Climate, fuel, planning (urban planning) and social behavior: Potentials forest fire risk.

Jaime Senabre. 

Director SINIF. Psychologist and Environmental Consultant.

Reseacher Group 0n "Climate and Terrotorial Planning". University of Alicante. 

Abstract:

Paradoxically, everything indicates that the cost of suppressing forest fires is increasing and that it´s associated with greater investment and efficiency in emergency services. In general terms, three main causes can explain this upward trend: fuel accumulation (associated with the suppression of past forest fires), urban development in areas prone to fire episodes and the current trend of climate change. Although it´s hopeless, but it seems that the human being has little capacity to stop the effects of the climate on the risk of forest fire. The opposite is an anthropocentric illusion. On the other hand, it´s hard to think of a Public Administration that can allocate economic budgets for the management and control of fuel that are in tune with the rate of accumulation of these. Science fiction would be to imagine that such accumulation could be reversed. Given this scenario of initial disabilities, the focus of hope on society can be put. The humans have a preponderant role in the number of ignitions (negligent or intentional) in Spain, so it will be of great importance to try to modify the behavior of the owners, current and future, with respect to the potential risk of forest fire and, very especially, in those cases where there are human settlements in areas prone to register emergencies due to forest fire, such as urban forest interface areas (IUF). After experiencing a large forest fire, there are changes in the perception of risk and in the general attitude towards forest fires in the owners of homes in the affected area. Therefore, we infer that only from the understanding of the potential fire risk, the owners will be in the best conditions to undertake actions aimed at reducing the risk. Environmental education about forest fires can motivate homeowners to undertake prevention and self-protection actions to reduce risk and possible damage to property and people. At the society level, perhaps one of the best ways to combat the drama of forest fires is to create more fireresistant containment and defense structures, mainly in the most critical risk areas such as those of IUF. In this study, supported by numerous works carried out in the US Forest Service and in other recent investigations by the author in Spain, we carried out an analysis of some aspects that we consider essential in the risk of forest fire, due to its ability to enhance and modulate the evolution of fire.

Citation: Senabre, J. (2019). Climate, fuel, planning and social behavior: Potentials forest. In Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences (J Earth Environ Sci) 2019, Volume 3, pp 63. DOI: 10.29011/2577-0640-C1-006

Conference Proceedingss - 2nd International Conference on Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change (November 28-29, 2019 | Rome, Italy)

The mitigation of the effects of climate change and global warming through the prevention and early extinction of forest fires.

Jaime Senabre

Director of SINIF.
University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract: 

 

The Planet is immersed in an ecological crisis. To a large extent, human behavior has been aggravating the deterioration of the environment. Fire is a natural ecological factor that acts as a regulating agent of vegetation and landscape shaper. However, forest fires have gone from being a tool for survival to becoming an environmental problem that doesn ́t understand borders and that affects all the components of the environment (atmosphere, vegetation, fauna, soil and water) and that requires an integral approach, both locally and globally. The forest is a source of wealth that must be protected, conserved, revalued and improved productivity. Forest fires are a source of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere that are dangerous and pose a significant threat, since they can degrade the air that is breathed at unhealthy levels, mainly in geographic areas near the site of the forest fire, but also in others distant, since these pollutants, invisible to the human eye, can travel thousands of kilometers driven by the wind. In this paper, we emphasize the importance of pollutant emissions from forest fires, since these may be influencing global warming and climate change. Likewise, we propose a series of basic actions that serve as a starting point to establish an Integral Plan for the Prevention of Forest Fires and that include: the early extinction of the fire (to reduce to the maximum the burnt surface and the polluting emissions), management of the forest (including: preventive forestry, limited use of fire, promotion of grazing, regularization of activities and productivity of forest resources), mosaic landscape design (which seeks the fragmentation of the territory), urban planning (which minimizes the risks in the forest urban interface), greater professionalization and coordination of emergency services (especially forest firefighters), the promotion of self-protection (individual and collective) and, finally, education (to increase environmental awareness and proactive behavior). In short, we are aware that fire has an ecological role and that its suppression is impossible, but we must focus on those actions that contribute least to the global deterioration of the Planet.

