New ways to fight forest fires

The book is one of the Good Practice Guides produced in the framework of the FUTUREforest project teams. Wildfires are one of the main natural hazards affecting Europe. An average of 500.000 ha of forest is burnt across the EU annually, with associated emissions of CO2, other gases and particles. Large fires cause human casualties, damage property, reduce soil fertility through loss of organic matter, and hamper biodiversity conservation. The risk of forest fires is not only an issue of southern countries but it is becoming increasingly a problem in higher latitudes as well including Bulgaria and Germany. The guide provides measures to address these problems.