Fire-prone Areas Research Articles

An integrated framework for habitat restoration in fire-prone areas. Part 2 – fire hazard assessment of the different land management scenarios

An integrated framework for habitat restoration in fire-prone areas. Part 2 – fire hazard assessment of the different land management scenarios

The Use of Geographic Information Systems and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods in the Creation of Forest Fire Susceptibility Maps: A Literature Review

Forest fires are natural disasters that cause significant environmental, economic, and social damage worldwide. This study provides a literature review examining how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods are utilized in the prevention of forest fires and the identification of high-risk areas. GIS, as a system used for the collection and analysis of spatial data, enables the consideration of various factors influencing fire risk, such as climate change, topography, vegetation, and weather conditions. The spatial analysis capabilities offered by GIS play a critical role in identifying regions with high fire susceptibility when generating fire risk maps. Additionally, MCDM methods contribute significantly to the decision-making process by allowing the evaluation of multiple criteria in fire risk analysis. Logistic Regression and Frequency Ratio, which are frequently employed in the literature, are widely used in fire risk analysis and improve the accuracy of susceptibility maps. Furthermore, MCDM methods have been proven effective in estimating the likelihood of forest fire occurrences and identifying fire-prone areas. The integration of GIS and MCDM methods allows for more precise identification of risk zones and supports the development of fire prevention strategies. This literature review highlights the advantages of utilizing GIS and MCDM in the production of forest fire susceptibility maps and suggests that these methods may have broader applications in future research. The effective use of technology in combating forest fires enhances the accuracy of fire risk assessments, contributing significantly to environmental protection efforts.

Modelling the present and future of Phrynosoma orbiculare habitat and wildfire distribution and their environmental niche overlap in Mexico

Wildfires are natural phenomena that have shaped ecosystems and maintained biodiversity for millions of years. However, the increased frequency and severity of wildfires in recent decades are predominantly attributed to human activities. These anthropogenic factors, including land use change, climate change, and fire suppression, have disrupted the natural fire regime and heightened the risk of large-scale, destructive wildfires. Reptiles, as ectothermic and often slow-moving animals, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of fires due to their limited mobility and reliance on specific microhabitats. Understanding the impacts of wildfires on reptile populations is crucial for their effective conservation and management in fire-prone areas. This paper focuses on Phrynosoma orbiculare, a species distributed across the northern and southeastern regions of Mexico, where wildfires are common. The study revealed that key environmental variables driving the distribution of P. orbiculare include altitude, temperature extremes, and forest composition, while fire occurrence is strongly influenced by climatic conditions such as temperature and precipitation. As fires become more frequent and severe, the niche overlap between P. orbiculare and fire-prone regions is expected to expand. These findings highlight the importance of integrating fire management into conservation planning, particularly for protecting fire-sensitive ecosystems like Abies forests. Understanding the complex interaction between fire and species distributions is essential for developing effective conservation strategies that ensure the survival of P. orbiculare and other fire-sensitive species in Mexico’s changing landscapes.

Wildfire Burnt Area and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions under Future Climate Change Scenarios in the Mediterranean: Developing a Robust Estimation Approach

Wildfires burn annually over 400,000 ha in Mediterranean countries. By the end of the 21st century, wildfire Burnt Area (BA) and associated Green House Gas (GHG) emissions may double to triple due to climate change. Regional projections of future BA are urgently required to update wildfire policies. We present a robust methodology for estimating regional wildfire BA and GHG emissions under future climate change scenarios in the Mediterranean. The Fire Weather Index, selected drought indices, and meteorological variables were correlated against BA/GHG emissions data to create area-specific statistical projection models. State-of-the-art regional climate models (horizontal resolution: 12 km), developed within the EURO-CORDEX initiative, simulated data under three climate change scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) up to 2070. These data drove the statistical models to estimate future wildfire BA and GHG emissions in three pilot areas in Greece, Montenegro, and France. Wildfire BA is projected to increase by 20% to 130% up to 2070, depending on the study area and climate scenario. The future expansion of fire-prone areas into the north Mediterranean and mountain environments is particularly alarming, given the large biomass present here. Fire-smart landscape management may, however, greatly reduce the projected future wildfire BA and GHG increases.