Citation: Senabre, J. (2019). The mitigation of the effects of climate change and global warming through the prevention and early extinction of forest fires. Journal of Expert Opnion on Environmental Biology.. ISSN: 2325-9655. Volume 8. 3rd. World Summit on Climate Change and Global Warming. Prague, Czech Republic. Book of abstracts. pp53. DOI: 10.4172/2325-9655-C1-045

The experience of trauma in forest firefighters through indirect exposure.

Jaime Senabre

Director of SINIF.
University of Alicante, Spain.

One of the characteristics of work in the extinction of forest fires is the exposure of forest firefighters to situations that require a great demand of personal resources, both physical and psychological, which is an important source of stress for these professionals. On occasion, forest firefighters face critical situations that can be a traumatic experience capable of generating deep discomfort, both individually and collectively. This type of negative events can cause invisible emotional scars, difficult to erase and complex approach. Now, we know that an inadequate management of empathy towards victims can facilitate the initiation of a process of secondary traumatic stress in firefighters, due to emotional contagion. This paper deals with indirect exposure to trauma through the indiscriminate consumption of images and traumatic stories offered by the media (press and TV) or social networks. Our research team was able to observe how Forest Fire Brigades, which participated as Control Group in a study on emotional impact in forest firefighters after a forest fire in Spain with fatalities, manifested post-traumatic symptomatology, almost at the same level as those firefighters who participated directly in the works of extinction of that fire. The conclusions indicate that indirect exposure to trauma, uncontrolled empathy towards victims, and social or professional identification with victims may have (both in emergency professionals and in the general population) emotional consequences, similar to those produced in the direct victims of the fire, as well as a latent predisposition to manifest maladaptive behaviors before similar situations or that remember the lived experience.Finally, guidelines are offered on "what to do" to avoid emotional contagion due to indirect exposure to trauma, such as, for example, a dosed and unrepeated consumption of news and images with a heavy dramatic load.

 ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother

 Citation: Senabre, J. (2018). The experience of trauma in forest firefighters through indirect exposure. Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy. ISSN: 2161-0487. Volume 8. World Summit on Stress, Mindfulness and Philosophy. Boston, USA. Book of abstracts. pp52. DOI: 10.4172/2161-0487-C4-032

World Summit on Stress, Mindfulness and Philosophy. August 27-28, 2018 | Boston, USA.

Violence in fire stations: A study with Spanish firefighters.

Jaime Senabre Director of SINIF.

University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract

Violence of any kind between humans is nothing new. In the last decades a great interest has been awakened by the study of violence developed in work environments. Variety, temporality and frequency are necessary criteria for diagnosis. Factors related to the organization of work and the work environment could facilitate this type of behavior. Likewise, personality factors of the aggressor and the victim could play a role in the whole process, as well as the type of response of the aggrieved person. For the analysis, three questionnaires will be used, one of personality factors, the LIPT-60, on perception and strategies of workplace harassment and a Spanish adaptation of the MBI conducted by Senabre (2005) for fire services. The sample is composed of 34 firefighters, of which 20 are forest firefighters. Preliminary results suggest that 8.82% of the participants in the study reported that they had the perception that they were being harassed in their work, compared to 91.17% who don???t think that they have this work situation. Affability, age and emotional fatigue do seem to play their role in different ways. Younger professionals seem to be the most vulnerable to suffer this type of behavior, as well as those who are more emotionally exhausted. However, the more affable firefighters, that is, those who are more pleasant and friendly can be less affected by this type of aggression. Another important fact that emerges from this research is that there is a clear trend in these groups to deny any behavior of harassment, so the figures could be higher. Thus, we can conclude that workplace harassment is present in the fire services, being the strategies of job loss of prestige and intimidation manifested the most prevalent in the sample studied, followed by the obstruction of progress. The loss of prestige in the workplace is more frequently used by forest firefighters and the intimidation manifested among structural firefighters. According to the data provided in this study, we can notice that violent behaviors and harassment occur in fire stations, especially when working conditions are more precarious.

