Inside Poland’s Forest Fire Protection System
When fire appears in a forest, most people first think of the fire service. But the fight against the elements begins much earlier, even before the first firefighter unrolls a hose line.
A very important role is played by foresters, who create and operate an extensive forest fire protection system. It is a well-coordinated team, working from the moment smoke is detected until the last embers on the fire site are extinguished.
The Person in Charge
Every team needs a leader, and in the forest that leader is the forest district manager. This is the strategist responsible for the overall fire protection system within the forest district. Most often, they work from behind a desk, using tools that may not look particularly spectacular: decisions, signatures and restrictions. Yet this paperwork is the first line of forest fire protection.
Everything that passes across the forest district manager’s desk is later reflected in the field, and the results can be highly effective. One signature is enough to close an entire forest. When the forest fire risk is high - if, for five consecutive days, the moisture content of forest litter measured at 9 a.m. remains below 10% - the forest district manager is authorised to introduce a temporary ban on entering the forest.
The Person in the Tower
In forest fire protection, the only person higher than the forest district manager is the observer. The forest district manager manages the forest; the observer has it 30 metres below. That is why, if fire breaks out in a forest, it may first be spotted by the watchful eye of an observer at the top of a fire lookout tower. These forest towers resemble inland lighthouses rising above a green sea.
photo: State Forests Archive
Dozens of metres above the ground, in a small cabin resembling a kiosk suspended over the forest, the observer spends long hours scanning the horizon for wisps of smoke rising from the treetops. On hot days, the cabin turns into a greenhouse, and every stronger gust of wind is a reminder that the structure stands high above the ground. It is a difficult and demanding work, and fewer people are willing to take it on each year. That is why the profession of fire lookout observer is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Increasingly, observers are being replaced by cameras and automatic smoke detection systems.
An observer’s working day means long hours of careful and systematic scanning of the landscape. But every minute’s delay in detecting a fire can result in more forest being destroyed. False alarms do happen, for example dust raised by a car driving along a dirt road or a cloud of dust behind a combine harvester. When an observer spots smoke from a forest fire, they immediately determine its azimuth and report it to the Alarm and Dispatch Centre in the forest district. The sooner the smoke is spotted and reported, the smaller the fire that needs to be extinguished.
The Command Centre
If the observer is the eye of the system, the dispatcher at the Alarm and Dispatch Centre is its brain. Within a few minutes, the dispatcher has to make a series of decisions, turning a single report of smoke into a coordinated firefighting operation. It is work under time pressure, but it requires a cool head: in this profession, speed matters less than making the right decisions.
photo: State Forests Archive
A smoke report from one lookout tower is not enough to determine the exact location of a fire. Only a second bearing from another point allows the search area to be narrowed down. The dispatcher marks both directions reported by the observation network on a map. The two azimuth lines intersect, indicating the precise location where the fire has started. For that point, a precise forest address and coordinates are then identified, making it easier to locate the flames in the field.
Then a sequence of rapid actions begins: a call to the fire service, notification of the forest district manager’s representative, and an alert to the forest forces in the field. A patrol and firefighting vehicle is dispatched to the site, someone is assigned to prepare fire beaters from the equipment base, and in the meantime the dispatcher is already considering whether air support will be needed.
Once the fire is under way, the Alarm and Dispatch Centre remains at the heart of events. The dispatcher collects reports, updates the picture of the fire situation, adjusts instructions accordingly and keeps their finger on the pulse until the operation is over.
The Fire Patrol
The motto of the forest fire protection system is: “One rescuer at a forest fire within 15 minutes is worth more than a hundred firefighters after an hour.” A fire is easiest to stop just after it starts. As soon as the fire location has been established, the dispatcher sends a patrol and firefighting crew from the forest district to try to extinguish the fire in its initial stage.
The off-road pickup, affectionately known as a fire extinguisher on wheels, carries a water tank, pump and firefighting equipment on its bed. The crew has everything it needs to begin fighting the fire immediately after reaching the site. It can get to places that large fire engines often find difficult to access.
photo: State Forests Archive
If the fire is small, the crew can smother it within minutes, limiting the burned area to just a few ares. If they cannot eliminate it at the outset, they prepare the area for the arrival of additional forces: they indicate access routes, guide the fire service in, and pass information about the terrain and hazards to the incident commander. And when the firefighters have completed their work and left, the patrol crew often stays behind to watch over the fire site. They extinguish the last smouldering patches and eliminate even the smallest trails of smoke.
The patrol and firefighting vehicle is also used to monitor the area. This is an important addition to the entire fire detection system. Forest patrols regularly appear in places where the risk is highest, often in areas most frequently visited by people. Sometimes it is the patrol crew that first notices smoke. With 400 litres of water on board, they can begin acting immediately.
Air Support
Forest patrols can rely on air support at any time. Depending on the situation, pilots of firefighting aircraft or helicopters choose the most appropriate type of water drop. When a rapid and powerful response is needed, they release a “water bomb”. Within seconds, the entire wet load falls onto the forest, creating an intense, concentrated drop that can penetrate the tree crowns and reach the forest floor. This is an effective method of directly extinguishing a fire or stopping its front.
photo: State Forests Archive
At other times, the pilot may choose a trail drop. Water is released gradually, forming a long, descending ribbon in the air, which moistens the vegetation and protects it from the flames. This slows the fire down and buys time for people on the ground.
Helicopter pilots can operate with even greater precision. Suspended beneath the aircraft is a special fabric bucket, known as a Bambi Bucket, which is filled in the nearest water reservoir. The helicopter then flies over the fire and drops the water exactly where it is needed most.
