Mapping fire ignition risk in a complex anthropogenic landscape

The progressing spread of urban development into the surrounding fuel-loaded wildland creates a particular landscape structure where the co-occurrence of human activities and flammable fuel greatly increases the fire ignition risk. In this framework, land use and land cover (LULC) maps derived from remotely sensed images represent a useful tool for assessing fire risk. The aim of this letter is thus to use a LULC map derived from QuickBird satellite imagery for assessing ignition risk at the rural-forest interface in Sardinia (Italy). Our results show that fire risk is strongly positively correlated with anthropogenic land use and negatively correlated with semi-natural and natural vegetation cover, such as shrubland or forest. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.