Assessing wildfire impact on vegetation in protected areas using the dNBR index: Insights from the designated location in Serbia

Wildfires represent one of the most dangerous hazards to vegetation. Although they can result from natural factors, the majority of wildfires are caused by human activity. In Serbia, most fires originate from agricultural burning and subsequently spread to forests and protected areas. This study focuses on a wildfire that occurred near the Special Nature Reserve (SNR) ?Carska Bara? in October 2018. SNR ?Carska Bara? is located in Vojvodina, northern Serbia. Based on Sentinel-2A satellite imagery and reflectance in the NIR and SWIR2 bands, the differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) index was calculated in GIS environment. The dNBR values were reclassified into five categories, where lower pixel values represent areas with lower burn severity, while higher values indicate higher intensity of wildfire. The high-severity category covers 0.09% of the SNR territory, moderate-high severity 4.91%, and moderate-low severity 7.49% of the territory. The category of low severity covers 39.13% of the territory, while unburned areas account for nearly half of SNR ?Carska Bara? (48.38%). The study results highlight the significance of GIS and remote sensing in wildfire detection and damage assessment in protected areas. Effective wildfire risk reduction requires prohibition of illegal agricultural burning and implementation of early warning systems that provide timely fire alerts.