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International Journal of Wildland Fire International Journal of Wildland Fire Society
Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Analysis of forest fire fatalities in Southern Europe: Spain, Portugal, Greece and Sardinia (Italy)

Domingo M. Molina-Terrén https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4522-1846 A J , Gavriil Xanthopoulos B , Michalis Diakakis C , Luis Ribeiro D , David Caballero E , Giuseppe M. Delogu F , Domingos X. Viegas D , Carlos A. Silva G H and Adrián Cardil A I J
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Crops and Forest Sciences, University of Lleida, Avenida Rovira Roure 191, E-25198 Lleida, Spain.

B Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Hellenic Agricultural Organisation ‘Demeter’, TermaAlkmanos, GR-11528 Athens, Greece.

C Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, GR-15784 Panepistimioupoli Zografou, Greece.

D Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics (ADAI), Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Coimbra, Polo II, Pinhal de Marrocos, PT-3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal.

E MeteoGrid, Forest Fire Department, Gran Vía 22 dup, E-28013 Madrid, Spain.

F Independent Consultant, Via Ingurtosu 8, 09121Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.

G Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, MD 20740, USA.

H NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.

I Tecnosylva, Parque Tecnológico de León, E-24009, León, Spain.

J Corresponding author. Email: dmolinat@gmail.com; adriancardil@gmail.com

International Journal of Wildland Fire 28(2) 85-98 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18004
Submitted: 12 January 2018  Accepted: 5 December 2018   Published: 23 January 2019

Journal compilation © IAWF 2019 Open Access CC BY-NC-ND

Abstract

Wildfire fatalities remain a significant problem in Mediterranean Europe. Although there is a strong inter-annual variability with regard to their number, repeated tragic accidents remind us of this grim occurrence, despite the increasing firefighting capacity aimed to improve human safety. In this paper, we present an analysis of the 865 fatalities caused by wildfires in the 1945–2016 period. Data originating from national databases were merged, contextual and weather factors related to the accidents that caused these deaths were documented and analysed to explore probable relationships with the number and type of fatalities. Results show a major rise of fatalities in late 1970s in the four regions of Greece, Sardinia (Italy), Spain and Portugal. Fatalities present a strong seasonality in summer months, as expected. Overall, Spain has the highest absolute numbers of fatalities; however, normalisations by population, and burned and forest area show that annual number of fatalities is comparatively smaller. Certain other factors showed correlation with mortality. Civilians were the most affected group in Greece (65%) and Sardinia (58%), but not in Spain and Portugal. Findings indicate that an in-depth revision of fire-management policies and practices is required, with emphasis on prevention planning in urban areas, and better training of the firefighting resources.

Additional keywords: Mediterranean Europe, wildfire accidents, wildfire fatalities, wildland–urban interface.


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