FireRisk

Wildfires have significant socio-economic and ecological impacts, posing risks to human lives, buildings, ecosystem services and biodiversity values. In Europe, areas with increased danger are being pushed north by climate change. The frequency of extreme wildfire events increases in temperate conifer biomes, while at the same time even relatively small wildfires can cause severe damage. Even though many industrialized countries have implemented fire management strategies, formal risk assessment systems are lacking in many regions, including Flanders. Pan-European initiatives are hampered by coarse spatial resolution, often underestimating local fire dynamics and overlooking the need for region-specific assessments. Without this locally contextualised accuracy, the reliable prediction of fire propagation and optimization of resource deployment remains severely constrained. This leads to fragmented prevention, response and restoration efforts, alongside an already present imbalance in post-fire research and governance. Whereas an effective approach to wildfire risk assessment (WP1-4) requires an integrated and interdisciplinary effort, translating scientific insights into actions (WP5-9) to prevent, respond and restore a fire event requires a transdisciplinary approach. Combining high-resolution geospatial datasets, advanced modelling, AI-driven visualization tools and crisis governance strategies with close and multidisciplinary stakeholder collaboration, FireRisk pursues four core objectives: (SO1) the generation of spatially explicit indicators of wildfire danger, exposure, and vulnerability; (SO2) the development of a locally calibrated fire spread model that accounts for land management and design scenarios; (SO3) the enhancement of first responder training through high-fidelity 3D visualization; and (SO4) the translation of scientific outputs into actionable frameworks for both operational decisionmaking and long-term governance.

Researchers: Alexander Van Hout

Funding: FWO SBO project