A forest fire is an uncontrolled spread of fire across a forest. In any situation, even a small fire can develop into a natural disaster. There are the following main causes of forest fire: natural factors like lightning strikes during a thunderstorm, spontaneous combustion of peat and vegetation during prolonged drought and anthropogenic factors, which are basically associated with planned arsons for clearing the territories of logging waste and preparing them for new plantations, subsequent deforestation. But there are also fires, triggered by accidental arson, due to an oversight or non-compliance with the rules of behavior with fire.

What types of fire are distinguished?

The fire in the forest is divided into such main groups as: a ground, an underground fire and an upper one.

• A ground fire: it spreads through the earth, covering the lower tiers of the forest vegetation: dried roots of trees, shrubs, grassy and mossy cover, fallen dry leaves, but does not affect the crowns of trees. In most cases, it is characteristic of deciduous forests. The speed of fire is usually from 18 to 60 meters per hour, and if there is a strong fire in one hour, the area within a radius of 1 km is covered. The flame height can reach 2 m, and the burning temperature at the edge will be 900 ° C.
• An upper fire: occurs with prolonged absence of precipitation and high air temperature in summer. Most often they develop because of the large-scale spread of a grassroots fire. The minimum speed of coverage by fire of coniferous trees is 6 km / h. According to the type of the upper fire, stable and flicker burning is distinguished. The upper fire significantly outstrips the lower fire, thereby igniting new areas of the forest.
• An underground forest fire: it occurs when large-scale spread of grass-roots and mountain fires occur and spread over peat layers to a depth of more than 50 cm. Due to the fact that peat can burn without access of oxygen, underground fires are difficult to detect. Underground forest fire is the longest. The process of peat burning can take place even in winter, under a significant cover of snow. Burning can be triggered by lightning during dry thunderstorms.

The classification of forest fires is made with the appropriation of each category of their fires. The category group is affected not only by its appearance, but also by the area covered by the flame, and by the number of people and equipment involved in extinguishing the fire.