Wildfire Hazard

This indicator assesses the potential threat of wildfires due to fire weather intensity. Wildfires impose significant risks to human lives and economic activities. In extreme fire weather events, strong winds and wind-born debris may even weaken the integrity of infrastructure. Climate change may further increase the frequency of fire weather occurrences, including an increase in temperature, greater variance in rainfall and increase in fire season duration. Climate projections indicate that there could also be an increase in the severity of fire. This indicator is based on the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery’s (GFDRR) global wildfire hazard levels. The approach to classifying wildfire hazard levels used is based solely on fire weather index climatology. These intensities are classified based on thresholds using conventions to provide hazard classes that correspond to conditions that can support problematic fire spread in the landscape, if an ignition and sufficient fuel were to be present.