New classification of natural forest fire hazard approved

The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has approved a new classification of natural forest fire hazard, detailed to take into account the characteristics of 42 forest regions of the country - from tundra sparse forests to Far Eastern cedar forests. The adopted order establishes a division into five classes of natural fire hazard and takes into account the type of forest plantations, growing conditions, and periods of fire-hazardous seasons.

In each region, the risk assessment is now assigned depending on the type of forest and non-forest lands. Thus, in the northern taiga, the maximum risk is typical for lichen pine forests and burnt areas, in the forest-steppe zone - for dry pine forests and oak groves. High-risk zones include young coniferous forests, dry pine forests and areas with damaged forest cover.

Alexey Venglinsky, Deputy Head of the Federal Forestry Agency: “The new classification will allow a more targeted approach to forest fire protection issues - in particular, to strengthen monitoring, increase forces and resources for extinguishing possible fires in areas of high fire hazard, and also take into account the specifics when planning fire prevention measures. This will increase the efficiency of detecting and extinguishing forest fires.”