Synergistic Impacts of Climate Change and Wildfires on Agricultural Sustainability—A Greek Case Study

Climate change and wildfire effects have continued to receive great attention in recent times due to the impact they render on the environment and most especially to the field of agriculture. The purpose of this study was to assess the synergistic impacts of climate change and wildfires on agricultural sustainability. This study adopted a cross-sectional survey design based on the quantitative research approach. Data were collected from 340 environmental experts using an online questionnaire. The results showed that extreme weather events such as heavy rains or extreme droughts negatively influence agricultural sustainability in Europe. The results showed that disruptions in ecosystems caused by climate change have a significant positive impact on agricultural sustainability in Europe. Furthermore, forest regeneration after wildfires showed statistically significant positive influence on agricultural sustainability in Europe. The economic impact of fire on crops, cattle, and farms can be estimated. This information can be used to develop and plan agricultural regions near fire-prone areas; choose the best, most cost-effective, and longest-lasting cultivar; and limit fire risk. It is also clear that increased wildfire smoke negatively affects agricultural sustainability.

Assessing forest fire dynamics and risk zones in Central Indian forests: a comparative study of the Khandwa and North Betul forest divisions of Madhya Pradesh.

Forest fires pose significant environmental and socioeconomic threats, particularly in regions such as Central India, where forest ecosystems are vital for biodiversity and local livelihoods. Understanding forest fire dynamics and identifying fire risk zones are crucial for effective mitigation. The current study explores the spatiotemporal dynamics of forest fires in the Khandwa and North Betul forest divisions in the Central Indian region over 22years using Mann-Kendall and Sen's slope tests on MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) fire point data. We found a nonsignificant increase in forest fires in both divisions. Khandwa showed a nonsignificant slope rise of more than three events per year, while North Betul revealed an increase of around one event per year. The lack of statistical significance suggests that upward trends of forest fire events may result from random fluctuations rather than consistent patterns. Spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed significant clustering of fire incidents in both regions. Khandwa confirmed moderate clustering (Moran's I = 0.043), whereas North Betul showed robust clustering (Moran's I = 0.096). Kernel density estimation further identified high-risk clusters in both divisions, necessitating zonal-wise targeted fire management strategies. Fire risk zonation was developed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), combining 10 environmental and socioeconomic factors. The AHP model, validated using MODIS fire data, showed reliable accuracy. The results revealed many of both divisions in the high- to very high-risk categories. Approximately, 45% of the area of the Khandwa and nearly 50% of the area of North Betul fall under high to very high fire risk zones. Khandwa's high-risk areas mainly lie in the northern and southeastern parts, while North Betul lies in the northwestern and north-eastern regions. The identified fire-prone areas indicate the pressing need for local or region-specific fire prevention and mitigation strategies. Thus, the findings of this study provide valuable insights into forest fire risk management and contribute to more focused research and methodological developments.

Social and health factors influence self-reported evacuation intentions in the wildfire-prone island of Tasmania, Australia

BackgroundPersonal decisions regarding evacuation to a safer place in response to the threat of wildfire have multiple social and cultural influences. However, little is understood about the role of an individual's health in shaping these decisions. Aim: To investigate associations between self-reported sociodemographic and health-related variables and wildfire evacuation intentions. MethodsWe used data collected in the 2016 Tasmanian Population Health Survey and implemented log binomial regression modelling to characterise associations between variables, including overall health status, presence of a chronic medical condition, age group, sex, educational attainment, employment status, financial security, and intention to leave during a wildfire threat. ResultsFemales were significantly more likely than males to report an intention to leave (RR = 1.52, 95 % CI [1.40–1.66]), as were those with higher versus lower educational attainment (RR = 1.02, 95 % CI [1.00–1.03]), and those with a diagnosis of depression/anxiety (RR = 1.07, 95 % CI [1.00–1.15]) compared to those without. When stratified by sex, significant associations with intention to leave and asthma and higher educational attainment were observed in males (asthma: RR = 1.28, 95 % CI [1.04–1.57]; educational attainment RR = 1.05, 95 % CI [1.01–1.09]), while the association with anxiety/depression was imprecisely elevated for females (RR = 1.08, 95 % CI [1.00–1.16]). For males only, the presence of a chronic condition was significantly associated with an intention to stay (RR = 0.78, 95 % CI [0.62–0.99]). ConclusionSex, educational attainment, and the presence of asthma and depression/anxiety influenced evacuation intentions for residents in our study. Such social, demographic and health differences should be considered in planning communication and messaging to residents in fire-prone areas.

