their dependence on human socioeconomic activities and lack of the necessary technological infrastructure to mitigate their catastrophic effects (i.e. loss of human lives, resources and property damages). In this context, wildland and other rural–urban interface settings are vulnerable to increased fire risks. Regional fire management organizations must incorporate actions that aim to the harmonization of interdisciplinary research, technology and development for systematic and quantitative wildfire risk assessment, in addition to prompt and reliable fire prevention planning (Henderson et al., 2005). Holistic fire risk assessment of hazards and vulnerability should compose quantitative indices of wildfire behavior and effects with spatial layers of meteorological, vegetative, topographic and socioeconomic information that will eventually develop geographical fire potential indices