is defined as the area of transition between unoccupied vegetated land and urban development and are focal areas for wildfires. While these WUI are increasing globally and has been object of studies everywhere, little is known about WUI located in the Andean Patagonian Region in Argentina. In this study, our objectives were to: (i) map the current of the WUI in four communities, (ii) quantify recent changes in that WUI, and (iii) analyze relationships between fire ignition points and wildfire perimeters in that rapidly urbanizing region. We mapped the distribution of WUI using information on housing density derived from censuses, topographic maps, and high-resolution imagery from 1981 and 2016 and land cover data. The WUI covered 6.4% of the study area, although it supported 96.6% of all houses. Between 1981 and 2016, the WUI increased by 76%. Information on wildfires distribution revealed that 77% of the recent fires in the region occurred within the WUI. These results showed that wildfire risk can potentially increase as well as human-environmental conflicts in general. Wildfire management in these places will need to seriously be considered to prevent and decrease wildfire risks.