Land Cover and Wildfire Risk: A Multi-Buffer Spatial Analysis of the Relationship Between Housing Destruction and Land Cover in Chile’s Bío-Bío Region in 2023

Benedikt Hora (), Constanza González-Mathiesen, Natalia Aravena-Solís and Tomás Tapia
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Benedikt Hora: Escuela de Agronomía, Universidad Mayor, Temuco 4780000, Chile
Constanza González-Mathiesen: Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN) ANID/FONDAP 2023/1523A0009, Santiago de Chile 7820436, Chile
Natalia Aravena-Solís: Programa de Doctorado en Geografía, Instituto de Geografía, Facultad de Historia, Geografía y Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 7820436, Chile
Tomás Tapia: Laboratorio de Estudios Territoriales (LabT-UACh), Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia 5090000, Chile

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-20

Abstract: Wildfires pose increasing risks to human settlements, particularly in the Wildland–Urban Interface (WUI). This study examines the relationship between land cover (LC) characteristics and housing destruction during the 2023 wildfires in Chile’s Bío-Bío region. Using high-resolution remote sensing data and GIS-based multi-buffer spatial analysis (30 m and 100 m), we assessed LC patterns around affected and unaffected rural houses. Results indicate that the proximity of forest plantations significantly increased housing loss, with a notably higher presence of plantations within 30 m of destroyed houses. In contrast, agricultural and pasture mosaics demonstrated a protective function by reducing fire spread. Shrublands also showed moderate protection, albeit with statistical uncertainty. The findings highlight the critical role of immediate LC in determining wildfire impact, emphasizing the need for integrating LC considerations into wildfire risk management, land-use planning, and policy interventions. Strategies such as creating defensible spaces, enforcing zoning regulations, and promoting fire-resistant landscapes can help mitigate future wildfire damage. This research provides spatially explicit insights that contribute to wildfire risk reduction theory and inform targeted prevention and resilience-building strategies in Chile and other fire-prone regions.

Keywords: land cover; wildfires; proximity analysis; wildland–urban interface (WUI); risk management; land-use planning; spatial analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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