PL8 | Current and emerging challenges of wildfires
Current and emerging challenges of wildfires
Conveners: Theodore Giannaros, Mario Miguel Valero Pérez, Apostolos Voulgarakis

Fire is an integral component of Mediterranean ecosystems. Yet, wildfires are significant natural hazards that often result in loss of life and property while inducing adverse environmental, health, and economic impacts. Recent years have seen several Mediterranean regions experiencing more frequent and intense wildfires, including destructive and deadly events that exemplify the limitations of current land and fire management capabilities. Today, the risk that wildfires pose to human communities and the environment is changing because we are changing the conditions in which wildfires occur. Climate change, land abandonment, fuel management practices, and demographics are examples of factors whose interplay determines the likelihood of detrimental wildfire effects. In this dynamic context, advancing our understanding of the factors influencing fire activity is essential to overcome current and emerging challenges in wildfire prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery. In this session, we invite contributions that advance knowledge on current and emerging challenges of wildfires and expand the existing capabilities not only in the Mediterranean but also across the world. In particular, we encourage submissions on any of the following topics (non-exhaustive list):
• Fundamentals of fire behavior and its relationships with terrain, weather, and vegetation.
• Weather and climate interactions with wildfires.
• Wildfire simulation systems.
• Wildfire monitoring techniques, including remote sensing and Earth Observation (EO) tools.
• Fire danger rating systems and/or early warning systems.
• Extreme wildfire events, including fire-atmosphere interactions and wildfires at the WUI (case studies, predictive tools, conceptual models).
• Wildfire-related datasets.
• Wildfire management strategies (including fuel management practices), risk assessment, and risk reduction.
• Socio-economic implications of wildfires.

Fire is an integral component of Mediterranean ecosystems. Yet, wildfires are significant natural hazards that often result in loss of life and property while inducing adverse environmental, health, and economic impacts. Recent years have seen several Mediterranean regions experiencing more frequent and intense wildfires, including destructive and deadly events that exemplify the limitations of current land and fire management capabilities. Today, the risk that wildfires pose to human communities and the environment is changing because we are changing the conditions in which wildfires occur. Climate change, land abandonment, fuel management practices, and demographics are examples of factors whose interplay determines the likelihood of detrimental wildfire effects. In this dynamic context, advancing our understanding of the factors influencing fire activity is essential to overcome current and emerging challenges in wildfire prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery. In this session, we invite contributions that advance knowledge on current and emerging challenges of wildfires and expand the existing capabilities not only in the Mediterranean but also across the world. In particular, we encourage submissions on any of the following topics (non-exhaustive list):
• Fundamentals of fire behavior and its relationships with terrain, weather, and vegetation.
• Weather and climate interactions with wildfires.
• Wildfire simulation systems.
• Wildfire monitoring techniques, including remote sensing and Earth Observation (EO) tools.
• Fire danger rating systems and/or early warning systems.
• Extreme wildfire events, including fire-atmosphere interactions and wildfires at the WUI (case studies, predictive tools, conceptual models).
• Wildfire-related datasets.
• Wildfire management strategies (including fuel management practices), risk assessment, and risk reduction.
• Socio-economic implications of wildfires.