Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Meira Castro, Ana C.
Publication Date: 2020
Other Authors: Nunes, Adélia, Sousa, António V., Lourenço, Luciano
Format: Article
Language: eng
Source: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483
Summary: This paper presents a spatial characterization of the distribution at district level of the forest fire events that occurred in mainland Portugal between 1996 and 2015 and whose causes were investigated. We further examine the breakdown of the causes of these forest fires over this period. Results supported by relevant validated statistics show that of the total fire events recorded, 94.4% were identified as an effective occurrence, of which 22.2% had burned an area greater than 1 ha, and of these only 42.1% were investigated. False alarms or fires without a recorded burning area are more significant in the districts of Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, the biggest municipalities. Of the fires whose causes were investigated, the largest number of recorded events were in NE regions (49.0%), followed by NW regions (41.7%), and finally in the rest of the country (9.3%). Taking into account the ratio between the investigated fires and the total number of fires and the behavior profile produced for cluster analysis, a different panorama is brought to light, with the center and south regions showing greater effort to investigate the fires. A thorough analysis of the causes and motivations of the ignition of these forest fire occurrences showed that human activity, either deliberate (20.4%) or negligent (29.9%), outweigh natural phenomena (0.6%). Reactivations (14.6%) and Unknown (34.5%) causes decreased as time passed, whereas negligent and deliberate causes increased. However, these results could change if the percentage of unknown information in relation to the origin of the forest fires is considerable. The outcome of this research will support an efficient management related to fire mitigation and suppression including establishing preventive actions to reduce the occurrence of forest fires and emphasize the need to improve the procedure for recording forest fire events in Portugal, especially in relation to identifying their cause
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spelling Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering AnalysisForest fire occurrencesIgnition causesFire in PortugalCluster analysisThis paper presents a spatial characterization of the distribution at district level of the forest fire events that occurred in mainland Portugal between 1996 and 2015 and whose causes were investigated. We further examine the breakdown of the causes of these forest fires over this period. Results supported by relevant validated statistics show that of the total fire events recorded, 94.4% were identified as an effective occurrence, of which 22.2% had burned an area greater than 1 ha, and of these only 42.1% were investigated. False alarms or fires without a recorded burning area are more significant in the districts of Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, the biggest municipalities. Of the fires whose causes were investigated, the largest number of recorded events were in NE regions (49.0%), followed by NW regions (41.7%), and finally in the rest of the country (9.3%). Taking into account the ratio between the investigated fires and the total number of fires and the behavior profile produced for cluster analysis, a different panorama is brought to light, with the center and south regions showing greater effort to investigate the fires. A thorough analysis of the causes and motivations of the ignition of these forest fire occurrences showed that human activity, either deliberate (20.4%) or negligent (29.9%), outweigh natural phenomena (0.6%). Reactivations (14.6%) and Unknown (34.5%) causes decreased as time passed, whereas negligent and deliberate causes increased. However, these results could change if the percentage of unknown information in relation to the origin of the forest fires is considerable. The outcome of this research will support an efficient management related to fire mitigation and suppression including establishing preventive actions to reduce the occurrence of forest fires and emphasize the need to improve the procedure for recording forest fire events in Portugal, especially in relation to identifying their causeThis research was partially funded by CERENA (strategic project FCT-UID/ECI/04028/2019) and CEGOT (FCT-UID/GEO/04084/2013) and partially co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE 2020—Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI).MDPIRepositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do PortoMeira Castro, Ana C.Nunes, AdéliaSousa, António V.Lourenço, Luciano2022-01-14T11:14:36Z20202020-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483engMeira Castro, A.C.; Nunes, A.; Sousa, A.; Lourenço, L. Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis. Geosciences 2020, 10, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences1002005310.3390/geosciences10020053info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-03-13T13:13:49Zoai:recipp.ipp.pt:10400.22/19483Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T17:39:25.299119Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
title Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
spellingShingle Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
Meira Castro, Ana C.
Forest fire occurrences
Ignition causes
Fire in Portugal
Cluster analysis
title_short Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
title_full Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
title_fullStr Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
title_sort Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
author Meira Castro, Ana C.
author_facet Meira Castro, Ana C.
Nunes, Adélia
Sousa, António V.
Lourenço, Luciano
author_role author
author2 Nunes, Adélia
Sousa, António V.
Lourenço, Luciano
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Meira Castro, Ana C.
Nunes, Adélia
Sousa, António V.
Lourenço, Luciano
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Forest fire occurrences
Ignition causes
Fire in Portugal
Cluster analysis
topic Forest fire occurrences
Ignition causes
Fire in Portugal
Cluster analysis
description This paper presents a spatial characterization of the distribution at district level of the forest fire events that occurred in mainland Portugal between 1996 and 2015 and whose causes were investigated. We further examine the breakdown of the causes of these forest fires over this period. Results supported by relevant validated statistics show that of the total fire events recorded, 94.4% were identified as an effective occurrence, of which 22.2% had burned an area greater than 1 ha, and of these only 42.1% were investigated. False alarms or fires without a recorded burning area are more significant in the districts of Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, the biggest municipalities. Of the fires whose causes were investigated, the largest number of recorded events were in NE regions (49.0%), followed by NW regions (41.7%), and finally in the rest of the country (9.3%). Taking into account the ratio between the investigated fires and the total number of fires and the behavior profile produced for cluster analysis, a different panorama is brought to light, with the center and south regions showing greater effort to investigate the fires. A thorough analysis of the causes and motivations of the ignition of these forest fire occurrences showed that human activity, either deliberate (20.4%) or negligent (29.9%), outweigh natural phenomena (0.6%). Reactivations (14.6%) and Unknown (34.5%) causes decreased as time passed, whereas negligent and deliberate causes increased. However, these results could change if the percentage of unknown information in relation to the origin of the forest fires is considerable. The outcome of this research will support an efficient management related to fire mitigation and suppression including establishing preventive actions to reduce the occurrence of forest fires and emphasize the need to improve the procedure for recording forest fire events in Portugal, especially in relation to identifying their cause
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2020-01-01T00:00:00Z
2022-01-14T11:14:36Z
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483
url http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Meira Castro, A.C.; Nunes, A.; Sousa, A.; Lourenço, L. Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis. Geosciences 2020, 10, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10020053
10.3390/geosciences10020053
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
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