Legal Awareness of Citizens in Preventing Forest and Land Fires (Karhutla) in South Kalimantan Province

This article is based on an empirical study of forest and land fires in South Kalimantan Province. These fires frequently occur and persist, especially during drought seasons. The main causes are twofold: first, the expansion of agricultural land through clearing new areas; and second, the negligence of residents during hot, dry seasons, such as discarding cigarette butts carelessly without considering the potential consequences. The root issue behind these fires is the low level of legal awareness among citizens. This lack of awareness is due to the low educational levels of residents living near fire-prone areas, as well as insufficient and poorly structured government-led socialization efforts. Additionally, the economic conditions of these communities, where many are low-income farmers, contribute to their reliance on traditional, quick, and cost-effective methods like burning to manage land for agriculture. This practice not only harms the environment but also impacts public health. Therefore, effective measures to address forest and land fires require a dual approach from the authorities: enhancing legal awareness through improved socialization efforts and addressing the economic challenges faced by residents in fire-affected areas.

Active Wildland Fires in Central Chile and Local Winds (Puelche)

Central Chile (CC, latitudes 32–40°S) experienced very active fires in 2017 and 2023. These fires burned large areas and killed many people. These unprecedented fires for CC presented a need for more defined fire weather conditions on the synoptic scale. In this paper, fire weather conditions were analyzed using various satellite-derived fire data (hotspots, HSs), wind streamlines, distribution maps of wind flow and temperature, and various synoptic-scale weather maps. Results showed that local winds, known as Puelche, blew on the peak fire days (26 January 2017 and 3 February 2023). The number of HSs on these days was 2676 and 2746, respectively, about 90 times the average (30). The occurrence of Puelche winds was confirmed by streamlines from high-pressure systems offshore of Argentina to the study area in CC. The formation of strong winds and high-temperature areas associated with Puelche winds were identified on the Earth survey satellite maps. Strong winds of about 38 km h−1 and high temperatures above 32 °C with low relative humidity below 33% were actually observed at the weather station near the fire-prone areas. Lastly, some indications for Puelche winds outbreaks are summarized. This paper’s results will be used to prevent future active fire occurrences in the CC.

The impacts of inter- and intra-seasonal burns on the terrestrial orchid Pterostylis curta

Prescribed burning is a management tool used for both management of fuel loads and for ecological purposes across fire prone areas. While in temperate areas wildfires usually occur during the hottest summer months, prescribed burns are generally conducted in autumn and spring, when conditions are more suitable for controlling fire. Orchids maintain avoidance mechanisms, such as persisting as dormant tubers during the predominant fire season, and therefore may be at risk from prescribed burns occurring during their active life cycle period. Using a glasshouse experiment, we investigated the impacts of fire season on the Australian orchid species Pterostylis curta. This approach allowed us to i) implement seasonal burns and relate impacts to quantifiable above and belowground life cycle stages of the study species, ii) isolate and assess the role of smoke, and iii) control for fire intensity and life stage of the study species at each of the treatment levels to enable robust comparison focused on fire season effects. We found that late autumn burns caused complete failure of a cohort in our glasshouse study. Heat alone was not the driver of tuber mortality, because soil heating was similar across all burn seasons, and plants burnt in the three other seasons were able to re-emerge strongly in the growing season after fire. Furthermore, a lack of post-fire emergence was due to tuber mortality, not dormancy. Our results highlight that there is likely an interaction between fire-related heat and the life cycle stage at which burning occurs, especially replacement tuber initiation, that drives post-fire demography. We show that orchids like P. curta had the lowest risk of negative impacts when burnt in the later stages of their growing season, and that an understanding of finer-scale phenological cycles can inform more robust fire management of orchid species.

