Firebreak

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Building a firebreak in South Carolina

A firebreak is a strip several meters wide in forests, large-scale meadows and heaths , settlements and other large - scale facilities that are at risk of fire . Within this strip, the amount of combustible material (trees, bushes, buildings or the like) is reduced to a minimum, depending on the environment, so that this gap represents an obstacle that is difficult to overcome for a fire in the spread of a fire, for example a forest fire .

Firebreaks are mostly of artificial origin (e.g. through clearing in forests), but natural conditions, such as a wide river or a rocky mountain ridge , can also represent firebreaks. Wide streets can also act as a firebreak in densely populated large urban areas.

Depending on the degree of precautions, fire breaks in forestry can be classified as follows:

Forest fire wound strips
  • Forest fire bar: strips up to 300 m wide with fire-retardant vegetation
  • Forest fire protection strips : strips up to 30 m wide from which fire loads (dead wood, scrub) are continuously removed
  • Forest fire sore strips : strips that are kept free of combustible humus by regular plowing and harrowing and are thus intended to prevent the spread of ground fires . They are usually one meter wide.

In the event of major fires, firebreaks are also used as active fire fighting through clearing .

Web links

Commons : Firebreaks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Henry Portz: Fire and Explosion Protection from A – Z: Explanation of terms and fire protection characteristics. 2005. Springer Vieweg. ISBN 978-3-322-80197-5 .
  2. Silvicultural forest fire prevention. In: waldwissen.net. Retrieved August 4, 2016 .