Established forest firefighting techniques: A qualitative review of practices among the Swedish fire services.
(2021) In LUTVDG/TVBB VBRM05 20211Division of Fire Safety Engineering
- Abstract
- Methods and equipment used for fighting forest fires are different from the ones used in urban fires. Generally, the wildfires are intense, require more resources and tend to spread rapidly. The effectiveness of different suppression techniques is difficult to evaluate since they depend on terrain, weather conditions and other varying factors over time and space. The current study focuses on the several popular techniques used by firefighters for suppressing forest fires around the world and their applicability by Swedish fire services in Sweden. Eight such techniques have been found through comprehensive literature study. These are described in the report with their general application, use and popularity among Swedish fire services along... (More)
- Methods and equipment used for fighting forest fires are different from the ones used in urban fires. Generally, the wildfires are intense, require more resources and tend to spread rapidly. The effectiveness of different suppression techniques is difficult to evaluate since they depend on terrain, weather conditions and other varying factors over time and space. The current study focuses on the several popular techniques used by firefighters for suppressing forest fires around the world and their applicability by Swedish fire services in Sweden. Eight such techniques have been found through comprehensive literature study. These are described in the report with their general application, use and popularity among Swedish fire services along with the advantages and disadvantages. Questionnaires were distributed among the Swedish fire services to collect information about prevalent practices in forest firefighting. A total of 72 persons from different fire and rescue services in Sweden participated in the survey.
It has been found that some of the techniques are more popular than others. The general trend in the Swedish fire services seems to be a direct attack at early detection of fire. All the fire and rescue services that responded to in the survey are equipped with drones and other aerial resources for the early detection of fire. In survey, 81% reported that the first action on fire is a direct attack and the resource reinforcement has improved comprehensively from other relevant organizations like MSB, home guard, farmers, forest/ landowners etc. especially after 2018. Techniques like control line/ fire lines, protective burning, cold trailing are not very well-known, knowledge and the training is limited, and have been practiced seldom in the past three years. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Forest fires are a big concern in recent years and have posed threat to human lives and property in many parts of the world. These are different from urban fires and therefore firefighters tackle them with different techniques. The effectiveness of these techniques is difficult to quantify since the research in this area is limited. Furthermore, the conditions are unpredictable in forest fires like the resources, limited availability of water, response time and terrain conditions. Several measures are taken simultaneously to contain forest fires and a combination of different suppression techniques is practiced.
The focus of this thesis study is to present a literature review of existing wildfire suppression strategies and determine... (More) - Forest fires are a big concern in recent years and have posed threat to human lives and property in many parts of the world. These are different from urban fires and therefore firefighters tackle them with different techniques. The effectiveness of these techniques is difficult to quantify since the research in this area is limited. Furthermore, the conditions are unpredictable in forest fires like the resources, limited availability of water, response time and terrain conditions. Several measures are taken simultaneously to contain forest fires and a combination of different suppression techniques is practiced.
The focus of this thesis study is to present a literature review of existing wildfire suppression strategies and determine their applicability to the Swedish context. This study also highlights the research gap in the suppression techniques through a scientometric analysis on the search results from the literature review. A questionnaire helped in collecting the response from the Swedish fire services to learn about the existing techniques being practiced in Sweden. The results from the literature review and questionnaire are presented simultaneously for each suppression technique.
A systematic method was developed in the review and 201 articles were studied. These articles were then further filtered based on a list of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The snowballing method was utilized to find more relevant articles. Eight different suppression techniques were identified through literature study and they are presented with their advantages and disadvantages. Analysis of the questionnaire responses is also presented to highlight the knowledge and practice of these techniques by the Swedish fire and rescue services.
It has been found that the Swedish fire services prefer direct attack as the first action on a reported forest fire. Indirect attack and other techniques, which are fire lines, prescribed burning, flanking, cold-trailing and hot spotting are not practiced very often. Aerial resources are used often for the detection of fire in forests. The reason for the frequent application of the direct attack is because of the nature of fires i.e., they are small and are detected at an early phase. Furthermore, the forests in Sweden are privately owned and they support many industries; therefore, the aim of the fire and rescue services is to minimize the damage by suppressing the fire at the earliest possible time. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9047427
- author
- Khan, Muhammad Humza LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- VBRM05 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Forest fires, firefighting techniques, Scientometric analysis, Effectiveness, Questionnaire, Direct attack, Indirect attack, Firelines, Prescribed burning, Aerial firefighting, Flanking, Hot-spotting, Cold trailing.
- publication/series
- LUTVDG/TVBB
- report number
- 5639
- other publication id
- LUTVDG/TVBB—5639--SE
- language
- English
- id
- 9047427
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-01 13:20:32
- date last changed
- 2021-06-02 09:44:38
@misc{9047427,
abstract = {{Methods and equipment used for fighting forest fires are different from the ones used in urban fires. Generally, the wildfires are intense, require more resources and tend to spread rapidly. The effectiveness of different suppression techniques is difficult to evaluate since they depend on terrain, weather conditions and other varying factors over time and space. The current study focuses on the several popular techniques used by firefighters for suppressing forest fires around the world and their applicability by Swedish fire services in Sweden. Eight such techniques have been found through comprehensive literature study. These are described in the report with their general application, use and popularity among Swedish fire services along with the advantages and disadvantages. Questionnaires were distributed among the Swedish fire services to collect information about prevalent practices in forest firefighting. A total of 72 persons from different fire and rescue services in Sweden participated in the survey.
It has been found that some of the techniques are more popular than others. The general trend in the Swedish fire services seems to be a direct attack at early detection of fire. All the fire and rescue services that responded to in the survey are equipped with drones and other aerial resources for the early detection of fire. In survey, 81% reported that the first action on fire is a direct attack and the resource reinforcement has improved comprehensively from other relevant organizations like MSB, home guard, farmers, forest/ landowners etc. especially after 2018. Techniques like control line/ fire lines, protective burning, cold trailing are not very well-known, knowledge and the training is limited, and have been practiced seldom in the past three years.}},
author = {{Khan, Muhammad Humza}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{LUTVDG/TVBB}},
title = {{Established forest firefighting techniques: A qualitative review of practices among the Swedish fire services.}},
year = {{2021}},
}