Fighting Forest Fires before it Happens

In a forest, whenever there’s flammable material combined with high temperature, expect a fire can be ignited which can eventually result to a massive forest fire. As crazy as it sounds, some content creators are taking advantage of this as a subject for their content and then get some cheap YouTube views.

How does Forest Fire start?

Forest fires are basically the archenemy of trees and of the entire ecosystem of the forest. Forest fire is ignited whenever there is a high temperature, flammable material and oxygen.

Forest fire spreads easily when it is assisted by a contiguous flammable material that’s both vertical and horizontal by ravines and slopes and also, by weather conditions, mainly by low humidity and strong winds.

The capability of foresters to effectively prevent forest fires and minimize it is primarily based on reducing flammable substances in the said area and break its contiguity both horizontally and vertically. Having good infrastructure can be very useful too in minimizing the area that a fire spreads like water supply, access roads and above everything else, early detection of fire and availability of firefighters to quickly reach the fire.

Forest Fire Prevention through Proper Maintenance

Different shrubs and trees have all different rates of consumption and flammability levels. According to research, since the 50s’, they’ve examined temperature of fire ignition as well as the fire consumption rates for standard species of shrubs and forest trees.

In line with these findings, detailed charts were presented for various types of shrubs and trees and recommendations were proposed about planting and interface. The objective of the study was to introduce the ideal trees and shrubs to be planted with slow consumption rates and low flammability. This is in an effort to minimize the odds of fire ignition and promote diffusion especially in places that are at great risk of fires.

What to Plant then?

In Israel, research showed that Athel tamarisk or otherwise called as saltcedar is the ideal tree in terms of preventing the spread of fire. There are three shrubs that have low rate of flammability like mastic, oleander and caper.