1. Forestfireprotection
in Poland and Europe

2. As you step foot into an old growth forest, the rush of fresh air fills your lungs. Your senses perk up and you become aware of the life that surrounds you. In the forest, you never know what is waiting around the corner. In the forest, you will discover and witness new things for the first time. In the forest, you will come to peace with nature. In the forest, you will escape the world of technology and learn what it was like to live off the land.

3. What is forest?
Forest, in terms of encyclopedia, is a natural or human- shaped ecosystem, or a complex of ecosystems in which the dominant component is the vegetation created by near standing trees. Forests cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth’s surface. However, they once covered over 50%. Most people identify forests with trees, but the concept of the forest ecosystem reaches much further and includes many species, such as smaller plants, fungi, bacteria, insects, animals, as well as energy flow and nutrient cycling. Luckily, a large percentage of people on Earth are still able to enjoy the tranquility of an ancient forest. However, some people have never had the chance to enter one of these majestic plant communities. In fact, almost 80% of Europe’s forests are owned by Russia.

4. Forests in Poland
Forests in Poland occupy an area of about 9.14 million hectares, which is practically 30% of the country's area. One of the ancient forests on the world is the Bialowieza forest (Poland and Belarus). When autumn comes, many trees changes their leaf color. It’s a beautiful scale from gold, through brown to orange.
It always feels like winter is coming in Europe's most medieval forest, even in the dead of summer. The Bialowiza is the last remaining stretch of old-growth forest on said continent—a 545-square-mile cobweb of Norway spruce and maple trees, silver birch, aspens, oaks, elms, and pines on a floor of decaying, fungi-covered trees, that've been gathering dust for over 7,000 years. 

5. Some information about fire
Natural fires are an integral part of Mediterranean ecosystems. However, in Europe, the extensive use of natural and forest regions as recreational areas has increased the number of human caused fires. Additionally, the decrease of rural population and abandonment of agricultural regions has led to the build up of fire fuels on these areas and the consequent increase in the number and the damage of forest fires. On average, fires in Europe burn 0.5 million hectares of forest areas every year. Although the number of fires has been steadily increasing in the last decade, the area burnt by fires has not increased.

6. THE EUROPEAN FOREST FIRE INFORMATION SYSTEM
Information on forest fires in Europe is very scattered. This information is compiled by the local authorities and aggregated at the provincial or regional levels. The data is further aggregated at the national level to derive national statistics. In the case of European data, the national data suffer a further level of aggregation. In looking at the integrity of the data and the susceptibility of performing statistical analysis to draw conclusions regarding the fire situation in Europe, one must realize that the methods to collect the information are very diverse. In fact, the methods vary from region to region within each country, and from country to country. Moreover, the concept of forest fire differs from country to country because the definitione of forested area is not unique for the EU Mediterranean countries.

7. Protection and prevention
Wildfire prevention programs around the world may employ techniques such as wildland fire use and prescribed or controlled burns. Wildland fire use refers to any fire of natural causes that is monitored but allowed to burn. Controlled burns are fires ignited by government agencies under less dangerous weather conditions. Fire fighting services are provided in most developed areas to extinguish or contain uncontrolled fires. Trained firefighters use fire apparatus, water supply resources such as water mains and fire hydrants or they might use A and B class foam depending on what is feeding the fire. Fire prevention is intended to reduce sources of ignition. Fire prevention also includes education to teach people how to avoid causing fires. Buildings, especially schools and tall buildings, often conduct fire drills to inform and prepare citizens on how to react to a building fire.Purposely starting destructive fires constitutes arson and is a  crime in most jurisdictions.

8. The government can protect the forests by:
Appointment of services, which will patrol the woods
Educate the public of how important are the green areas for us
Support organizations that carry on actions for planting trees and protecting the environment
Tighten the law of forest protection
Make the Earth Day more important national celebration
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

9. What children have to say…?
Amelia M. kl. II Forests need to be protected from bad people. They leave trash in the forest, so it's so dirty there. They make fire and cut trees. We have to take care of the forest, because it gives us fresh air and shelter for animals. Dawid C. kl. III It is wrong, because the forest is a place to rest. There is clean, healthy and fresh air. The trees give us the oxygen we breathe. The forest is also home for animals. We should care for the forests, because we couldn’t live without them. Care for nature, do not pollute it and do not cut trees! Paweł C. kl. III Trash in the woods is very dangerous because they can cause a fire. In addition, they release to the atmosphere, water and soil poisonous substances that cause various diseases. Wild landfills lead to disturbances in the functioning of forest ecosystems, and also to the death of trees around them.

10. International Day of Forests
The International Day of Forests was established on the 21st day of March, by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on November 28, 2012. Each year, various events celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations.
Nowadays almost every person on the world know how important forests are for us. So why we keep ruining them? Burning grass is illegal! This is one of the most brutal ways of destroying the environment. Burning does not bring any benefit, it only harms nature and people. Very often burning grass is the cause of forest fire. The fire is out of control and consumes everything on its path.
Forest is not only wood. It is shelter for animals, the lungs of the world, and the more trees, the more pure water is in nature. If we want to protect it we have to start right now! One of the ways of protecting It is planting new trees.
One of the polish companies - „Żywiec zdrój” started an action that makes people aware of many disadvantages of harming nature and they want to plant trees. More information here:

11. The presentation includes information found on Wikipedia, google graphics, private sources and:
lesna/ochrona_lasu/ochrona-lasow-przed-pozarami/view
Książka „Ochrona lasów przed po żarami” autorów: KAROL WILER, PAWEŁ WCISŁO
013.htm

12. Authors:
Anna Domagała
Aleksandra Nowotyńska
Kinga Janda
Zespół Szkół Ponadgimnazjalnych nr 5 im. II Armii Wojska Polskiego w Krośnie. Klasa 1 AL.