title: Assessing wildfire exposure in the Wildland-Urban Interface area of the mountains of central Argentina.
abstract: Wildfires are a major threat to people and property in Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) communities worldwide, but while the patterns of the WUI in North America, Europe and Oceania have been studied before, this is not the case in Latin America. Our goals were to a) map WUI areas in central Argentina, and b) assess wildfire exposure for WUI communities in relation to historic fires, with special emphasis on large fires and estimated burn probability based on an empirical model. We mapped the WUI in the mountains of central Argentina (810,000 ha), after digitizing the location of 276,700 buildings and deriving vegetation maps from satellite imagery. The areas where houses and wildland vegetation intermingle were classified as Intermix WUI (housing density > 6.17 hu/km2and wildland vegetation cover > 50%), and the areas where wildland vegetation abuts settlements were classified as Interface WUI (housing density > 6.17 hu/km2, wildland vegetation cover < 50%, but within 600 m of a vegetated patch larger than 5 km2). We generated burn probability maps based on historical fire data from 1999 to 2011; as well as from an empirical model of fire frequency. WUI areas occupied 15% of our study area and contained 144,000 buildings (52%). Most WUI area was Intermix WUI, but most WUI buildings were in the Interface WUI. Our findings suggest that central Argentina has a WUI fire problem. WUI areas included most of the buildings exposed to wildfires and most of the buildings located in areas of higher burn probability. Our findings can help focus fire management activities in areas of higher risk, and ultimately provide support for landscape management and planning aimed at reducing wildfire risk in WUI communities.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), CONICET-UNC and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina. Electronic address: argajuan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Argañaraz
authors.affiliation: SILVIS Lab, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA. Electronic address: radeloff@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: V C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Radeloff
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Environment, University of Haifa - Oranim, Kiryat Tivon, 36006, Israel. Electronic address: barmassada@gmail.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bar-Massada
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Recursos Biológicos (Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria -INTA), De los Reseros y Las Cabañas S/N, HB1712WAA, Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: ggavier@cnia.inta.gov.ar.
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Gavier-Pizarro
authors.affiliation: Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), Instituto Gulich, Falda del Carmen, 5187, Córdoba, Argentina. Electronic address: scavuzzo@conae.gov.ar.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Scavuzzo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), CONICET-UNC and Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Av. Vélez Sarsfield 299, 5000, Córdoba, Argentina. Electronic address: lbellis7@gmail.com.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bellis
mesh_terms: D001118:Argentina; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005060:Europe; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D009656:North America
keywords: Burn probability; Latin America; Point-based approach; WUI mapping; Wildfire exposure