Comparative assessment of evacuation capacity of selected fire prone areas in Attica region, Greece

During the last decades, Greece has experienced a range of natural hazards, with three significant events occurring in the wider Attica region. Notably, these include the Athens earthquake that took place on September 7, 1999, the flash flood of Mandra that unfolded on November 15, 2017, and the wildfires that happened on July 23, 2018, in Mati. Among these, wildfires stand out as particularly detrimental disasters provoking numerous fatalities, which have an intense presence within the Attica region according to the FireHub Web Service provided by the Operational Unit “BEYOND” Centre of the National Observatory of Athens. This stems from a persistent urban sprawl over the years throughout the region that leads to an unwavering invasion of urban and suburban infrastructures into wildland areas containing typical Mediterranean vegetation, and as a result, heightens the vulnerability of human lives and properties to a fire-prone environment. Furthermore, most of the suburban areas in the broader Attica region are characterized by uncontrollable urban planning, numerous dead ends, inaccessible seafronts, insufficient installation of firefighting equipment, accumulation of fuels in both private properties and public spaces, and in most cases poor road network quality. This precarious combination of factors exacerbates the risk and impact of wildfires, posing serious challenges to the safety and well-being of the community and underscores the urgent need for comprehensive and strategic protection measures. Considering the necessity to efficiently prevent any loss in human and built environments due to the aforementioned destructive hazards and the region’s characteristics, the Region of Attica funded a research project where fire, seismic, and flood risk was estimated. Within the context of fire risk assessment, evacuation plans were created given the fact to inhibit any fatalities in the likelihood of a forest fire event. The evacuation plans are based on extensive field investigations which brought about insights related to human and physical geographical elements (e.g. topography, land use/land cover, road network density) of each area of interest. The research identified the total number of dead ends, the vehicle escape routes, points of traffic congestion, and polygons representing the order of areas to be evacuated, taking into account the incoming direction of a possible fire front. Moreover, the main routes of evacuation for pedestrians were traced in conjunction with the points of public gathering. Lastly, a variety of recommendations are provided in light of the hotspots that need immediate intervention in order to counter a severe fire event. The primary objective of this research is to present and evaluate the proposed evacuation risk management plans in selected municipalities, as well as, to highlight the most vulnerable areas in terms of capacity through maps.

Acknowledgments

This research work was developed under the national research project “Seismic, Fire and Flood Risk Assessment in Attica Region, Greece”, funded by the Region of Attica, led and coordinated by the Operational Unit “BEYOND Centre of Earth Observation Research and Satellite Remote Sensing” of the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing, of the National Observatory of Athens, Greece.