Abstracts

Wildfires in the wider area of southern Rethymno, Crete Island, Greece, have proven to be detrimental to the local economy in many ways, which is mainly based on agricultural and livestock activities. The fire that burned the vineyards around the town of Melampes on July 15, 2022, is such a characteristic and catastrophic fire with negative effects caused by the loss of dozens of hectares of vineyards and olive groves. At the region, we can find the vine varieties of Vidiano, Thrapsathiri, Melisaki, Plytos, Liatiko, Kotsifali, Mavromeikos cultivated in over 60 ha. In this work, we used fire simulation models to understand how and where future fires may start and threaten the vineyards and olive groves of Melampes, with what intensity they are predicted to burn, and from which areas they are most likely to propagate with high fire spread rate. Simulations can also show where measures to reduce fuel or change the composition, structure and arrangement of vegetation will be most effective to mitigate these future fire incidents. This study suggests areas where, based on the fire simulation results, by implementing fuel management or creating new fire breaks (i.e., zones with complete remove of surface and overstory vegetation), can enable the containment or reduction of the intensity and severity of burning. The main goal of this study is to protect the vineyards of Melampes from a new fire and the results to act as an auxiliary and complementary to the future drafting of the Fire Protection Plan of the prefecture of Rethymno. This paper provides a brief history of the study area and analyzes the dominant types of vegetation and surface cover, fuel types (i.e. what are the loads and arrangements of dead and living biomass on the surface available for combustion from a fire) and the expected fire behavior in each of these. A brief description of the evolution and immediate effects of the fire of July 15, 2022, is presented. Regarding materials and methods, the simulation models, inputs and assumptions made to produce the results of the analysis are described. The results are presented with maps that depict important information related to wildfires in the study area. Finally, a discussion follows highlighting the conclusions and proposals regarding the fire protection of the vineyards.

Keywords

Wildfire simulations, Fuel treatments, Crete, Agricultural production, Minimum Travel Time algorithm

References

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