Analysis of the forest fire situation in the Republic of Belarus

Ensuring fire safety in forests is one of the most pressing tasks of the Republic of Belarus and is one of the most important areas of activity of the state forest protection. In extremely dry years, fires on forest lands cover significant areas, causing damage, manifested in a decrease in the ecological, water-regulating, sanitary-hygienic, climatic and other functions of the forest. In recent years, due to global warming, the forest fire situation in a number of countries around the world, including Belarus, has become especially aggravated. In many countries, an increase in the number and area of fires is recorded, which leads to severe consequences for the environment. Previously effective methods and methods for preventing and eliminating forest fires are becoming less effective and require improvement. The analysis of the causes of forest fires in the Republic of Belarus shows that the vast majority of them occur due to population fault. At the same time, a significant part of fires (about 71 %) occur from 13 to 19 hours, which is associated with an increase in forest attendance at this time and high air temperatures. The most severe consequences of forest fires were observed in 2002 and 2015, when the area covered by fire was 23.2 thousand and 16.9 thousand hectares respectively.