LANDSCAPE FIRE SAFETY MANAGEMENT: THE EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE AND THE EU

Abstract

Landscape safety management is an important tool of European spatial planning.The aim of the work is to assess the effectiveness of managing the risks of environmental disasters and eliminating the consequences of forest fires using modern geographic information systems and space technologies for remote sensing of the Earth’s surface.Trends in fire hazard in the past have been analyzed by processing a series of meteorological indicators that are commonly used to assess fire potential due to climatic conditions. ESRI’s ArcGis GIS tools were used.It has been substantiated that climate change along with modern specifics of land use and forestry activities lead to an increase in the fire hazard of landscapes. It is proved that the situation is especially critical in the areas contaminated by the Chornobyl accident, where the large areas with dead trees bear a significant risk of catastrophic forest fires. The paper investigates the possibilities of managing the risks of environmental disasters and liquidation of consequences of forest fires using modern geoinformation systems and space technologies for remote sensing a surface of the Earth. It is proposed to introduce a modern information system for decision-making during the detection and elimination of forest fires and to create a specialised Center for Forest Protection and Safety to coordinate actions in case of fires and other emergencies in the landscapes of northern regions of Ukraine. Based on the study of the European experience in landscape fire safety management, it is proposed to use an integrated system of prevention and elimination of forest fires, which is based on the calculation of factors of fire hazard. When developing a method for identifying fire-hazardous periods using remote sensing data, it was proposed to additionally take into account wind characteristics and anthropogenic factors.