Hall fire

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Burning cornfield

A field fire spreads outdoors on the ground, but in contrast to a forest fire in the open field . Forest fires and land fires are vegetation fires . They can quickly grow to a great extent and become wildfires .

causes

Hall fires occur particularly in extreme dryness and high air temperatures. Frequently, however, agricultural areas are also affected, some of which become very dry in the normal cultivation method, typically for example with grain and maize, but also dried tomato crops (shortly before harvest), while all herbaceous crops, shrubs and trees are only endangered in drought periods .

Ground fires can - like all fires - have different triggers, but are often the result of negligent or willful arson , or of mishaps in the clearing of fire , such as the burning of weed field edges .

Fire types

The hall fires include, for example:

  • Grass fire (possibly meadow fire or steppe fire), the fire of arid grassland
  • Field fire on arable land
  • Reed fire, reed belt fire and similar stocks
  • Heathland fire , particularly in the Nordic tundra
  • The alpine -flops brand , bush fires and other fires in more open vegetation types can be viewed as either forest or corridor fires.

The distinction between ground fire or wildfire and total fire , as it exists in forest fires, naturally does not apply to the low-growing forms of vegetation.

Ground fires on the embankments of traffic routes are also called embankment fires .

Fires in the subsoil ( earth fires ) are not explicitly included in the field fires . A peat fire can, however, arise from superficial ground fires. Conversely, coal fires , for example, can trigger surface fires if the seam is not very deep.

Grass fire, field fire and embankment fire

Embankment fire on a railway embankment in Albania

Depending on the vegetation, a grass fire can also be referred to as a meadow fire or a steppe fire . The equivalent on agricultural areas is the field fire, which occurs in particular on corn and maize fields . Such fires regularly occur as wildfire and are relatively easy to extinguish due to the low fire load . However, the problem is the rapid spread.

Embankment fires often occur along railway lines ( railway embankment fire ), as these have a higher proportion of embankments than roads. While embankment fires along the road are mostly due to negligent handling of tobacco products (human causes), embankment fires along railway lines are usually caused by flying sparks (technical causes). They can arise in particular when braking freight trains . In dry weather, grasses in the area of ​​the railways can catch fire. Such a fire can in turn spread to bushes and shrubs in the area.

In 2003, more than 800 embankment fires in the Deutsche Bahn area led to line closures for an average of around 20 minutes each. In a pilot test in September 2004, controlled fires were burned on various routes in Lower Franconia to prevent embankment fires. Controlled burning of railway embankments was already very widespread until the 1970s, but was then largely banned by the nature conservation laws of the federal states. Between 2014 and 2017, between approx. 382 and approx. 483 embankment fires were recorded in the Deutsche Bahn area.

Oil-fired steam locomotives are less prone to flying sparks than coal-fired locomotives. Some railway administrations prohibit the use of all steam locomotives if there is a high risk of fire. Other administrations order a service train with a water truck and fire-fighting team behind a steam train , which can fight a triggered embankment fire while it is still in the development phase .

Reed fire

Reed fire is the name given to the fires of reed belts on water, which includes reeds , rushes and similar stocks, such as papyrus ( sedge grass ). Most reeds are one to two years old, so they regularly die (on the surface), with the dead population often remaining for a long time and forming thickets. Therefore, these stocks tend to catch fire during drought, in summer and in more northern latitudes also in winter.

They pose a threat to buildings on the shore, but otherwise usually remain relatively harmless. The impact on the habitat, such as bird colonies, is critical. On the other hand, they represent a natural rejuvenation that prevents the water from silting up and can bring in important nutrients. They are economically disruptive in reed-cut areas , where they can destroy the harvest, on the other hand, the burning of worthless old stock is also common there, and the type of fire occurs less often in well-harvested areas. In terms of fire technology, it is problematic that a reed fire is usually difficult to access and must be tackled from the water or from the air. Reed fires can also be large.

