Organization and means of extinguishing forest fires.
Organization and means of extinguishing forest fires
Organization of extinguishing forest fires
In order to cope with the fire as quickly as possible, the leadership of a given settlement must clearly think through and plan organization of extinguishing forest fires, which have arisen on the territory. Firstly, the head of this territorial entity is obliged to take all necessary measures to extinguish the source by fire brigades immediately after receiving a message about the fire. In most cases, as practice shows, the forces available in the forestry enterprise are not enough to quickly extinguish the fire. The situation in the summer of 2010 was distinguished by an increased threat of the spread of fire over large areas in a short period of time. In such cases, the management of the forestry enterprise is obliged to inform the higher forest management body about the need to involve in the organization of extinguishing forest firesfire-chemical station of type III and immediately take measures to involve the population in the established order to extinguish the fire, organize volunteer fire brigades, fire equipment and vehicles of local enterprises, organizations, institutions and other legal entities. When the fire situation is critical and takes the form of a natural disaster, the forces of the Civil Defense formations and military units should be involved in extinguishing the fires. When directing the necessary resources to extinguish the fires, the heads of forestry enterprises must take into account the possible strength and speed of fire spread. Thinking over the organization of extinguishing forest fires, it is necessary to use a scheme designed for one team of 6 to 10 people: the team must arrive at the scene of the fire and begin extinguishing operations in areas classified as fire hazard class 1 no later than 1 hour, for class II — 2 hours, for classes III-IV — 3 hours after the fire starts. With wind speeds over 5 m/s, as well as during periods of fire hazard classes IV and V according to weather conditions, the maximum time for delivery to the scene of the fire and the beginning of extinguishing operations in areas of natural forest fire hazard classes I-III must be reduced by at least 2 times, and if such a reduction in time is impossible, the number of workers and the amount of fire extinguishing equipment sent to the fire must be increased by at least two times. The fire behavior forecast, taking into account possible changes in the situation and weather, should be carried out with a focus on the possibility of the most severe situation, with a calculation of the time during which the fire can be extinguished, taking into account the correction factors for the leading factors that determine the speed of spread of the edge of the fire and the difficulty of extinguishing it.
Operational plan for extinguishing forest fires
If there is a threat of a natural fire, the management must use the operational plan for extinguishing forest fires, which will include preliminary analysis of a particular area, accurate data on the number of team personnel, as well as the availability of technical means for extinguishing. Documents of this kind must be prepared in advance. The purpose of drawing up an operational plan is to help organize extinguishing as efficiently as possible and think over tactics in accordance with the prepared principle of calculating the fire risk. The content of the plan provides for the development of the main issues of organizing the extinguishing of developed fires at the most important fire-hazardous, explosive and complex facilities. Operational plans for extinguishing forest fires are mandatory for oil depots, lumber exchanges, sawmills, enterprises with a fire and explosion hazardous category of production, power plants, airports, theaters, hospitals, etc. For other facilities, operational fire extinguishing cards may be drawn up by decision of the fire protection authority.
Forest Fire Extinguishing Equipment
Each team sent to extinguish a wildfire must be equipped with a set of necessary technical equipment. Forest Fire Extinguishing Equipmentare selected depending on what type of fire extinguishing should be used in a given case. The burning method uses tillage tools, explosives, and chemical solutions. They are used to process (start burning) the forest area of the boundaries to stop the spread of fire and stop crown and ground fires. The most effective means for extinguishing forest fires is water. It is used to extinguish ground, crown, and soil forest fires. To extinguish forest fires with water, pumping units of fire trucks, fire motor pumps, mounted pumps powered by car engines, and forest types of fire extinguishers are used. Water is used in the form of a powerful compact stream or sprayed. A powerful compact stream destroys the structure of burning materials, mixes them with the soil and throws them back to the area already covered by the fire. In order to increase the fire extinguishing properties of water, wetting agents are added to it — surface-active substances «surfactants» that reduce the surface tension of the liquid and make it more penetrating into the smallest pores. Water with wetting agents should be used to extinguish ground and soil fires, as well as to extinguish fires.