Potential forest fire risk evaluation in Poland

The term forest fire risk means the existence of such conditions that would make possible the occurrence of a fire in the forest environment. The base for the effectiveness of a forest fire protection system is the evaluation of the forest fire risk followed by adequate organization of the system. This article presents methods for determination of the forest susceptibility to fire known as potential forest fire risk. The below presented methods were developed by Forest Research Institute as the results of the projects commissioned by the General Directorate of State Forests. The forest fire risk category and stand flammability classes are the methods included here. The forest fire risk category was elaborated already in 1975 for the first time. Until today, after the last modification in 2008, it is the fundamental document for the polish forest fire protection system. The purpose of this modification was to increase the determination accuracy of the fire risk category of all polish forest, regardless of its ownership type and at the different administrative level. The categorization method, however, doesn’t reflect the fire risk in micro scale. The attempt to solve that problem was made in 2018 while developing the methodology of stand flammability classes. It was assumed that ground cover fuel models will be developed for the most flammable forest habitat types including ground cover types, dominant species, age class and geographical localisation.