<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...

Region	Highways	National roads	Regional roads	Communal roads	Width × height of space above road
Alpes de Haute Provence	Width depending on the risk level (15–20 m)			5 m	4 × 4
Hautes Alpes	10 m	3 m		2 m	5 × 4
Alpes Maritimes	6–20 m depending on the municipality				Not specified
Bouches-du-Rhône	20 m			10 m	4 × 4
Var	Very high risk: 20 m High risk: 10 m Medium risk: 3 m	20 m	10 m, but may be increased to 50 or 100 m, on for some strategic roads, decision taken by the Regional Council	2 m	4 × 4
Vaucluse	Very high risk: 20 m High risk: 10 m Medium risk: 3 m			Very high risk: 10 m High risk: 5 m Medium risk: 3 m	3.5 × 3.5
Gard	10 m				Not specified
Hérault	5 m				4 × 4
Lozère	4 m				Not specified
Aude	20 m for main roads, 2 m for other roads				Not specified
Pyrénées-Orientales	0–20 m depending on the information provided by the road owner/manager				Not specified
Drôme	3 m			0	Not specified
Ardèche	2 m				Not specified
Corse-du-Sud	Roadside only (a few metres)				4 × 4
Haute-Corse	Roadside only (a few metres)				4 × 5

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

Article Category: Review Article

Data publikacji: 12 gru 2023

Zakres stron: 199 - 209

Otrzymano: 14 wrz 2023

Przyjęty: 25 paź 2023

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

Słowa kluczowe
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.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Width of firebreak in different regions of France by road category and definition of the width and height of the space above the carriageway

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

Article Category: Review Article

Data publikacji: 12 gru 2023

Zakres stron: 199 - 209

Otrzymano: 14 wrz 2023

Przyjęty: 25 paź 2023

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

Słowa kluczowefire, 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.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Width of firebreak in different regions of France by road category and definition of the width and height of the space above the carriageway

Słowa kluczowe
fire, fire danger, forest, safety