Investigation of the effects of improvement of forest road standards on fire fighting activities

The forest areas along the coastline between the Marmara region, the interior of the Aegean region and the entire Mediterranean region are particularly susceptible to fire due to their location within the borders of our country. Annually, tens of thousands of hectares of forest areas are damaged due to forest fires, resulting in significant biological and ecological damage to forest resources. In 2021, 97% of the burned areas were due to large fires. A total of 74% of the areas burned in 2021 were in forest areas within the borders of the Antalya and Muğla Regional Directorates of Forestry. The majority of these fires occurred in July and August. The results indicate that the most vulnerable aspect of these burned areas is the effectiveness of the road network, which impedes the ability of combat teams to reach the burned areas. The destruction of forests by fire results in the loss of wood raw materials, which has a significant economic impact. In order to effectively combat forest fires, it is essential that first responders do not exceed the time between reaching the burning area and intervening at critical points where the probability of bringing the fire under control is high. The initial response to a fire incident is typically conducted by a team of firefighters in water tenders. However, the specific locations that can be reached within the critical response time are determined by the distance and average speed of the vehicle. A significant proportion (66%) of the road network within our country's forest areas comprises B-type (stabilized and 40 km/h average speed) secondary A-type roads with limited technical standards. The absence of appropriate structures and superstructures, the inadequacy of the technical standards employed on these roads, and the inactivity of some roads over time constrain the speed of combat vehicles using the road and extend the time required for first responders to reach the fire sites. The implementation of enhanced forest road standards in these types of forests will contribute to enhanced driving safety and increased design speed, which will have the effect of expanding the forest areas that can be reached within the critical response time and thus reducing the economic and physical losses of wood. By enhancing the standards of B-type roads in the Antalya region, land managers can enhance the efficacy and efficacy of firefighting operations, thereby reducing the risk and impact of forest fires in these ecosystems. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the impact of enhancing forest road standards on the expansion of accessible forest areas in critical response time, particularly in sensitive forests prone to fire, with the aim of reducing the physical and economic losses of wood. The Antalya Regional Directorate of Forestry, which has the highest number of forest fires and the greatest burned area in the country, was selected as the study area. In the solution process, the existing road network in the study area was initially considered, and the forest areas that can be reached by the first responders (including mobile teams used in emergencies) within the critical response time were then determined. Subsequently, the potential expansion of accessible forest areas in the event of enhanced road standards was examined. Additionally, the impact of mobile teams used in emergencies on the forest areas accessible within the critical response time was evaluated within the scope of the study. The results indicate that in the scenario where existing road standards and fixed teams are evaluated, only 59.54% of forest areas can be reached by first responders within the critical response time. However, this rate increases to 71.69% if road standards are improved. Conversely, in the scenario where existing road standards and fixed and mobile teams were evaluated together, it was determined that 70.40% of the forest areas could be reached by the first responders within the critical response time, while this rate increased to 78.17% if the road standards were improved. The findings demonstrate that enhancements to road standards and the deployment of mobile teams are highly effective in combating forest fires.