Protect against forest fires

By Donal Magner

28 February 2004: Last year, the prolonged dry spell resulted in an increased number of forest fires that caused serious damage, mainly to young plantations throughout the country.

The last major fires in Ireland occurred in 1984 when 1,450 hectares (3,600 acres) of State plantations were burned.

During the past 11 years, 265 hectares (650 acres) of Coillte forests were destroyed by fire annually.

For most of that period the majority of all forest fires in Ireland occurred in Coillte plantations.

However, last year this trend changed dramatically. Of the estimated 920 hectares (2,270 acres) of plantations destroyed by fire in 2003, over 500 hectares (1,230 acres) were privately owned, mainly by farmers.

Reliable statistics for fire damage in private forests up to 2003 are not available.

Because of the fragmented nature of the forest estate, individual forest fires cause damage to relatively small areas of plantations.

For example, there were 434 reported fires during 2003 in Coillte forests resulting in a loss of 420 hectares (1,040 acres) of plantations.

While last year may have been a one-off, nevertheless, as the forest estate increases in size, it is axiomatic that the risk of fire damage will also increase.

The public usually associate forest fires with long dry summers. However, records show that the period from February to April is a high-risk phase for forest fires in Ireland.

Ground vegetation is still dry or dead and this combined with dry spells can lead to severe and prolonged forest fires.

While fires caused serious loss in 2003, it was minimised in Coillte's plantations mainly because of the company's ability to implement a wide-ranging fire plan.

Tom Lyng, Coillte, said that the plan identifies three key areas to ensure the safety of forests: planning, prevention, and control.

He believes that the success of the plan requires not only good teamwork among Coillte staff but also the co-operation of local communities and adjoining landowners.

Planning

While most private plantations are small and fragmented and do not have the resources to formulate and implement fire plans as comprehensive as Coillte, Donal Whelan of the Irish Timber Growers Association (ITGA) believes that all owners, regardless of scale should have a basic fire-plan.

He encourages woodland owners "to put in place forest fire control plans which outline the procedures that should be adopted in the event of fires occurring on their property.

"Such plans would provide step by step actions and details such as contact phone numbers of the local fire brigade, Gardai, foresters and other relevant contact persons".

Mr. Whelan says that the access routes to plantations should be shown on an accompanying map together with local water supplies for fire fighting.

The availability of fire fighting equipment such as firewater trailers, portable pumps and hoses, fire beaters and other materials should also be referenced in the plan.

Fire prevention

Fire Prevention begins with proper planning at the crop establishment stage. This can be achieved by:

Construction of firelines or firebreaks where the vegetation is potentially inflammable such as heather, furze or molinia grasses. The usual way to construct firebreaks is to surface scrape a pathway with a dozer or grader to a minimum width of 6 metres;

Planting of boundaries and fire danger areas with species such as birch, alder and larch that will slow down or prevent the spread of fire;

Ensuring adequate access to the plantation including sufficient internal firebreaks in large properties.

Fire prevention stresses the need for regular monitoring such as the renewal of firelines after planting and ensuring access to waterways is unimpeded.

Fire control

The rapid response by Coillte in counties such as Wicklow prevented fires from causing major damage in 2003.

In recent years, Coillte has used helicopters for back up in dealing with major fire incidents.

These are used for reconnaissance to identify the extent of fire damage quickly and for transporting staff to fires especially where access is a problem. Helicopters are also used for firebombing. This is an effective means of fire control but it is costly and will be outside the reach of most private growers.

However, most of Coillte's plan is well within the reach of all forest owners.

Basic fire fighting equipment such as water carriers (slurry tankers), shovels, first aid kits, torches, fire beaters and fire visors should be available without incurring undue cost.

Co-operation

Co-operation already exists between Coillte and adjoining landowners during the fire danger period.

The growers represented by the ITGA co-operated with Coillte in producing a national fire plan a number of years ago which emphasised the need for foresters and plantation owners to maintain regular communications with each other and keep Civil Defence, the Gardai and community groups aware of developments.

Both Tom Lyng and Donal Whelan, ITGA support continued co-operation between Coillte and private growers that they believe would minimise the risk of fire damage.

Last year, Coillte staff prevented a number of fires from causing damage to some private plantations.

However, in many instances this was carried out on an ad hoc basis and out of a sense of good neighbourliness.

Both Mr. Lyng and Mr. Whelan agree that greater results could be achieved through a more formalised co-operative approach.

Areas of co-operation could include protective burning, constructing firebreaks and sharing of information.

While both recognise that landowners and the public in general are careful regarding fires, they also agree that most fires are started accidentally - often through ignorance.

They accept that it is important that the public are kept informed of issues such as reporting fires, the need for care when visiting forests and the importance of the forest resource to the economy and the environment.

Landowners also need to be aware of the dangers of lighting fires near forests. The ITGA reminds landowners and members of the public that it is an offence to burn vegetation on uncultivated land from 1 March to the 31 August subject only to certain limited exclusions (Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 as amended by Section 46 of the Wildlife Act 2000).

Reducing the risk

While Donal Whelan maintains that fire damage can be reduced and in some cases avoided altogether, he urges woodland owners to insure their plantations against fire damage.

He said: "ITGA acknowledges and welcomes the recent reinstatement of the reconstitution grant by Minister Walsh. While this will effectively cover the costs of replanting after a fire, it will not cover growers for their loss of investment or growing years lost due to fire damage which should be insured as this investment loss can be considerable for older crops''.

Mr. Whelan recommends that growers should consult their forestry advisers or insurers for relevant valuation information. He also points that insurance cover is available for fire fighting costs that can be high, particularly in instances when the fire brigade is required.

Year round vigilance

While fire damage was relatively high last year, Ireland has been fortunate to escape catastrophic fire damage that frequently occurs in other countries.

For example, the average area of forests destroyed by fire in Coillte forests annually represents less than seven hectares for every 10,000 hectares planted.

However, there will always be years of high risk and it is worth remembering that the forest landscape has changed dramatically since the last major fires of 1984.

Since then an extra 285,000 extra hectares (700,000 acres) have been planted, mostly by farmers.

It is in owners' interests to protect their forests and co-operation between growers - State and private - is an obvious way to achieve this.

Woodland owners need to be on the alert particularly over the next few weeks but Tom Lyng and Donal Whelan advise owners to be vigilant throughout the year because during any period of dry weather, fire is an ever-present threat