Summary:
This dissertation was submitted in the context of the “Environmental, Disaster & Crises
Management Strategies” Post Graduate Program of the Department of Geology &
Geoenvironment of the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens and aims to present a
Forest Fire Prevention Plan in the Municipality of Kalavryta, using Geographic Information
Systems, specifically the qGIS Software, which is an open source software provided a
considerable amount of features. First of all, Greece has witnessed in the last years, how a
forest fire can quickly become a fatal danger for settlements, roads and communities and thus
forests, as an ecosystem and locations and fire, as a phenomenon, are explained and details
are provided regarding how a fire is created, how a fire is spread and generally the
characteristics and stages of a forest fire as well as the role that vegetation plays in a forest
fire. Following that, the characteristics of the natural and man-made elements of the
environment are provided with the presentation of data about the administrative affiliation, the
climate of the area, the flora and forest ecosystems, the fauna, the geomorphological elements,
the settlements of the area and their population as well as the economic environment of the
Kalavryta Municipality. The data above are also presented from qGIS generated images. The
Kalavryta Municipality is characterized by the high altitude, the majority of it being above 600m.
The climate of the area can be described as “harsh” and “cold” (relatively to the rest of Greece)
with average temperature ranging from 2.5 oC in January (coldest) to 23 oC in August (hottest).
Precipitation is also relatively high with rainfall ranging from 4.6 – 109.8 mm while wind is
predominantly South-South Eastern with the notable exception of summer (the most important
months for fires) when the winds change to North-Eastern direction. The flora of the area is
Mediterranean and typical for this altitude with large areas of coniferous vegetation as well as
broad-leaved forests, mixed forests and sclerophyllous vegetation, while there are some
important flora species that are being threatened. As far as fauna is concerned there is a
significant amount of biodiversity, but there are a lot of threated species that are being
protected by various organizations and treaties. There are also areas with significant
ecological value and those areas are protected by the NATURA 2000 program. The seismicity
of the area is also relatively high, being in the II zone for seismicity in Greece. According to the
2011 census, the Kalavryta Municipality has 679,769 permanent residents with the town of
Kalavryta having 1,674 permanent residents. There is also a high number of smaller
settlements around the area, some in difficult to approach locations. The economy of the Area
has a strong tourism sector, especially winter tourism with the Kalavryta Skiing Center being
one of the major skiing points in Greece and in close proximity to Athens. Kalavryta also has
a rich history and archaeological interest, being a significant location for both ancient and
modern Greek history. A spatial Forest Fire Threat Assessment is then presented in the form
of thematical maps with grading from 1(lowest) to 10(highest), according to the theory provided
by the Greek Legislation, namely ΥΠΕΝ/ΔΠΔ/61247/2789, compiling the following maps using
qGIS and based on the vegetation polygons as provided by the CORINE program and
assuming a standard vegetation density of approximately 40%-70%: 1) Fire Causes
Assessment Map, in which the possible causes of fire are presented, with settlements and
human activities such as tourism, agricultural practices, energy grids being the main causes
of fire in the area, the road network of the area is also taken into account on both sides of the
road, while the roads are considered part of the provincial network 2) Fire Probability
Assessment Map, taking into account the possible causes of fire as presented in Map 1 and
the flammability of the vegetation as considered empirically and presented in the Greek
Legislation providing a map with the areas that have the highest probability of fire due to their
vegetation and the human activity in the area 3) Fire Intensity Map, where the combustibility
of the vegetation and the elevation of terrain are taken into account to estimate the intensity of
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the fire 4) Threatened Values Map where settlements, archaeological sites, sites of great
ecological values are presented and marked for their significance with settlements and children
summer camps are noted as the most important while sites of significant ecological value and
sites of archaeological value are also rated as important 5) Forest Fire Threat Assessment
Map which is the final composition of the above maps presenting the threat level that various
areas are facing, taking into account the probability of a fire, the combustibility of the
vegetation-fire front intensity and the values that are being threatened. A map detailing the fire
prevention measures is also presented, with data provided by the local Fire-Fighting service.
Based on the above, it is observed that there are many areas that face a high probability of fire
as they combine a high level of human activity with rich vegetation with high levels of
flammability and combustibility, thus these areas are rated as High Threat zones as many
settlements can be found in those zones. The data presented above reveal the need for a
comprehensive forest fire prevention strategy for effectively dealing, and ultimately living with,
forest fires. Indicative forest fire prevention measures are also presented with a heavy
emphasis being placed on raising public awareness, especially students as a good education
on forest ecosystems and the knowledge of the threat that forest fires present of humans and
the natural environment alike, can be a very effective and relatively low cost measure of raising
awareness and thus mitigating the threat of forest fires. Fire detection measures and measures
to help the fire-fighting services are also presented, such as strengthening the fire detection
network, the usage of new technologies such as the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to
provide a clear aerial picture of large areas and various other measures to enhance the fire
management of the Kalavryta Municipality.
