Wildfire management requires the analysis of a wide spectrum of data, ranging from physical to socio-economic Parameters, of which the majority is spatially distributed. The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can help to manage these heterogeneous data, as has been demonstrated with several projects carried out at the Spatial Data Handling Division of the Department of Geography, University of Zürich. A framework for an integrated wildfire risk assessment is outlined, which allows the estimation of the expected fire damage both for individual objects as well as for all potential starting points. This framework also considers fire warning and fire fighting activities which influence the risk situation.
