Research Article

Expanding the Accessible Forest Areas by Improving Forest Road Standards and Utilizing Mobile Fire-fighting Teams

Volume: 10 Number: 2 December 13, 2024
Caner Yavuz Kasap , Abdullah Emin Akay *, Burak Arıcak , Ebru Bilici , Zennure Uçar , Neşat Erkan , Coşkun Okan Güney
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European Journal of Forest Engineering Cover European Journal of Forest Engineering
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Expanding the Accessible Forest Areas by Improving Forest Road Standards and Utilizing Mobile Fire-fighting Teams

Abstract

In Turkiye, insufficient technical standards of the forest roads limit the speed of the fire truck, leading to increase in the arrival time of the initial response team to the fire areas. Improving forest road standards will increase the design speed and expand the accessible forest areas within the critical response time. In this study, the effect of improving forest road standards on expanding accessible forest areas was investigated. Considering the forest areas in Antalya Forestry Regional Directorate in Turkiye, accessible areas by the stationary initial response teams (103) and mobile teams (71) were determined from the existing road network, and then, the possible increase in the accessible forest areas was investigated when the road standards are improved. Within the scope of the study, the impact of mobile teams used in emergencies on forest areas reached during the critical response period was also evaluated. According to the results, in the scenario where current road standards and stationary teams were evaluated, it was determined that only 59.54% of the forest areas could be reached by initial response teams during the critical response time. When the road standards were improved, this rate increased to 71.69%. On the other hand, when the current road standards and stationary and mobile teams were evaluated together, it was determined that initial response teams could reach 70.40% of the forest areas during the critical response time, and if road standards were improved, this rate increased to 78.17%. Also, utilizing mobile teams increased the accessible forest areas within the critical response time by 9.03%. The results have shown that improvements in road standards and the presence of mobile teams have a very effective role in combating forest fires.

Keywords

Wildfires , Forest roads , Stationary and mobile team , Network analysis , GDF , GIS

References

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  2. Akay, A. E., Sakar, D. 2009. Using GIS Based Decision Supporting System in Determining Optimum Path that Provides the Transportation to Fire Zone at the Shortest Time. The Camber of Turkish Engineers and Architectures. The Congress of Geographic Information Systems. 02-06 November. Izmir, Turkey.
  3. Akay, A. E., Wing, G. M., Sivrikaya, F., Sakar, D. 2012. A GIS-based decision support system for determining the shortest and safest route to forest fires: a case study in Mediterranean Region of Turkey. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 184(3):1391-1407.
  4. Akay, A.E., Podolskaia, E., Uçar, Z. 2021. Effects of Improving Forest Road Standards on Shortening the Arrival Time of Ground-based Firefighting Teams Accessing to the Forest Fires. European Journal of Forest Engineering, 7(1):32-38.
  5. Bilici, E. 2009. A Study on the Integration of Firebreaks and Fireline with Forest Roads Networks and It's Planning and Construction (A Case Study of Gallipoly National Park) Istanbul University. Faculty of Forestry Journal, Series: A, 59(2):85-101.
  6. CFE, 2008. The Chamber of Forest Engineers’ Commission Report on Forest Fire in Serik and Tasagil Forest Enterprise Directorates of Antalya Forest Regional Directorate on July 31st-August 4th, 2008. The Chamber of Forest Engineers. Ankara. 9 p.
  7. Demir, M., Kucukosmanoglu, A., Hasdemir, M., Ozturk, T., Acar, H.H. 2009. Assessment of Forest Roads and Firebreaks in Turkey. African Journal of Biotechnology, 8(18):4553-4561.
  8. Eker, Ö., Abdurrahmanoğlu, D.M. 2018. An analysis on the expenses of combating forest fires: case of Kahramanmaraş Regional Directorate of Forestry. Turkish Journal of Forest Science, 2(1):34-48.
  9. GDF, 1995. Principles of practice in preventing and extinguishing forest fires. Ministry of Forestry, GDF Publications Communiqué. Ankara. 285 p.
  10. GDF, 2008. Fire Action Plan. General Directorate of Forestry. Kahramanmaras Forest Regional Directorate, Kahramanmaras. 106 p.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Information Systems (Other) , Forest Products Transport and Evaluation Information

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Early Pub Date

November 18, 2024

Publication Date

December 13, 2024

Submission Date

June 16, 2024

Acceptance Date

September 26, 2024

Published in Issue

Year 2024 Volume: 10 Number: 2

DOI

https://doi.org/10.33904/ejfe.1502061

IZ

https://izlik.org/JA89ED28TG

Cite

RIS / Bibtex
APA
Kasap, C. Y., Akay, A. E., Arıcak, B., Bilici, E., Uçar, Z., Erkan, N., & Güney, C. O. (2024). Expanding the Accessible Forest Areas by Improving Forest Road Standards and Utilizing Mobile Fire-fighting Teams. European Journal of Forest Engineering, 10(2), 133-141. https://doi.org/10.33904/ejfe.1502061

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