Analysis on the Fire Progression and Severity Variation of the Massive Forest Fire Occurred in Uljin, Korea, 2022

Abstract

Analysis of the progression of forest fires is critical in understanding fire regimes and managing the risk of active fires. Major fire events in Korea mostly occur in the eastern mountainous areas (Gangwon Province), where the wind and moisture conditions are prone to fire in the late winter season. Despite the significance of the fire events in the area both in terms of frequency and severity, their spatial progression characteristics and their dependency on forest types have not been sufficiently analyzed so far, particularly with satellite data. This study first derived the severity map for the Uljin fire which occurred in March 2022, using a series of satellite images acquired over the fire period with very high frequency (every 5 days), and analyzed the characteristics of spatio-temporal progression in terms of forest types. The analysis revealed that the core fire area expanded very rapidly in the first few days, followed by an intensification phase that elevated severity in the active areas with marginal expansion in the peripheral areas. The analysis of the progression showed that the fire did not expand selectively by the forest type, despite the clear difference in their severity levels in the burned areas, where coniferous forest exhibited 3 times higher severity than deciduous forest.

Dynamics of major environmental disasters involving fire in the Brazilian Pantanal

“…The expansion and severity of the burned area were accentuated by the slope of the region, cleared areas, the availability of fuel, and the induction of drought in pastures where practices were adopted to prevent flooding, such as blocking water flow channels. These factors allowed the fire to spread easily and quickly, while some of them made it difficult to control and fight the fire 13 , 40 .…”

“…Although in July 2020 the national government decreed a fire moratorium, which banned the use of fire for four months during the dry season, especially in the Amazon and Pantanal biomes, it did not guarantee that in 2020 the Pantanal biome would face its worst fire in decades 59 . Lack of consolidated environmental legislation covering the entire biome 60 , the low budgets of agencies such as IBAMA and the lack of inspection and monitoring due to the limited number of inspectors reinforce the concept of impunity and responsibility of offenders 13 .…”

“…Burning to clear pastures is common practice in region and, when applied improperly and combined with climatic conditions, changes in land use and poor conservation policies lead to an increasing occurrence and intensity of wildfires 6 – 8 . These recurrent fires promote a loss of biodiversity, replacement of native species by invasive ones, changes in ecological processes, impact on water quality, as well as changes in soil properties 9 – 13 . Additionally, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from these fires undermine the climate agreements signed by Brazil 4 .…”

Applicability Comparison of GIS-Based RUSLE and SEMMA for Risk Assessment of Soil Erosion in Wildfire Watersheds

“…Organic matter reduces soil erodibility because it reduces soil detachment and increases infiltration. The nomograph for soil erodibility [46] consists of soil profile parameters, as shown in Equation (12).…”

“…The severity of international large-scale wildfires due to climate change has increased extraordinarily since entering the 21st century [7][8][9][10], and it is predicted that it will become more serious in the future [11]. Although it was relatively small compared to the scale of global wildfires, the second-largest wildfire in Korean history occurred in Uljin in 2022 [12]. Large-scale wildfires increase toxicity and carbon dioxide emissions and deteriorate soil, water, and air quality in remote areas [2].…”