05-08-2007, 03:55 AM
Facts behind the flames
The research we conduct on forest fires has changed almost all of our previous knowledge. Many people including children willing to see helicopters and forest workers demanding to be on the permanent staff are involved in reducing the green areas to ash. The possibility of terrorism is little. The fire is put out best on the ground rather than with planes and helicopters
Our forests are burning furiously. By July 30, approximately 1,559 fires started destroying 6,352 hectares of forest areas. Some 58 percent of our forests are situated in the Mediterranean and the Aegean regions, where summers are hot and dry. Half of these forests consist of black pines and red pines, which are very susceptible to fire. The existence of fires is an ordinary irony of fate. On the other hand, each fire has a different story. Some forests are set on fire because of ‘obstinacy', some on ‘bet' and some other out of ‘wonder'. The proportion of the areas set on fire for annuity in tourism areas is not little. Moreover according to the Foresters' Association, the amount of the areas set on fire is much higher than what is announced.
Children's curiosity for helicopters
Prof. Dr. Nami Çağan, who worked for four years as the 57th government's Environment and Forestry Minister, has given interesting information regarding the forest fires. According to Çağan, some of the seasonal workers employed in the cleaning of the forest areas set the forests on fire in order to be on the permanent staff. Examples of this were seen in Milas and Bodrum fires, Çağan said. There is no evidence for any political motives behind setting the forest fires, and sabotage is considered the last possibility for the fires. However, Nami Çağan, includes children while listing profiles of fire setters and gives a strange example: “The fire around Ayvalık Şeytan Sofrası was started by the children in that area. If a fire occurs, the helicopters carrying water comes to extinguish it. The children wanting to see the helicopters started the fire in Ayvalık Şeytan Sofrası. A long while after the fire, Utku Acun, the governor of Balıkesir at that time, informed me that it had happened that way,” said Çağan. Another significant group of children likely to cause forest fires are those who are keeping smoking a secret from their families.
Former minister's another fire-raiser example is ‘obstinacy'. “We have found some evidence that in some of our areas, villagers start fires in order to prevent the allocation of forest areas to golf courses. When an area is burnt, it is not possible to turn it into golf course, according to the law. The most striking example of this occurred in Antalya. It was understood that the villagers had burnt a forest area to prevent its allocation to a large company. The forest was burnt, and the conversion of the area into a golf course was prevented.”
Mafia's 2/B lobbying
Prof. Dr. Nami Çağan is against the government's law draft, known as 2/B, defining the areas to lose their designated status as forests. “Mafia's biggest dream is the implementation of the 2/B law. While lobbying, the mafia tries to convince the government authorities that the state will earn approximately $25 billion as a result of this arrangement. This is an enormous lobbying effort. The mafia tries to lobby and persuade each government,” said Çağan.
The burnt area is more than announced
The fight with forest fires was very successful between 2003 and 2005, according to Environment and Forest Minister Osman Pepe. However, Turkey Foresters' Association Chairman Mustafa Yumurtacı does not agree with this opinion. “The existence of many huge forest fires and the loss of large forest areas in 2006 refuted the minister's claim. The ministry authorities have tried to disguise the actual figures about the burnt forest areas to protect the ministers. For instance, the area that was reduced to ash in 2006 as a result of Milas-Mumcular fire was reflected at first as 200 hectares and then increased to 400 and 600 hectares in the newspapers. It was confirmed that the actual figure was 3,526 hectares,” said Yumurtacı.
Meanwhile, according to Yumurtacı, there is adequate expert staff in the forest organization with scientific and technical knowledge about preventing fires. However, the real problem is the appropriate use and motivation of these qualified people. “The schools of forest guards, who live close to forests and provide the primary intervention to forest, were closed. The number of the forest guards has decreased and the remaining guards have been brought to big centers, resulting in their loss of relation with forests. Young people in villages who know forests well were trained in forest guard schools on the scientific and technical issues of forestry, and these people were charged in the forests. These guards living together with the villagers could bring the villagers to put out the fire. In the recent years, persuading villagers to put out the fires has become rather difficult,” said Yumurtacı.
Intervention on the ground
So, have enough measures been taken to prevent forest fires? According to experts, important investments have been made to put out fires immediately. Despite this, the fires particularly in coastal regions and places with dense population cannot be prevented. The prevention of fires without becoming large especially in the Mediterranean and the Aegean regions is critically important.
