Abstract
Abstract. In the eastern Alps, no previous research focused on the impact of wildfires on the occurrence of rockfalls. The investigation of wildfires and post-wildfire rockfalls gains new importance with respect to changes in weather extremes and rapid social developments such as population growth and tourism. The present work describes a wildfire that occurred in August 2018 in a famous world heritage site in Austria. Indicators of fire severity and rockfall occurrence during and after the fire are described.
Highlights
Many areas in the eastern Alps are prone to rockfalls endangering settlements and infrastructure, causing several fatalities every year
Preventive rockfall hazard actions by the Austrian Torrent and Avalanche Control (WLV) after the wildfire included the (i) establishment of temporary rockfall protection measures in order to be able to clear the wildfire area, (ii) clearance of the wildfire area, (iii) repair of preexisting rockfall protective structures damaged by the rockfall, and (iv) sowing of seeds in the wildfire-affected scree and soil
Varying degrees of consumption of the needles and leaves and organic matter can be related to different classes of fire severity
Summary
Many areas in the eastern Alps are prone to rockfalls endangering settlements and infrastructure, causing several fatalities every year. Most research on the impact of wildfires has been done in the USA and the Mediterranean-climate region (Cerdà, 1998; Cerdà and Doerr, 2005; Parise and Cannon, 2012). De Graff et al (2015) showed that out of 16 wildfires in California (USA), seven wildfire-affected areas experienced significant rockfall occurrence days after the burn. All rockfalls were generated from steep slopes (over 39◦) of metasedimentary or granitic lithology experiencing moderate-to-high soil burn severity. In the USA, it is the preferred term (applied to soils) used in post-fire Burned Area Emergency Response assessments (Parson et al, 2010). In order to assess the impact of the wildfire on the recent and future rockfall activity in the area, a helicopter flight and field survey were carried out. In May 2019 to record the temporal post-wildfire changes to the ecosystem
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