Not only water: how to deal with a big fire

This is one of the most impressive images of Monday's deadly fires in Greece: a local man who helps firefighters and the military fend off the flames.

Recounts, at a glance, how tragic the situation was, but also speaks of the solidarity created to achieve a common goal: to save as many lives as possible and to avoid even more serious damage

Looking at the plan, it is natural to ask a question: i are facing a fire of this magnitude? Experts from the European Forest Institute (EFI) explain this to us

Studying well at home

The fire front usually moves, so it is important to study and study. 39, try to anticipate their movements

For this reason, according to Marc Castellnou, a strategic badyst who works with regional firefighters in Catalonia, more investments are made in training: climate change still poses new challenges firefighters.

"Studying helps us understand where you can fire and where to invest to really make a difference," said euronews interviewee. "In the past, we hunted flames and that's all."

Three key factors to watch among the dozens taken into account by experts who badyze the evolution of a fire for several hours.

It's the wind, the inclination of the ground and the direction in which the flames' forehead unfolds, lists Alexander Held, expert of the EFI

"Fires tend to burning uphill, so the steeper the slope, the faster the flames propagate "he explains The orientation is also important: lands exposed to the south can be warmer and drier and therefore more prone to flames.

It starts at the back, not at the front

"He's still facing a fire," continues Held. "You do not have to follow your instinct and go where there are the biggest flames in front of you, the engine of each fire is at the back and you have to first turn off the engine "

Anchor Points

in action from a point that provides a useful natural barrier to prevent the spread of flames. These "anchor points" can be, for example, roads, rivers or golf courses.

Channels are then dug along the flanks of the fire to remove vegetation so that there is no fuel for the fire. help to extend outward. Vegetation is removed from the fire path, burning it: a tactic known as dry extinction

"The water, making it available, is the best measure to extinguish the fire", adds Held. "But in 80% of fires, there is never enough water, almost never near a fire or a river mouth and the fire is moving , so there is only a small amount of water that can be poured into the fire.

"We must bring water to the fire place and do everything to do it, but to really extinguish the fire, we must understand the importance of dry mouths".

Ground Personnel

The most impressive images of any fire-extinguishing operation are those of Canadair who pour water down the front of the flames, from the top . According to experts, it is only one of many components of an operation.

"Even if you can put out the fire with airplanes or helicopters carrying water, the ground staff must always clean around the perimeter," says Held. "Otherwise, it's not possible to turn off any small fires that fire."

"In an ideal world, every ton of water released is followed by the activity of firefighters on the territory."

The recent wildfires near Manchester, England, were hard to fight because this "party on the ground" was not carried out properly, Held continues.

The Importance of Common Protocols

The Main Operations Firefighting uses the Incident Command System (ICS), a standardized means of managing, controlling, and coordinating emergency response.

"In a high fire situation, several agencies work together: the army, aviation, police, fire, forest service," says Held.

"If everyone is trained in ICS protocols, it's fantastic: you share a position, the planning of operations and logistics, ac with the same goals, the same language is spoken and the same terminology is used. "

" Right now we have a continuous exchange with the Germans in Sweden, so if everyone is working with SCI, it's much easier: everyone knows how the system works and when you do new resources, you can put them in a very efficient way. "

We must accept that there is nothing to do 19659005] Castellnou says that sometimes fires are too violent to allow intervention and we have to wait to attack the flames during so-called "windows of opportunity".

That is why it is important to study and understand when it is possible to contain "We must identify the points where the fire will be the weakest," concludes Castellnou. "Instead of trying to extinguish the flames at all costs, in the face of intense fires, we must try to seize the opportunity that is offered to us."

But in situations like this created in Greece, it is difficult to make the difference even with greater deployment of means. "