The Role of Traditional Fire Management Practices in Mitigating Wildfire Risk: A Case Study of Greece

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of traditional fire management practices in the general mitigation of wildfire risk in Greece. Major emphasis was placed on assessing people’s opinions about the perceived effectiveness of traditional fire management strategies that were historically and culturally employed by local communities—such as weather condition monitoring, prescribed burning, proper land use planning, and mosaic burning—in the general mitigation of wildfire risks. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 397 environmental experts in Greece. The study shows that traditional fire control methods reduce wildfire risk. First, weather monitoring was found to be crucial to wildfire forecasting and prevention. The results showed that early warning, successful firefighting, and fire prevention depend on meteorological data. Additionally, prescribed burning was revealed to have reduced wildfire risk. Respondents accepted that they could reduce unprescribed fires, protect natural ecosystems, remove wildfire-prone areas, and regulate flame intensity. This suggests that scheduled burning in Greece may reduce wildfire damage. The study underlines the importance of including conventional fire management in the wildfire mitigation strategy of Greece. The aforementioned activities may help the environment and civilization progress by safeguarding ecosystems and reducing wildfire damage. These techniques, combined with community engagement and improved early warning systems, may help manage climate change-induced wildfires. Overall, the study contributes to wildfire management in Greece and other Mediterranean countries. The study emphasizes the need to incorporate traditional fire practices into Greece’s wildfire risk reduction strategies. Taking into account the success rates of these practices in other areas, as well as Greece’s old tradition of conducting fire, this paper stresses that further studies and policy developments be made in order to reinstate these practices in today’s wildfire management.