As many other Mediterranean ecosystems, Aleppo pine forests are generally considered highly resilient to fire. Since spatial heterogeneity may be important in determining post-disturbance community structure and function, a main question to address concerns the resilience of plant spatial pattern to fire disturbance. In this work, vegetation spatial data from Aleppo pine forests of Southeast Spain were analysed. Post-fire plant cover showed a clumped spatial distribution, which may be related to the locations of the burned pine trees. Point pattern analysis revealed a strong resilience of plant pattern after disturbance. Plant-soil interactions may explain the post-fire spatial pattern of plant cover. The results indicate that Aleppo pine forests may promote resource-island patterns that persist after fire disturbance and determine post-fire recovery. © 2002 Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands.