But to find that we can use that map to predict fire risk was a real breakthrough.” To map the extent of wildland/urban areas all across Europe was already quite new.

We did not know what to expect when we started this work. “This study was exciting, especially when we had our Eureka moment as it became clear that were onto something. Professor Heiko Balzter, Director of the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research at the University of Leicester, said: “In the regions we have identified as high-risk, local authorities need to prioritise fire risk control and develop better forest fire risk management strategies. The distance from the nearest wildland/urban areas explained the occurrence of large fires in many regions across Southern Europe, where fires are the biggest problem. Using satellite maps of land cover and of the extent of large fires, they used statistics to find areas where large fires have happened more frequently and where wildland areas are close enough to cities to make them vulnerable. An international research team has put together a map using satellite data that details the countries in Europe with the highest likelihood of experiencing wildfire damage - with large fires occurring more frequently near Wildland-Urban Interface areas in the countries of Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Italy and Spain.The map is published in the Journal of Environmental Management and is the first European-scale map of wildland/urban areas.įor the first time, the researchers set out to map the extent ofi wildland areas around cities all over Europe to find out where they create a risk for large wildfires threatening people.

A map of global city-regions reveals