Laboratory of Forest Fire Protection – 60 Years of Research in the Field of Forest Fire Protection

Abstract On 1 April 1963, the Department of Forest Fire Protection was established at the Forest Research Institute, which resulted from the need to develop scientific and organisational bases for building a forest fire protection system that would effectively minimise the growing fire hazard of Polish forests. The Department began its activities by developing a programme that took into account both the immediate but urgent needs of the forestry and the anticipated directions of research. Over the course of 60 years, more than 350 research reports were produced. Among the achievements that have influenced the currently functioning forest fire protection system in Poland there are: the method of forest fire risk assessment, forest fire risk prediction, the creation of fire risk monitoring based on a network of forest meteorological measuring points, the development of forest fuel models, the extensive use of aircraft to detect and extinguish forest fires, the conduct of the first studies on the possibility of using television cameras to detect forest fires, the operation of the National Forest Fire Information System, the purpose of which is to collect data on forest fires and natural non-forest areas, the development of an application for forest fire models and the conduct of the first workshop on controlled heath burn in the country. Among the many projects completed, there were also those dealing with the evaluation and suitability of equipment and chemicals for extinguishing forest fires.