Improving societal resilience through a GIS-based approach to manage road transport networks under wildfire hazards
Erica Arango, María Nogal, Hélder S. Sousa, José C. Matos, Mark G. Stewart
Abstract
Climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of wildfires, demonstrating that our capacity to respond to them is insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider wildfire management policies, practices, and the tools that support decision-making beyond emergency measures. This study presents the extension of a methodology for GIS fire analysis on decision-making support in implementing new fire-related policies for road transportation infrastructure. It represents a novel contribution that facilitates the transition towards proactive wildfire policies. The framework is demonstrated to offer support for informed decision-making, catering to both reactive actions, i.e., emergency response, and the evaluation of proactive adaptation measures at a system level. The results suggest that landscape management policies can play an important role in improving the resilience of road networks to wildfires.