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International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire
International Journal of Wildland Fire

International Journal of Wildland Fire

Volume 28 Number 7 2019

Fire Regime and Ecosystem Responses (Part 2)


We present the second part of the special issue that includes six novel studies with information on the wildland–urban interface (WUI) and the restoration of burned areas in the WUI, as well as the post-wildfire ecosystem restoration of burned forests. Landscape management was also investigated using remote sensing techniques and simulation modelling to improve ecosystem resilience.

WF18097Rapid WUI growth in a natural amenity-rich region in central-western Patagonia, Argentina

Maria Marcela Godoy, Sebastian Martinuzzi, H. Anu Kramer 0000-0003-2014-0070, Guillermo E. Defossé, Juan Argañaraz and Volker C. Radeloff
pp. 473-484

We analysed wildland–urban interface (WUI) changes and wildfire occurrence in Patagonia, Argentina. Only 6.4% of the study area was considered as WUI, but contained 97% of the houses. Between 1981 and 2016, WUI increased by 76%, and from 2010 to 2015, 77% of the ignition points occurred within this WUI.

WF18095Haifa fire restoration project – urban forest management: a case study

Naama Tessler, Hanoch Borger, Erez Rave, Eli Argaman, Daniela Kopel, Anna Brook, Eli Elkabets and Lea Wittenberg
pp. 485-494

An area of 120 ha inside Haifa and along the wildland–urban interface was damaged by fire in November 2016. Based on an ‘identity card’ formulated for each burnt site, the rehabilitation project aimed to minimise risk to population and infrastructure, provide essential ecological services to the residents and restore the fire damage.

WF18141Implementation constraints limit benefits of restoration treatments in mixed-conifer forests

Jamie M. Lydersen, Brandon M. Collins and Carolyn T. Hunsaker
pp. 495-511

We analysed the impact of thinning and prescribed fire in a mixed-conifer forest in the southern Sierra Nevada, CA, USA, conducted during the 2012–15 drought. We found that the treatments had negligible effect on forest structure across experimental watersheds, and neither treatments nor topography had a significant effect on mortality during the drought.

WF18156Assessment of the influence of biophysical properties related to fuel conditions on fire severity using remote sensing techniques: a case study on a large fire in NW Spain

Paula García-Llamas 0000-0003-1351-7853, Susana Suárez-Seoane, Angela Taboada, Victor Fernández-García 0000-0003-3217-3814, José M. Fernández-Guisuraga, Alfonso Fernández-Manso, Carmen Quintano, Elena Marcos and Leonor Calvo
pp. 512-520

Potential live fuel amount had more influence on fire severity than fuel moisture content in pine forest ecosystems. The Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index, as a proxy of live fuel amount, showed the strongest association with fire severity. Remote sensing has high potential for determining fuel characteristics susceptible to influencing fire severity, although spatial resolution may constrain the utility of fire severity models.

WF18153Assessing the impact of different landscape features on post-fire forest recovery with multitemporal remote sensing data: the case of Mount Taygetos (southern Greece)

Anastasia Christopoulou, Giorgos Mallinis, Emmanuel Vassilakis, Georgios-Pavlos Farangitakis, Nikolaos M. Fyllas, Giorgos D. Kokkoris and Margarita Arianoutsou
pp. 521-532

This study combines field and remotely sensed data to monitor post-fire forest recovery on a Mediterranean mountain. Forest cover was reduced by more than half by the fire. Tree species composition in the remaining forest indicates signs of shifting to a pine-dominated landscape, with the endemic fir species showing limited regeneration within the time frame of the study. Levels of black pine recovery were found to be related to landscape characteristics.


Wildland fire managers need to determine optimal levels of fire suppression and fuels treatments that will maintain ecosystem resilience while protecting firefighters and the public. This study used a landscape model to simulate 10 fire suppression levels under fuel treatment and future climate scenarios. Findings indicate that resilience can be achieved while suppressing some wildfires and fuel treatments are not needed if some wildfires are allowed to burn.

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