See the NOFFi-OBAM service maps of the National Wildfire Observatory
More than 25,000 acres of burned area is the first estimate of the destruction caused by the fire in the forest of Dadia in Evros and correspondingly more than 17,000 acres from the fire in Vatera, Lesvos.
the maps produced by the service NOFFi-OBAM of the National Forest Fire Observatory (NOFFi) and published by APE-MPE, the burned areas are depicted, based on the analysis of the first available satellite images. More accurate estimates will follow when satellite images (Sentinel-2) are available, without active fire fronts.
Specifically, according to the preliminary estimate of the EpaDap Group, in the fire in Dadia Evros (fire start date 21/07/2022) the burned area is estimated at 2527.9 hectares.
In the fire at Vatera Lesvos (start date 23/07/2022), the burned area is estimated at 1709.67 hectares. Today, moreover, the area burned by the fire in Penteli (starting date 19/07/2022) will be estimated more precisely, where the first estimate referred to 2429.83 hectares.
The maps of the burned areas are used directly by the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the local forest offices, so that they can be immediately declared reforestable. EpaDap is a collaboration between the General Directorate of Development, Forest Protection and Agri-Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Trans-Balkan Environment Center, which is financed by the Green Fund.
“More fires this July”
Asked about the characteristics of this year’s fire fighting season, the professor of the Department of Forestry and Natural Environment and director of the Forestry Management and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Ioannis Gitas told APE-MPE that special activity is observed in July this year and statistically more fires compared to previous years. As he clarified, “we certainly have a dry summer, especially in Southern Greece, while there were early heatwaves in June, but now we also have a big fire in Northern Greece, where there were rains in June”. He added, however, that at the end of the period and when the overall statistics and the sum of the total burned area will be available, the effectiveness of the additional risk management measures taken will be able to be assessed.
“There is permanent cooperation with the competent bodies and full utilization by the Ministry of the Environment and by the forest offices of the cartographic data we provide”, he noted.
The National Forest Fire Observatory – EpaDaP aims to create services related to the prevention and assessment of the effects of forest fires, which can be used operationally by the competent bodies in the management of forest fires. These services are based on advanced methods of analysis of medium or high definition satellite data and can be updated or applied in areas where no other data exists.
More specifically, within the framework of the EPaDAP, the following are being developed: Fuel type mapping service, with the possibility of renewing the cartographic product whenever and wherever needed. Service of automatic mapping of burned areas, which provides, immediately after the fire, the demarcation of the burned area with great accuracy. A medium-term forecasting service for the onset of forest fires, which will be capable of eight-day forecasting.
“Nanny: Reforestation or Natural Regeneration?”
Regarding the extent to which the ecosystem in Dadia was affected and the appropriate handling that should be followed for its restoration, Mr. Gitas explained that the measures are taken by region. “From on-site visits, we must see what was burned, zoning the ecosystem, and in some zones reforestation may be the appropriate way, in other places, flood protection measures should be taken, and in other places, it will regenerate naturally. From the severity of the fire and the type of ecosystem that it burned, the zones and the handling measures arise”, noted the AUTH professor.
Regarding the rare fauna that lives in the national park of Dadia, he explained that the degree to which it will be affected by the destruction caused by the fire depends on the habitat of each species, the space it needs to reproduce and survive.
RES-EMP
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