A tool for mapping rural-urban interfaces on different scales, in Advances in Forest Fire Research

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A tool for mapping rural-urban interfaces on different scales Autor(es): Bouillon, Christophe; Fernandez Ramiro, MM; Sirca, C; Fierro Garcia, B; Casula, F; Vila, B; Long Fournel, M; Pellizzaro, G; Arca, B; Tedim, F; Trebini, F; Derudas, A; Cane, S Publicado por: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra URL persistente: URI:http://hdl.handle.net/10316.2/34214 DOI: DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-0884-6_70 Accessed : 6-Feb-2015 14:52:29 digitalis.uc.pt pombalina.uc.pt AdvAnces in Forest Fire reseArch DOMINGOS XAVIER VIEGAS EDITOR 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-0884-6_70 Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 611 A tool for mapping rural-urban interfaces on different scales Christophe Bouillon a, Fernandez Ramiro MMb, Sirca Ccd, Fierro Garcia Bb, Casula Fc, Vila Bb, Long Fournel Ma, Pellizzaro Ge, Arca Be, Tedim Ff, Trebini Fc, Derudas Ac,Cane Sc a Irstea, Ecosystemes méditerranéens et risques , Aix-en-Provence, France, [email protected] b Tragsatec, Madrid, Spain, [email protected] c Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio , University of Sassari, Italy,[email protected] d CMCC, Euro-Mediterranean centre for Climate Change, IAFENT Division, Sassari, Italy e Institute of Biometeorology (CNR-IBIMET), Sassari, Italy, [email protected] f Faculdade de Letras, Universidade do Porto, Portugal, [email protected].pt Abstract The aim of this paper is to present the methodologies, a software and results developed in the European FUME program to map the rural-urban interfaces (RUI). Three methodologies were set up for RUI mapping: two on the local scale (the community scale) and one on the global scale (the European scale). The first local scale method was developed in a French context by IRSTEA. In this case the RUI is defined by a radius of 100 metres around each house located at a distance inferior to 200 metres from forests or scrublands. The building density was used to create four classes of housing configuration. Then the structure of vegetation was characterized and mapped to emphasize its horizontal continuity with landscape ecology metrics. The RUI map was created by a combination of housing configuration and vegetation characterisation. The second local scale method developed by TRAGSATEC is based on three phases. First a settlement map creation with the union of a land use cover and a vegetation cover defines the housing and the landscape that surrounds them. Then a buffer is created around settlements which are located at a distance inferior to 400 m from the forest; its size depends on the difficulty in protecting the houses against fire. In the final phase the different types of RUI are defined from the type of settlement and vegetation-settlement connection around houses. The global scale method developed by IRSTEA makes possible the comparison of the situations and the importance of RUI in the different European countries. On the global scale, the rural urban interfaces are defined by a radius of 400 metres around houses located at less than 200 metres from forests or shrubland. The global rural urban interface map results from the combination of criteria from the Corine Land Cover database and from the soil sealing database. A major step of the work was the development of a software named RUImap with the three different methods above. The use of the tool could be very advantageous for fire risk analysis on RUI scale, and for local quantification of fuel charge and continuity. This information linked with the direct knowledge of the general context is very important for the local fire risk assessment. Keywords: forest fire, wildland urban interface, rural urban interface, software, geographic information system, fire prevention, mapping. Introduction Each summer wildfires burn 500 000 ha of forests in the European Mediterranean regions (source EFFIS). 90% of forest fires are of human origin and most of them start in the wildland-urban interfaces. A better understanding of these spaces was obtained through numerous studies in the USA and Canada. The description and characterization of these interfaces have been developed at Irstea (Lampin C., 2009). To make operation easy and fast, an ArcGis extension was developed to create maps on a large area. A first prototype of the software was developed with funding from the FIREPARADOX Program (FP6) .The first operational version Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 612 of this tool and user’s guide (Lampin –Maillet et al, 2010) were created in 2010 with the support from the Ministry of Ecology and published and distributed to regional services. The framework of the European FUME (Forest fires under climate, social and economic changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world) program has defined the creation of a common tool to map rural urban interfaces (RUI). It is a WUI concept for all types of interconnections between the urban area and forest areas around, or wildlands with agricultural areas and with various types of vegetation. Within RUI, buildings and human infrastructures are closely mixed with fuel vegetation and create high wildfire risk. The