Lessons learnt from forest fire disasters

Forest fires are one of the most devastating forces of nature. It has claimed lives,damaged property and infrastructure and destroyed hectares and hectares of forest land,which provide economical and recreational resources to society. Forests are also the habitat of valuable flora and fauna and they play a fundamental role in safeguarding the dynamic equilibrium of the Earth.
Statistics has shown that there are many causes of fires (see for example, Figure 2.3.2.c [p.15] and Figure 3.4.1.c [p.60]). These causes can be complex, as they can be of the following nature:
• physical, e.g. related to climatic changes;
• social, e.g. related to behaviour regarding forest and forest use;
• structural, e.g. forest protection and land use planning;
or a combination of them.
In Europe, forest fires occur regularly and fire fighters continuously risk their lives in their attempts to control and extinguish them.