ACCESSIBILITY OF SLOVENIAN FORESTS IN THE EXTINGUISHING OF FOREST FIRES

Abstract

The forest road network plays a key role in providing rapid access for firefighting vehicles to the site of a forest fire. In the context of the forthcoming legislative changes in the field of protection against wildfires, we carried out some research to review the relevance of the legal provisions governing the placement of fire roads in the area. We found: (1) that the minimum width of forest roads must be increased to at least 2.5m, with a target of 3.0m; (2) that the maximum permissible horizontal distance between two forest roads is 500m. The analysis of the accessibility of Slovenian forests for firefighting vehicles led to the following conclusion: 65.6% of the low and medium fire risk forests are located within a 250m impact zone next to systematically maintained forest roads which are at least 3.0m wide; only 58.7% of high or very high fire risk forests are accessible under the same conditions. It is crucial that in the future new fire roads are placed in forests with high or very high fire risk, and that medium-sized fire trucks suitable for use on narrow and difficult traffic roads are appropriately marked throughout Slovenia.