Citation: Senabre, Jaime (2018). Violence in fire stations: A study with Spanish firefighters. In Journal of Child & Adolescent Behaviour, Vol. 6, pp 43. DOI: 10.4172/2375-4494-C1-006

Journal of Child & Adolescent Behaviour | ISSN: 2375-4494 | Volume 6

30^th World Psychiatrists and Psychologists Meet. Osaka, Japan.

Psychosocial perception of wildland fires in the province of Alicante (Spain)

Jaime Senabre Director of SINIF.

University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract

The concern for the environment is part of the discourse of societies. The Planet is immersed in an ecological crisis in whose nucleus is the human being. The way in which humans are interacting with the natural environment is aggravating environmental deterioration, which is contributing to a breakdown of the global climate balance. The interpretation of the role that the human being occupies in the causality of disasters needs an honest exercise of analysis. Every year, thousands of hectares of forest burn around the world. The emissions of polluting gases into the atmosphere discharged by wildland fires constitute a global environmental problem that causes, directly or indirectly, human and economic losses, as well as a degradation of the air we breathe. In the Mediterranean countries, with Spain and Portugal at the head, 70% of the forest fires in Europe occur. The studies on perception of risks trying to analyze the effective and ethical relationships that a determined community establishes with the environment with which it interacts and lives. The attachment and the value of the place of residence are part of the environmental perception, a topic that is of interest to social psychology. In the present study, we try to analyze how citizens of the province of Alicante perceive the risk of wildland fire. This area of southeastern Spain has been historically punished by fire and in which, according to the surveyed population, 50% of citizens suffer the impact of forest fires every year. Some of our findings determine that the citizens' concern about wildland fires is very high, being perceived as a product of society, an aspect that invites us to reflect. Another outstanding aspect that emerges from our study is the consideration of citizens to establish greater restrictions on the use of fire as a fire prevention measure. Citation: Senabre, Jaime (2018). Psychosocial perception of wildland fires in the province of Alicante (Spain). In Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology, Vol. 8, pp 53. DOI: 10.4172/2161-0525-C3-017 Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology | ISSN: 2161-0525 | Volume 8 17th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment. Chicago, USA.

The emotional impact caused by a traumatic event and the process of second victimization in forest firefighters.

Jaime Senabre

Director of SINIF.

University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract:

The forest fire extinguishing services sometimes face critical situations that can suppose a traumatic experience capable of generating a deep discomfort in the interveners, such as the loss of companions during the work of extinction, burns caused by the fire, the emotional impact in situations of entrapment, etc. This type of negative events can provoke fear and feelings of terror in the victims, as well as invisible emotional scars, difficult to erase and of complex approach.

An inadequate assistance to this type of professionals, affected by a critical incident of these characteristics can originate various processes of victimization, causing a psychological damage characterized by pain, anger, indignation, guilt, fear, awe, intense re-experimentation of what was lived, physiological and psychological hyperactivation, apathy, helplessness, feeling of loss of control, insecurity and avoidance behaviors.

The absence of empathy and sensitivity of the staff that attends to the victims, together with a lack of information and a mismatch between the expected and received treatment can cause a negative feeling in the firefighters affected by the traumatic incident, capable of initiating a process of revictimization called second victimization. In this work, concepts such as traumatic experience, traumatic event, psychological damage and second victimization are addressed.

Likewise, the conditioning factors of the emotional impact (external and internal), the objectives of the psychological help work and the basic skills to develop it are pointed out. Also, the phases through which the forest firefighters go when they suffer a revictimization are indicated. 

Finally, some guidelines are offered on what to do to avoid a second victimization.

Citation: Senabre, Jaime (2018).  The emotional impact caused by a traumatic event and the process of second victimization in forest firefighters. In Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Vol. 8, pp 38 DOI: 10.4172/2161-0487-C3-030

PDF link

Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy

Forest fires and soil loss: A threat to biodiversity.

Jaime Senabre.
University of Alicante, Spain.
Director of SINIF.