dynamics can be controlled by land management and planning measures. Figure 1. Schema of the tool Three partners are involved in the creation and testing of this tool: Tragsatec, Spain; Irstea , France and the University of Sassari , Italy. Tragsatec developed a method for mapping interfaces on the local ( municipal) level. Irstea developed two methods , a local method by improving the method already set (Lampin&Bouillon, 2011) and a global method, the European scale. The University of Sassari is responsible for testing and validating the results with data from three sites located in Spain, the Alicante region , in France , the Bouchesdu-Rhône and in Sardinia, Italy. All developments were made with the ESRI ™ ArcGIS ™ platform and were integrated by Tragsatec in a common software called RUImap (Figure 1). Some recent uses of the methods and maps presented in this paper show a direct operational use of the results to improve the knowledge of the territory under the RUI approach and mapping. Methods Local scale Irstea In the methodology developed in France (C. Lampin -Maillet , 2009), RUI is defined according to the July 9th, 2002 French Forest Orientation Law which makes brush clearing obligatory within a maximum radius of 100 metres around each house located at a distance inferior to 200 metres from forests (Figure 2). Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 613 Figure 2. RUI definition The 12 types of RUI (Figure 3) are created by integrating the density of buildings with a vegetation structure, more or less continuous. The process includes a combination of four housing configurations based on building density (isolated: from 1 to 3 buildings, scattered: from 3 to 50 buildings, dense: more than 50 buildings and very dense: more than 50 buildings at a distance of less than 15m between buildings) and three vegetation connectivity types (null, low, high) based on a landscape metrics : Aggregation Index (AI) (Turner, 1990), which can be mapped using FRAGSTATS3.3© software (McGarigal & Marks, 1994). Figure 3. The 12 types of RUI The map was created by the tool and set up with a colour code for an easy interpretation. (Figure 4) Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 614 Figure 4 Local scale RUI map Methods Local scale Tragsatec The second local scale method was developed by TRAGSATEC. The method is based on three phases. First a settlement map creation with two layers : a land use cover (in Spain : SIGPAC) and a vegetation cover (the National Forest Map of Spain). The result of the union of the layers is a territory which is distributed in plots depending on the housing (Figure 5) - urban cores, spread buildings, isolated houses, etc... - and the different uses of land - forestry or agricultural -, taking as a basic aspect how the dispersion of the buildings is on the land and the landscape that surrounds them with the rules defined below: - Urban area (plot > 50 ha) - Habitat in agricultural areas ( 1 ha < plot <50 ha, forest < 30% ) - Habitat in forest areas ( 1ha < plot <50 ha, forest >= 30 %) - Habitat dispersed in agricultural area (plot < 1 ha , forest < 30% , 3 > buildings > 5) - Habitat dispersed in forest areas (plot <1 ha , forest >= 30% , 3 > buildings > 5) - Habitat isolated agricultural area (plot < 1 ha , forest < 30% , buildings < 3) - Habitat isolated forest area (plot < 1 ha , forest >= 30% , buildings < 3). The second phase is a buffer creation. The Rural-urban interfaces only are considered in settlements which are located at a distance inferior to 400 m from the forest (according to the Regional Spanish laws). A buffer is created around the established settlements from the first phase and its size depends on the difficulty in protecting the houses against fire. In the final phase the different types of RUI are defined from the type of settlement and vegetation-settlement connection around houses, the buffer for each type of settlement is the area called the rural-urban interface. Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 615 Figure 5. Tragsatec settlement typologyThe Rural-urban interfaces are considered in settlements which are located at a distance inferior to 400 m from the forest. This distance can be modified in the tool according to the laws of each country. Then the RUI map is created (Figure 6) by applying differentiated buffers, varying from 100m up to 400m, according to the type of habitat and risk.(Table 1) Table 1Buffer sizes Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 616 Figure 6. Map of RUI local scale - Tragsatec Global scale Irstea The global scale has been considered as the European level. This level of work has been taken into account in order to compare the situations and the importance of RUI in the different European countries. The main database used is the 2006 CORINE Landcover with a pixel resolution of 100 metres. In order to characterize RUI, two main landcover types were used : vegetation and urbanization. On the global scale, the rural urban interfaces are defined by a radius of 400 metres around houses located at less than 200 metres from forests or shrubland. The distance of 400 metres takes into account the perimeter where fuel reduction operations can be imposed on homeowners by different laws or regulations but also the possible burning of houses by spot fires. The