Wildfires in Piedmont region, Italy (2021-03-23)

<br/> Activation date: 2021-03-23 <br/> Event type: Wildfire <br/> <br/> Activation reason: <br/> The CEMS Risk and Recovery Standard service has been activated to support the assessment of the wildfire events that have affected the Piedmont region, in Italy, between the 14th and the 18th March 2021. The analysed wildfires affected some mountain areas and, fed by strong winds, destroyed about 300 hectares of forests in several municipalities. Reports by local authorities indicated serious damages to biodiversity, soil quality and to the normal ecologic functions in burned areas. The goal of the activation is to assess the grade level of the damages caused by the wildfire events over five AOIs, as well as to understand the risk of soil erosion and landslide over the burnt areas where the loss of vegetation has possibly led to soil&rsquo;s chemical and physical properties changes, due to the high temperatures during the fires.In each of the five AOIs, an update of the land cover has been provided by using post-event VHR satellite optical imagery to produce the P03.2 LULC CLC @1:25000 product. The updated dataset shows that the evolution of land uses between 2018 (reference) and 2021 (analysed) is very scarce and the event has not had a significant impact on the development and natural evolution of land uses.For each AOI the wildfire events have been assessed through the production of P07-Wildfire delineation and grading products. The most affected areas are AOI02-CASELETTE (265.04 ha) and AOI04-VAUDA CANAVESE (245.03 ha). However, the majority of the analysed AOIs have been assessed as only slightly damaged. The result may underestimate the actual severity of the fires effects due to the limitation of the approach based on the differential NDVI adopted for broad-leaved vegetation in winter.&nbsp;The post-disaster soil erosion (P16) and landslide (P17) risk assessment have been performed by using as input the P03.2 and P07 products, as well as ancillary data needed for the adopted models. The AOIs 01, 02, 03 and 04 mostly have a low soil erosion risk, while the AOI05 includes a large area characterized by severe soil erosion risk. The landslide risk is variable, with a predominance of the moderate risk class.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br/> <br/>