Fire activity and burned forest lands decreased during the last three decades in Spain

• DOI: 10.1007/s13595-019-0874-3
• Publication Date: 2019-08-27T10:02:46Z
• Authors: Itziar R. Urbieta; Magí Franquesa; Olga Viedma; José M. Moreno
• Keywords: Flammable liquid; Fire regime; Fire ecology

- Key messageFire activity has decreased in the last decades in Spain as a whole and in most provinces. However, fire riskfactors have increased. Wildfires are burning preferentially treeless areas. Flammable pine areas burn less, while the lessflammable oak forests burn more. This decreasing fire activity coincides with increasing fire suppression resources. - ContextClimate and other fire risk factors are changing across the world, including the Mediterranean region. It is important todetermine how fire activity is responding to such changes. - AimsTo identify spatio-temporal changes in fire frequency and size, main tree species burned, and their association withchanges in climate, land-use and land-cover, and fire suppression. - MethodsAnalysis of trends, breakpoints, and association among the time series of fire variables and fire risk factors during1980–2013 in Spain at country and provincial levels. - ResultsWildfires in Spain have been decreasing in number, burned area, mean, and largest fire sizes. Fires are more frequentlyburning treeless areas than forests. Pine forests are burning less, while oak forests are burning more. Fire suppression resources,particularly aerial ones, increased significantly. Risk factors like the mean summer fire weather index, and the forested and theartificial areas all increased. - ConclusionDespite increasing fire risk factors, wildfires have decreased at the country as a whole and in most provinces inSpain during the last 34 years