Implementation of Wildfire Risk Evaluation Elements into the Hungarian Forest Fire Prevention System

Abstract

Nowadays, wildfires are an increasing challenge for the defence sector. The fire risk of a given area depends only in part on human factors and the number of registered fires.A fire occurs when the moisture content of dead biomass drops to a level, where the fire can already spread between the individual pieces of fuel. Daily fire danger forecast examines the constant and changing components of the fire environment. This determines the flammability of the biomass; the rate of fire spread makes firefighting moredifficult. The fire danger forecast identifies the fire hazard periods when fires can occur. Fire Risk Assessment Systems have been developed in many countries around the world.In addition to the daily fire risk, these include parameters describing the vulnerability of the areas affected by the fire. National risk assessments are available in many countries around the world using several methodologies. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has developed a community-wide approach to forest fire risk assessment, using scientific results and studying good practices. In this approach, the risk of a forest fire is made up of the effects of daily fire hazards and vulnerabilities. The risk of fire due to weather conditions is associated with ignition and the spread of fire. The authors examine in the paper the basic criteria to assess wildfire risk at the pan-European level. The authors analyse external and internal risk factors in an observation plot and examine how international recommendations can be utilised in Hungary.