Fires in the face of climate change: Indicators of fire disturbance in heath areas – Inference from military training lands

Global warming significantly affects the frequency and intensity of wildfires in many fire-prone areas of the world and fire disturbance regimes are changing rapidly. Alongside this, controlled burning is often considered or implemented as an alternative method for nature protection. Here, we studied the post-fire secondary succession in dry heath habitat located in military training grounds to recognise the impact of fire on the effectiveness and rate of ecosystem recovery. We focus particularly on identifying indicator species for a given successional phase of Central European dry heath habitats and assessing their value for dating the last fire disturbance. The research involved 60 vegetation patches (plots of 25 m2), which were assigned to four post-fire age classes, namely: 1–5 years (Class A), 6–10 years (Class B), 11–15 years (Class C), and >15 years (Class D). In each study plot, species diversity and coverage of lichens, bryophytes and vascular plants were examined in addition to the physicochemical properties of the soil substrate. Cryptogams and vascular plants clearly differ in terms of the secondary succession pattern; specific sets of cryptogams correspond well to particular post-fire classes and are therefore good determinants of the post-fire succession stage. Spontaneous succession of plant vegetation eventually leads to complete recovery of the heath in a relatively short time. Nevertheless, great vegetation dynamics in the first years after a fire disturbance may result in seemingly different directions of succession. Post-fire classes did not differ noticeably in terms of soil properties, it follows that the effects of fire on soil conditions are negligible; though, a significant upward trend was observed for exchangeable form of K throughout the succession process. Our results indicate that sporadic fires reduce the undesirable overgrowth of heathlands or psamophilous grasslands and generally have a little negative side-effect on the ecosystem. The revealed succession patterns and defined sets of species characteristic for subsequent post-fire age classes are applicable to dating fire disturbances, regardless of whether the fire was planned or spontaneous.

Community empowerment for reducing the risk of peatland fires in the wetland area of South Kalimantan

Fires that continue to occur in the dry season, cause fire management to be carried out immediately. Community empowerment in fire suppression is essential to improve. This study analyzes community empowerment in fire management in fire-prone peatland areas in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The number of samples in this study was 250 people directly involved in empowerment activities in fire-prone areas. There are 37 questions about physical capital, social capital, human capital, ability in empowerment, empowerment process and community empowerment—data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results show that physical capital, social capital and empowerment capabilities have not formed communities that can make decisions and are independent in combating peatland fires. Community empowerment programs are limited to volunteer groups and do not cover all community groups.

Worldviews more than experience predict Californians’ support for wildfire risk mitigation policies

California must adapt to increasing wildfire activity concurrent with climate change and expanding housing development in fire-prone areas. Recent decades have seen record-breaking fire activity, economic costs, and human health impacts. Residents more frequently face home evacuations, prolonged periods of unhealthy air quality, and power shut-offs. Understanding how these experiences influence support for risk mitigation policies is essential to inform action on climate and fire adaptation. To better understand linkages between experience and policy support, we surveyed California residents (n = 645) about their wildfire-related experiences, risk perceptions, and support for 18 wildfire risk mitigation policies. To assess how the relationship between policy support and wildfire experience is modulated by preexisting worldviews, we measured the extent to which respondents are motivated by individualistic or communitarian values as proposed in the cultural theory of risk. We surveyed residents across a gradient of wildfire impacts, spatially stratifying residences based on wildland-urban-interface type and proximity to large 2020 wildfires. Support was generally high for most policies, though most respondents opposed incorporating future risk into insurance rates and coverage. Policy support models showed that communitarian worldviews were more consistently associated with greater support for diverse wildfire mitigation policies than were measures of recent experience with wildfire. These results suggest that California residents within our sample regions already support many wildfire risk mitigation strategies, and preexisting societal beliefs are a stronger predictor of these views than personal experiences with wildfire. Policy-makers can utilize this understanding to focus on crafting policies and messaging that resonates with individualistic values.

Occurrence, probable causes, and management of forest wildfires in the Northern Highlands of Pakistan

Pakistan is forest-deficient and cannot afford forest losses associated with large-scale wildfire destruction. The Northern Mountainous Range (NMR) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has substantial forest cover, yet complex human-environment interactions have created vast fire-prone areas. This study examines the historical and environmental drivers of wildfires in the NMR and prospective management strategies to reduce their devastating impacts. We reviewed news articles and surveyed local fire management offices to obtain records of fire occurrences to develop a spatial model. We used the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model to evaluate wildfire probability based on climatic influences and found district Swat and neighboring areas in the NMR region to be a forest fire hotspot due mainly to factors of precipitation. Furthermore, an analysis was conducted on regional environmental governance, encompassing legislative factors that impede fire safety and deficient fire management budgets. In addition, we detailed the recognized causes of forest fires in the area, revealing a significant human contribution. There is a rising consensus that governance regionally, locally, and within communities must comprehensively handle the compounding and complicated concerns surrounding wildfires. This extensive analysis seeks to impact regional management to support fire protection through actions to update the forest policy, encourage participatory planning and governance at the local level, prepare for future forest fires by allocating enough budget for emergency disasters, raise public awareness, and educate the public about forest fire dangers.

