Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 6.2 Annual average occurrence and area burned by forest fires in Chile by five-year periods
from 1963 to 2003
Number of fires
per yr
Average area burned
per yr (ha)
Average area per
fire (ha)
Five-year period
1963-1968
383
26 767
70
1968-1973
883
39 682
45
1973-1978
2207
21 891
10
1978-1983
4239
40 679
10
1983-1988
5451
69 853
13
1988-1993
5090
47 617
9
1993-1998
5653
53 269
9
1998-2003
6346
52 348
8
Source:
Soto (
1995
) and CONAF (
2003
).
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
1964
1969
1974
1979
1984
1989
1994
1999
2004
Ye a r
Fig. 6.5
Total number of fires per annual fire season for Chile. Each season stretches from
October to April of the following year. The value indicated for the season corresponds to the
year the season ended
.
(Data from Soto
1995
;
CONAF
2003
.
)
(
Table 6.2
), from fewer than 1000 fires annually in the early 1970s to a high of
7500 fires in the 2003 fire season (
Fig. 6.5
).
The annual area consumed by fire is highly variable between years
(
Fig. 6.6
), with much of this variation explained by summer drought
(Montenegro
et al.
2004
). For example, more than 100 000 ha burned in 1999,
and both 1998 and 1999 were severe drought years due to La Nin˜ a effects
(Quintana
2000
). Two years later under an El Nin˜ o influence of high rainfall,
the 2001 season experienced less than 11 000 ha burned. Most fires are small, with
