It is very likely that while traveling by car on the road we have seen in the surrounding mountains large areas devoid of vegetation or even collided head-on with them when walking through the forest. What does this particular feature of forest areas mean? Although many already know, these lines are natural firewalls, in which eliminate vegetacin so that, in case of fire, It is do not spread further.
At the beginning of the last century, the exploitation of the timber industry had stripped the forests in Spain of a large number of trees and, as a result, there were big ones floods due to the lack of vegetation to slow it down. However, soon This reality changed and began the repopulation, and although floods became less frequent, the fires started.
Firewalls began to be implemented from the 1950s onwards.
It is then from the 1950s onwards that policies began to be implemented to prevent and/or cope with these natural disasters. However, its function, beyond preventing the fire from spreading further, is spaces that facilitate firefighting operations for professionals and also serve as paths to facilitate the evacuation of people if necessary or their movement.
Los types of firewalls that exist today are very diverse, Although they all have a common characteristic and that is that no fuel is used or if it is done, it is a type of fuel that does not burn, to avoid further danger. Among the most common methods is in prune, rake and clear a path, of at least 40 centimeters wide, something that requires time and specific machinery.
Firewalls Vs. the backfires
In addition to firewalls, there are other techniques which are useful for reducing the risk of fires: firebreaks, strategic management points, protection zones… Another very useful technique that is sometimes confused with firewalls is backfires. As explained forestry education In your X account, firewalls are a specialized technique in extinguishing forest fires using fire against fire.
It should be noted that the Fires with flames greater than two meters and a half are very difficult to extinguish, even though a large number of means are used to deal with them. Therefore, efforts are focused on developing structures where the flames cannot spread quickly or, if they do, can be extinguished quickly. For example, by mosaic landscapes o to reduction of greenhouse gases.
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