National-scale spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation fire occurrences using MODIS satellite data.

As the risk of climate change increases, robust fire monitoring methods become critical for fire management purposes. National-scale spatiotemporal patterns of the fires and how they relate to vegetation and environmental conditions are not well understood in Zimbabwe. This paper presents a spatially explicit method combining satellite data and spatial statistics in detecting spatiotemporal patterns of fires in Zimbabwe. The Emerging Hot Spot Analysis method was utilized to detect statistically significant spatiotemporal patterns of fire occurrence between the years 2002 and 2021. Statistical analysis was done to determine the association between the spatiotemporal patterns and some environmental variables such as topography, land cover, land use, ecoregions and precipitation. The highest number of fires occurred in September, coinciding with Zimbabwe's observed fire season. The number of fires significantly varied among seasons, with the hot and dry season (August to October) recording the highest fire counts. Additionally, although June, July and November are not part of the official fire season in Zimbabwe, the fire counts recorded for these months were relatively high. This new information has therefore shown the need for revision of the fire season in Zimbabwe. The northern regions were characterized by persistent, oscillating, diminishing and historical spatiotemporal fire hotspots. Agroecological regions IIa and IIb and the Southern Miombo bushveld ecoregion were the most fire-prone areas. The research findings also revealed new critical information about the spatiotemporal fire patterns in various terrestrial ecoregions, land cover, land use, precipitation and topography and highlighted potential areas for effective fire management strategies.

MAPATON 2023: implementing a tool for the analysis of forest fire zones in Arequipa

The "Mapaton 2023," a collaborative initiative by the Peruvian Space Agency, Paraguayan Space Agency, and AMERIGEOS, introduces an innovative approach to analyze fire-prone areas in Arequipa, a pivotal endeavor for disaster prevention. Focused on the provinces of Arequipa and Caylloma, recent studies identified over 1,500 affected hectares by forest fires, emphasizing the urgency of employing satellite images and geospatial analysis techniques. Leveraging Landsat 8 satellite imagery, the research calculated indices, including the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for vegetation analysis and the differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) for fire severity assessment. Results revealed varying impacts, with some areas exhibiting increased vegetation and others displaying significant damage. The use of ArcGIS online facilitated the presentation of geospatial data, emphasizing the utility of remote sensing in comprehending and addressing forest fires. Drawing insights from analogous studies in Mexico and the Amazon, this research underscores the importance of remote sensing and geospatial analysis in informing preventive measures against wildfires. The findings, crucial for environmental management, are recommended for sharing with relevant authorities, and the continued use of diverse satellite imagery sources is encouraged to enhance accuracy in monitoring and mitigating forest fires.

Climate change impacts on regional fire weather in heterogeneous landscapes of central Europe