global rural urban interface map results from the combination of 2 criteria: - the general land cover characterization (mineral, agricultural, sparse vegetated or forested area) resulting from the simplification of the Corine Land Cover database; - the housing configuration (isolated, scattered, dense cluster housing) resulting from the combination of urban fabric classes of the Corine Land Cover database and from the soil sealing database. A nine class typology was created during the process with a repartition of housing in three classes : isolated, scattered and dense, combined with different contexts : mineral, agriculture or sparse vegetation and forest. (Figure 7) Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 617 Figure 7. Global RUI map Results The RUImap software This tool called RUImap (Figure 8) is an extension for ESRI™ ArcGis™. It was designed to run the three methodologies detailed above automatically and to gain in time and easiness. Each partner developed some parts of the tool. The Irstea local and global scale modules were developed with the Python programming language using ArgGis™ functions. The TRAGSATEC local scale was written in VBA language. The design and integration of the module in the final version was made by Tragsatec. Figure 8. The RUImap software Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 624 According to figures it is possible to give some conclusion. The area of the RUI is increasing globally by 10%. The main increase in RUI types occurs principally in dense areas. Figure 14. Bouches-du-Rhône, France :RUI evolution 1999-2009 Conclusion The several outputs produced by the tool were compared and a genuine consistency between the obtained maps was noticed. The direct knowledge and some surveys in the territory are useful to compare the outputs with the real situation. A clear agreement between the software results and the RUI distribution on the territory was checked. The two approaches, global and local, are both useful to know, describe and map the territory on different scales and definition. The general map that the global tool produces can be used to have a general view of the territorial characteristics on the regional scale and to focus the areas where the use of the local tool would complete the analysis. In a general interpretation of the local tool application, the IRSTEA and TRAGSATEC methodologies could be considered as complementary. The first method developed by Irstea analyses the residential buildings and the presence/continuity of vegetation; the Tragsatec one also works on the dwellings but it considers the environment (forested, urban, agricultural) in which they are located. Running the local tool with both methods, more information can be collected and a more complete description of single RUI contexts can be obtained. The use of the tool could be very advantageous for fire risk analysis on RUI scale, and for local quantification of fuels charge and continuity. The information, associated with the direct knowledge of the general context is very important for the local fire risk assessment. The growing of RUI zone in all the Mediterranean study sites is a challenge for community leaders. This zone is at high risk due to numerous fire ignition density in a zone of human density and high valuable goods. The RUI expansion is a problem for prevention, organisation and fire-fighting. It increases the costs of protection as in these areas great losses are observed when a fire occurs. (human lives, houses). RUI mapping can participate to prevent devastating loss for homeowners through assessment of information, to protect homes and lives in a better way in the interface where "lives community at risk". Chapter 3 - Fire Management Advances in Forest Fire Research – Page 625 Acknowledgements The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) FUME program (Forest Fires under Climate, Social and Economic changes in Europe, the Mediterranean and other fire-affected areas of the world) under grant agreement n°243888 and Sixth Framework Programme. (FP6/2002-2006) FIRE PARADOX program under contract no. FP6-018505. Produced with the support of the Ministère de l’Ecologie, de l’Energie, du Développement Durable et de l’Aménagement du Territoire – France. Technical details RUImap is an extension for ESRI™ ArcGis™ v9.3.1, Spatial Analyst™ and ArcInfo™ licences required. Available for free on request: contact [email protected] References Casula, F (2013) Wildland Urban Interface: Mapping and Wildfire Risk Assessment, PhD thesis, (University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy) Farina A.(2001) Ecologia del paesaggio, principi, metodi e applicazioni, UTET, Torino, Italy Lampin-Maillet C (2009). Caractérisation de la relation entre organisation spatiale d’un territoire et risque d’incendie : Le cas des interfaces habitat-forêt du sud de la France. Thèse de doctorat, (université Aix-Marseille, GéographieStructures et dynamiques spatiales, Aix-en-Provence, France) Lampin-Maillet C, Jappiot M et al (2009) Characterization and mapping of dwelling types for forest fire prevention. Computers, Environment and urban systems 33,224-232. Lampin-Maillet C, Bouillon C et al (2010).’ Guide de cartographie et caractérisation des interfaces habitat-forêt’. 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