There are also pilots who patrol rather than extinguish fires. From the air, they look for smoke, verify reports and pass information to the Alarm and Dispatch Centre. They are the system’s additional eyes, supporting both observers and dispatchers. Aviation does not replace operations on the ground, but it provides them with enormous support.
Heavy Equipment
In the fight against fire, water does not always win. Sometimes soil proves more effective. That is why tractors and the people who know how to operate them in the forest have an important place in the fire protection team. The tractor drivers are employees of forestry service companies. On an ordinary day, they cut trees, prepare soil and tend the forest. When fire appears, however, their machines become a rescue equipment.
As part of preventive measures, they create firebreaks: wide strips of land with a ploughed furrow cleared of vegetation. For flames, such a barrier can be impossible to cross, because everything that could continue burning ends there. When there is no combustible material, the fire has no way to spread.
A tractor with a plough can quickly create a new firebreak just ahead of the line of flames. It is a race against time. If the furrow is made quickly enough, the flames can stop at the strip of bare earth. A tractor is also useful after the firefighting operation. The fire site must be ploughed around and monitored to make sure that the wind does not reignite embers hidden in the smouldering forest litter. Around the burned area, an isolation strip is created, cleared down to the mineral layer of the soil, to cut the fire off from unburned vegetation.
Arsonist Hunters
The Forest Guard is a formation whose task is to maintain order and safety in the forest, including when the forest is burning.
photo: Paweł Grądzki
During a fire, forest guards cooperate with rescue services, guide them through the area, direct traffic, help them move around the forest and support organisational activities. They know forest roads and tracks better than anyone else.
Even while the fire is still burning, the Forest Guard gathers information, secures and documents evidence, and establishes the circumstances of the incident. Afterwards, forest guards secure the fire site for investigative purposes. They talk to witnesses, prepare photographic documentation and cooperate with the police.
They also have specific powers: they may check people’s identity documents, issue fines and, in certain situations, even catch an offender in the act and hand them over to the relevant services. When a series of suspicious fires appears in an area, they organise a search for the arsonist: drones, camera traps, patrols and intervention teams are sent into the field. When a fire turns out to be a crime, the Forest Guard may represent the forest district manager in proceedings against the perpetrator.
The Forest Stewards
The forest ranger is the steward of their part of the forest. They are there every day. They know where visitors light campfires, which route the fire service can take most quickly, and where passage is impossible. A large part of the forest ranger’s daily work is aimed at preventing fires from starting at all. During periods of the highest fire risk, they are on duty, constantly reachable by phone, alert and ready to respond.
When fire appears in their forest beat, the forest ranger usually knows almost immediately. And no one cares more about stopping the fire as quickly as possible. Every burned hectare is a piece of forest they have cared for years. When a fire breaks out, the forest ranger and assistant forest ranger help rescue services move through the terrain, indicate access roads, water intake points and the safest directions for action. They also know which parts of the forest will burn most intensely and where the fire should slow down. They can “read” the forest and translate that knowledge into firefighting language, so that firefighters know what to expect when the fire moves into the next forest compartment.
Once the fire has been extinguished, the forest ranger stays behind after the firefighters leave. They organise the final extinguishing and monitoring of the fire site.
The Operation Coordinator
The forest district manager cannot always go personally to the burning forest. But there should always be someone in charge at the fire site to coordinate the forestry side of the operation. This is why, within the fire protection system, designated people serve on duty as representatives of the forest district manager.
If such a representative arrives before the fire service units, they organise the first actions aimed at limiting the spread of the fire: they call in a tractor with a plough or request immediate aviation support. When firefighters arrive, command is taken over by the Incident Commander, the officer in charge of the rescue operation. However, the forest district manager’s representative remains one of the key figures throughout the entire operation.
photo: State Forests Archive
They are responsible for coordinating all forestry forces and resources assigned to the fight against the fire. The patrol and firefighting vehicle, aircraft, tractors creating firebreaks, forestry service company crews, foresters in the field and equipment from fire protection bases must all work like one organism - and someone has to oversee it.
Once the fire has been brought under control, the representative takes over the fire site and organises its protection and monitoring.
For firefighters, the representative is more than just a forest district official. This is the person who helps connect knowledge of the forest with the organisation of firefighting operations. They know where to send people and equipment, how to use forestry resources and what to expect from fire in a particular stand. Without them, it would be difficult to control an operation in which some people are fighting the fire from the ground, others are dropping water from the air, and tractors are creating firebreaks right next to working fire service units.
The Role of the Forest Fire Management Officer
They do not sit in a lookout tower, drive a pickup or drop water from an aircraft. Yet without them, the entire fire protection system would quickly begin to fall apart. Every operation needs solid support and a behind-the-scenes hero: someone to handle hundreds of phone calls, emails, documents, purchases, duty rosters and procedures that no one notices as long as everything works as it should.
This person is the forest fire management officer in the forest district. They make sure that lookout towers are operational, vehicles are equipped, equipment bases are ready, maps are printed, radio telephones work, forest fire access roads are properly marked and water is available at water intake points. They analyse fire risk on an ongoing basis, prepare and collect documentation, settle the costs of firefighting operations, keep fire records, calculate fire losses and coordinate preventive measures.
These are the people who create the fire protection system in the State Forests. And they are still not all of them. Behind the scenes, there are also aircraft mechanics, regional dispatchers, fire protection specialists in Regional Directorates of the State Forests, and people who measure the moisture content of forest litter.
Including forest rangers and assistant forest rangers, several thousand people are involved in fire protection. The results of their work are best seen in the statistics. Most fires are successfully stopped in their initial stage, and the average area of a single fire in Polish forests is only about 0.3 hectares - less than half a football pitch.
In the fight against fire in the forest, the key is a well-coordinated team.