Abstract. Wildfires have reached an unprecedented scale in the Northern Hemisphere. The summers of 2022 and 2023 demonstrated the destructive power of wildfires, especially in North America and southern Europe. Global warming leads to changes in fire danger. Specifically, fire seasons are assumed to become more extreme and will extend to more temperate regions in northern latitudes in the future. However, the extent to which the seasonality and severity of fire danger in regions of central Europe will change in the future remains to be investigated. Multiple studies claim that natural variability and model uncertainty hide the trend of increasing fire danger in multi-model climate simulations for future potentially fire-prone areas. Such a trend might be isolated with single-model initial-condition large ensembles (SMILEs), which help scientists to distinguish the forced response from natural variability. So far, the SMILE framework has only been applied for fire danger estimation on a global scale. To date, only a few dynamically downscaled regional SMILEs exist, although they enhance the spatial representation of climatic patterns on a regional or local scale. In this study, we use a regional SMILE of the Canadian Regional Climate Model version 5 Large Ensemble (CRCM5-LE) over a region in central Europe under the RCP8.5 (Representative Concentration Pathway) scenario from 1980 to 2099 to analyze changes in fire danger in an area that is currently not fire prone. We use the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) as a fire danger indicator. The study area covers four heterogeneous landscapes, namely the Alps, the Alpine Foreland, the lowlands of the South German Escarpment, and the Eastern Mountain Ranges of the Bavarian Forest. We demonstrate that the CRCM5-LE is a dataset suitable for disentangling climate trends from natural variability in a multi-variate fire danger metric. Our results show the strongest increases in the median (50th) and extreme (90th) quantiles of the FWI in the northern parts (South German Escarpment and Eastern Mountain Ranges) of the study area in the summer months of July and August. There, high fire danger becomes the median condition by the end of the century, and levels of high fire danger occur earlier in the fire season. The southern parts (Alps and Alpine Foreland) are less strongly affected by changes in fire danger than the northern parts. However, these regions reach their time of emergence (TOE) in the early 2040s because of very low current fire danger. In the northern parts, the climate change trend exceeds natural variability only in the late 2040s. We find that today's 100-year FWI event will occur every 30 years by 2050 and every 10 years by the end of the century. Our results highlight the potential for severe future fire events in central Europe, which is currently not very fire prone, and demonstrate the need for fire management even in regions with a temperate climate.

Pemetaan Zonasi Daerah Rawan Kebakaran Hutan Berbasis Sistem Informasi Geografis (SIG) di Kawasan Taman Nasional Kerinci Seblat

This study aims to determine the zoning level of vulnerability and the distribution of forest fire prone areas in the TNKS SPTN Region III Painan Resort Kambang. This research uses descriptive method with quantitative approach. Data analysis techniques used are scoring and overlay. The results showed 1) The level of forest fire vulnerability there are two classes of vulnerability, low class of 173,015.62 hectares generally located in the rain forest. Medium class 115,14.76 hectares are in primary and secondary dryland forest areas, fields, dryland farms, rice fields and shrubs.2) The distribution of fire-prone areas there are a total of 31 hotspots, moderate category 24 points are in dryland farms mixed with shrubs and fields, high category 6 points are in rainforest areas and dryland farms mixed with shrubs, for low category 1 point is in the rainforest area. Based on this data, it can be concluded that most of the forests in Kambang Resort are in the medium and low vulnerability class zones.

Energy infrastructure and climate change: Protecting erodible slopes in fire-prone areas

Energy infrastructure is critical to the functioning of modern societies, and its protection against natural disasters and environmental threats is a top priority. Fire affects an estimated four million square kilometers (1.5 million square miles) of Earth’s land each year and is responsible for releasing aerosols and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The chances of erosion increase significantly when vegetation has been burned off, leading to mass movements of soil and water. Steep, hilly areas are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon. Post-incendiary erosion increases sediment and ash in waterways, and can put people, property, and water supplies at risk. Geocellular confinement minimizes movement and migration of the embankment materials, resists sheet flow, and prevents severe erosion while controlling rill and gully formation, especially in erosive post-incendiary soils. This paper discusses: 1) the growing need to protect erodible slopes near and around energy infrastructure in fire-prone areas; 2) a recent project example where aggregate-filled geocells were used for this purpose; and 3) how this solution set can be applied as a best practice for energy infrastructure protection and pre- or post-incendiary erosion control.

Analysis of the flammability of forests in the Orenburg region

The article provides information on the dynamics of forest fires in the forestry districts of the Orenburg region, the potential danger to the gas processing and oil production industries of the region, and the impact of fires on forest phytocenoses. The Orenburg region, compared to other regions of Russia, is characterized by a high level of anthropogenic impact, so it is the most vulnerable, prone to fires, including forest fires, which in recent years tend to increase. The analysis of fire dynamics has shown that in the sparsely forested territory of the Orenburg region, forest fires cause serious economic damage every year. The territory of the Orenburg region is characterized by a high risk of fires. During the period under review, fires occurred everywhere. The most fire-prone areas are the territories confined to the transition from steppe to dry-steppe zones, as well as those located near large population centers. It is recommended to take into account the presented data when planning forest protection measures in the territory of the Orenburg region.