Ryszard Szczygieł

Forest fire hazard classification in Poland

Klasyfikacja zagrożenia pożarowego lasów Polski Forest fire hazard classification in Poland The paper presents a new method of classifying forest areas with regard to fire hazard. In comparison with the rules in force in Poland, in determining fire hazard not Selianinovs hydrothermal coefficient neither air pollution coefficient have been applied. As concerns stand criterion, 3 to 6 forest habitat types have been added to the list of the most flammable forest habitat types, while stand age has not been taken into consideration. The number of fires criterion has been replaced by a more objective one - fire density, that is the number of fires per 1000 hectares of forest area. Moreover, the anthropogenic criterion has been added, taking into account the number of inhabitants per 1000 hectares of forest areas, which is related to forest fire occurrences. This method enables classification on different administration levels applying uniform criteria. On its basis, classification of fire hazard have been performed for forest districts, counties, sub-regions, provinces and regional directorates of the State Forests in Poland.