Dead Man Zone

Deadman Zone left and right of a wildfire

The fire brigade describes the area to the side of an ongoing forest fire as the dead man zone , especially in the Anglo-Saxon-speaking area . In simplified terms, forest fires spread in a triangular manner from their place of origin in the direction of the wind, the two legs delimiting the deadman zone. Staying in this zone is particularly dangerous, as if the wind direction suddenly changes, the fire moves into the deadman zone and can endanger emergency services there. In large forest fires, the fire usually moves forward at such high speed that it is no longer possible to escape on foot. This has already resulted in several fatalities.

Since there are almost no forest fires of this magnitude in Germany and there is therefore no serious risk to the emergency services, there is no German term for this.

Web links

• The Dead Man Zone. (PDF) CSIRO Project Vesta, accessed on November 27, 2015 .