Heather fire

Under Heidebrand ( English Heath land fire, fire heather ) is meant the type of fire of the open Heide country . Heath is the typical stock of the Nordic tundra , but is also found otherwise as special vegetation or in the Alpine region above the tree line. It is mostly Ericaceae (heather family) mixed with various grasses as well as dwarf willows, birches and other cripple forms.

Heathland fires are particularly critical in comparison to other field fires, as this vegetation is widespread on boggy-peaty subsoil (lean vegetation). If the peat is infected by the superficial wildfire , a peat fire with embers can occur, which can hardly be extinguished and which can burn steadily even with moisture.

Known heather fires:

Fire warning system

There are special warning systems for land fires, but mostly the land fire risk is included in the forest fire warning levels (for example in the case of Meteoalarm , the European weather warning network). Examples are:

Environment and nature protection

Outside of arable land, fire as an environmental factor is one of the natural conditions in grasslands . The ecosystems are adapted to periodic fires, which spread quickly and also quickly go out again, so that the roots of the plants that are appropriate to the location are hardly or not at all damaged. Plant species that are not adapted to fire are permanently kept out of the habitat by irregular fires.

In protected areas with extensive grasslands, such as prairies in North America, intentionally set fires are experimented with in order to promote the adapted plant communities . Even in forests whose soil layer is overgrown by tall-leaved grasses such as pipe grass , a rapidly progressing fire, which only damages the grass and not the trees protected by the bark, can be used to push back the grass and provide optimal growth conditions through the ashes to create young trees.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Jendsch: GDR know-how - fire protection units for fighting forest and wildfire. ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) 2002 (PDF, 57 kB; on feuerwehrpresse.de).
  2. ↑ a b Forest fire database Austria: Forest fire definition , University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences , accessed May 4, 2016.
  3. ↑ Example of an embankment fire : Embankment fire: train brake ignites green space. IN: Die Welt from June 3, 2008.
  4. ^ A b Gerhard Hetzel: Use of the controlled fire in the vegetation management of the Deutsche Bahn . In: BahnPraxis (PDF, 1.0 MB), September 2005 edition, p. 99 f.
  5. ^ German Bundestag (Ed.): Written questions with the answers received from the Federal Government in the week of August 6, 2018 . tape 19 , no. 3762 , August 10, 2018, ISSN  0722-8333 , p. 89 ( BT-Drs. 19/3762 ).
  6. ↑ cf. E.g. E. Kusel-Fetzmann, G. Spatzierer: Investigations into the development of algae in reed burn, reed cut and old reed areas on Lake Neusiedl. In: Wasser und Abwasser Volume 30 (1986), pp. 261-291, PDF on ZOBODAT
  7. ↑ For example, the natural scientist Moritz Wagner reported in 1843 about an "enormous" winter reed fire in the southern Russian steppe area, which broke out after the local Cossacks had burned down. Moritz Wagner: The Caucasus and the land of the Cossacks. Volume 1, Verlag Arnoldische Buchhandlung, 1848, p. 99 ( Google eBook, complete view ).
  8. ^ WR Catchpole: Heathland fuel and fire modeling. Diploma thesis (PhD thesis), Australian Defense Force Academy, University of New South Wales, Canberra / ACT 1987;
    WR Catchpole, RA Bradstock, J. Choate, LG Fogarty, N. Gellie, GJ McCarthy, WL McCaw, JB Marsden-Smedley, G. Pearce: Co-operative development of equations for heathland fire behavior. In: Proceedings of III International Conference of Forest Fire Research and 14th Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology , Luso / Portugal, 16-20. November 1998; Ed. D Viegas, 1998, pp. 631-645.
  9. ↑ cf. GM Davis, CJ Legg: Developing a live fuel moisture model for moorland fire danger rating. In: J. de las Heras, CA Brebbia, D. Viegas, V. Leone (eds.): Modeling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires. Volume 119 of WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment , WIT Press, 2008, ISBN 978-184564141-2 , pp. 225-235.
  10. ↑ Information on the Grassland Fire Index (GLFI) , Deutscher Wetterdienst, accessed on July 22, 2010.