Abstract:

Society doesn’t seem to be aware of the negative effects that forest fires have on the soil, whose degradation can become irreversible in many cases. The soil is one of the fundamental elements for life on Earth and that isn’t given due attention. In the same way, in the studies on forest fires the action of the natural risks in territories affected by forest fires and the influence of these in the loss of soil are little taken into account. A determining factor of plant productivity is the quality of the soil, a limited resource that is easily destroyed, not only by the incidence of fires, but by the climatic and meteorological conditions to which the area affected by fire can be subjected: Torrential rains, floods, droughts, extreme temperatures, strong winds that can accentuate the loss of nutrients and erosion. According to data obtained from a survey on the perception of risk by natural phenomena carried out with the Spanish population (n=1223), 67.54% of the respondents think that they live in an area threatened by some natural phenomenon and 73.02% indicate that at some moment in his life, some natural disaster has occurred that has damaged the community in which he lives. In this line, another study conducted by our research group provides us with relevant data on the frequency perception of forest fires in Spain (n=1068), where 58.52% of the population declare to suffer the impact of forest fires each year, 5.34% every 10 years or more and 3.46% never. Given these findings on risk perception and based on actual incidence data, it is possible to prepare, not only forest fire risk maps, but also risk maps of natural hazards to relate them, in order to establish the potential risk of loss of soil and the possible threat to biodiversity, based, mainly, on the observed changes in fire and natural disaster regimes.

Citation: Jaime Senabre (2018). Forest fires and soil loss: A threat to biodiversity. In Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography. Volume 8 (pp 43). DOI: 10.4172/2157-7625-C4-041 

Journal Link: 

https://www.omicsonline.org/ArchiveJEE/biodiversity-congress-2018-proceedings-tracks.php 

7^th International Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management

 July 26-27, 2018 Melbourne, Australia

Forest fires and society in a changing environment.

Forest fires are an environmental problem in which many factors influence, but they also represent a natural process in many ecosystems and an evolutionary opportunity. The ecological problem of forest fires arises when the balance between what is considered “natural” and sustainable is broken. From the Environmental Psychology we propose as a latent risk that can compromise the socio-economic development of future generations. The Iberian Peninsula leads the worst records in Europe. The current fire regime is likely to change due to its relation to the climate, but this does not generate or generate a greater number of these, although it may provide conditions that facilitate more virulent and large fire scenarios. The human being is the main detonator of forest fires. The real “change” has to focus on a necessary change of thought and attitude at all levels.

Cita bibliográfica: Senabre Pastor, Jaime Andrés. “Incendios forestales y sociedad en un entorno cambiante”. En: Cutillas Orgilés, Ernesto (Coord.). Convergencia y transversalidad en humanidades. Actas de las VII Jornadas de Investigación de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Alicante (Alicante, 6 y 7 de abril de 2017). Alicante: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Alicante, 2018. ISBN 978-84-948233-2-9, pp. 337-342
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10045/74209   FullText: https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/74209/1/Convergencia-y-transversalidad-en-humanidades_48.pdf

Forest fires from the perspective of environmental psychology (Senabre, J.)

Forest fires from the perspective of

environmental psychology.

Jaime Senabre. Psicólogo.

Citation: Jaime Senabre. Forest fires from the perspective of environmental psychology. Climate Change, 2018, 4(13), 58-68

Link to the Journal:

http://www.discoveryjournals.org/climate_change/current_issue/v4/n13/index.htm  

Link to the full article:

http://www.discoveryjournals.org/climate_change/current_issue/v4/n13/A5.pdf

 

 

Abstract.

Forest fires are a global environmental problem influenced by numerous causal factors. They must be conceived as a latent risk in current societies that can compromise the economic and social development of future generations, especially in rural areas. In Spain, thousands of hectaresof forest and agricultural land are destroyed annually. The Valencian Community is one of the regions of the country most affected by this type of disturbance, reaching, sometimes, disastrous consequences.  

One of the reasons why an individual, a community and a society do not act in a preventive manner in the face of the likelihood of a risk is because of the perception of the probability of occurrence of that risk and the proximity of its consequences. Although it may happen that you do not have the necessary resources to prevent or minimize it. Add a determining factor, the will.

Aware that the same risk can have different interpretations and meanings, a study is proposed, with a general population, that deepens the analysis of the perception of risk on the reality of forest fires, the willingness to act against them and the predictive factors of both variables.

Keywords: Forest fire, prevention, risk perception, environmental, climate change