<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Firebreaks are one of the protective measures used to safeguard forests in case of fire. Their purpose is to limit the possibility of fire spreading. This article describes how these protective measures are implemented along public roads in selected European countries. Based on the information gathered, it was found that there is a wide variety of approaches to firebreaks’ construction, mostly due to different climatic and geomorphological conditions that influence the overall risk of forest fires. The forms of firebreaks used in Europe along public roads are either a mineralised belt (without vegetation) or a cleared belt of materials that are particularly susceptible to ignition and fire spread. Methods combining both are also used.</p>
<p>In Poland, there is a Type A belt, that is, a 30-m-wide belt at the border of a roadway or a facility that is free of dead trees, lying branches and felled or broken trees. In the absence of pan-European rules on preventive measures to protect forests from road fires, it might be helpful to establish a set of best practices that could assist in the revision of guidelines in individual countries.</p>
</abstract>

Firebreaks are one of the protective measures used to safeguard forests in case of fire. Their purpose is to limit the possibility of fire spreading. This article describes how these protective measures are implemented along public roads in selected European countries. Based on the information gathered, it was found that there is a wide variety of approaches to firebreaks’ construction, mostly due to different climatic and geomorphological conditions that influence the overall risk of forest fires. The forms of firebreaks used in Europe along public roads are either a mineralised belt (without vegetation) or a cleared belt of materials that are particularly susceptible to ignition and fire spread. Methods combining both are also used.
In Poland, there is a Type A belt, that is, a 30-m-wide belt at the border of a roadway or a facility that is free of dead trees, lying branches and felled or broken trees. In the absence of pan-European rules on preventive measures to protect forests from road fires, it might be helpful to establish a set of best practices that could assist in the revision of guidelines in individual countries.

Rules for the construction of firebreaks along public roads in selected European countries

Folia Forestalia Polonica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Firebreaks are one of the protective measures used to safeguard forests in case of fire. Their purpose is to limit the possibility of fire spreading. This...

Rules for the construction of firebreaks along public roads in selected European countries

Article Category: Review Article

Published Online: Dec 12, 2023

Page range: 199 - 209

Received: Sep 14, 2023

Accepted: Oct 25, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ffp-2023-0020

Keywords
fire, fire danger, forest, safety

© 2023 Łukasz Tyburski et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Rules for the construction of firebreaks along public roads in selected European countries

Article Category: Review Article

Published Online: Dec 12, 2023

Page range: 199 - 209

Received: Sep 14, 2023

Accepted: Oct 25, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ffp-2023-0020

Keywordsfire, fire danger, forest, safety

© 2023 Łukasz Tyburski et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
fire, fire danger, forest, safety