Fire risk map and solutions for wildfires in South America

Inspiration

Within the sphere of global wildfires, not all regions experience the same intensity of wildfires, nor do they have the same resources available. In the Western United States, wildfires have been increasing in severity, yet the technological and social tools at the country’s disposal to mitigate and adapt to wildfires are the best in the world. Other countries have not been immune to the occurrence of more wildfires, yet their resources to tackle them have not been able to keep up. Our group has decided to focus on the South American continent and its ongoing situation with wildfires, largely attributed to two of our members are from South America (Ecuador and Uruguay). We decided to create a fire threat map for the continent, which is a data visualization tool that is not widespread, in addition to creating targeted solutions for communities heavily affected by wildfires in South America.

What's next for Fire risk map and solutions for wildfires in South America

To provide a more accurate map of which areas in South America are at risk –and what risk level– our map could be modified to include more variables. These include the fire-prone activities undergone by people in the area, likelihood of weather conditions that favor fires (high temperatures, high wind speed, low humidity), vegetation flammability and density, soil moisture, topography and more. Another area for development of our project would be doing a year by year analysis of risk areas, to see if larger areas become at risk as time progresses. Additionally, predicting how fire risk threat areas will play out in the future in South America would also be interesting. Clearly, South America is not the only under-resourced area when it comes to wildfires, so targeted solutions and fire risk maps would be very useful for other areas of the Global South.