Professor Tuncay Neyişçi, in his book titled ‘New Fire Fighting Techniques', emphasizes that rather than intervention with planes and helicopters, immediate ground intervention in the forest fires is crucial. “The green area reduced to ash in the countries with many planes is larger because the water putting out the flame is not greater than the flame enlarged by the wind from the plane,” said Neyişçi.
Politicians add fuel to the fire
Foresters' Association Chairman Mustafa Yumurtacı lists his suggestions to fight against forest fires. He particularly does not want politicians to come to the affected areas because their presence makes it more difficult for the fire fighters.
Foresters working in regions susceptible to fire should not change location often due to political savings, and should be posted for duty at one place for long durations of time. Given experience and the local cooperation, many fires can be prevented before becoming fully blown.
Ministers, ministry top executives, and governors without knowledge and experience concerning fires should not intervene in the work of fire fighters apart from providing logistical support. At times, their intervention actually inhibits the effective organizing of foresters and fire brigades, making fire extinguishing far more difficult.
The Forest Organization's force of forest guards should be reinforced as soon as possible. The closed schools for forest guards should be reopened, and implementations to have guards from forest villages should again be initiated. The young, facile and outstanding staff should be included in the primary intervention brigades.
For political reasons, people without necessary qualifications were nominated in the past. In recent years, the 1,200 people that were sent to Environment and Forestry Ministry from Telecom have been nominated as forest guards and have been expected to fight fire. Fire Research Centers should be built in the areas susceptible to fire, and the distribution of the staff should be arranged well when there is more than one fire.
78,000 fires in 60 years
According to the records of Environment and Forestry Ministry, there were 77,785 fires from 1937 until the end of 2006. An area of 1,563,847 hectares of forest was destroyed. Some 1,143 forest fires on average start annually in our country. The Ministry's 20,000 staff-members, 759,307 volunteers in 17,789 residential areas, and all troops in forest areas are actively fighting against the forest fires. In addition to six helicopters used in putting out the fires, 17 water-throwing helicopters hired for $4,650 a day have come into service. In the place where 17 helicopters are situated, there are 25 helicopter teams, each including 450 people for primary intervention. According to statistics, 80 percent of the forest fires start between June and October, and the most risky period is August.
APPLE PIE GRAPH
The distribution of forest fires according to causes
7 percent: Natural causes
93 percent: Human-based causes
The distribution of human caused fires
14 percent: Deliberately
56 percent: Negligence, inattention, accident
The research we conduct on forest fires has changed almost all of our previous knowledge. Many people including children willing to see helicopters and forest workers demanding to be on the permanent staff are involved in reducing the green areas to ash. The possibility of terrorism is little. The fire is put out best on the ground rather than with planes and helicopters
Our forests are burning furiously. By July 30, approximately 1,559 fires started destroying 6,352 hectares of forest areas. Some 58 percent of our forests are situated in the Mediterranean and the Aegean regions, where summers are hot and dry. Half of these forests consist of black pines and red pines, which are very susceptible to fire. The existence of fires is an ordinary irony of fate. On the other hand, each fire has a different story. Some forests are set on fire because of ‘obstinacy', some on ‘bet' and some other out of ‘wonder'. The proportion of the areas set on fire for annuity in tourism areas is not little. Moreover according to the Foresters' Association, the amount of the areas set on fire is much higher than what is announced.
Children's curiosity for helicopters
Prof. Dr. Nami Çağan, who worked for four years as the 57th government's Environment and Forestry Minister, has given interesting information regarding the forest fires. According to Çağan, some of the seasonal workers employed in the cleaning of the forest areas set the forests on fire in order to be on the permanent staff. Examples of this were seen in Milas and Bodrum fires, Çağan said. There is no evidence for any political motives behind setting the forest fires, and sabotage is considered the last possibility for the fires. However, Nami Çağan, includes children while listing profiles of fire setters and gives a strange example: “The fire around Ayvalık Şeytan Sofrası was started by the children in that area. If a fire occurs, the helicopters carrying water comes to extinguish it. The children wanting to see the helicopters started the fire in Ayvalık Şeytan Sofrası. A long while after the fire, Utku Acun, the governor of Balıkesir at that time, informed me that it had happened that way,” said Çağan. Another significant group of children likely to cause forest fires are those who are keeping smoking a secret from their families.
Former minister's another fire-raiser example is ‘obstinacy'. “We have found some evidence that in some of our areas, villagers start fires in order to prevent the allocation of forest areas to golf courses. When an area is burnt, it is not possible to turn it into golf course, according to the law. The most striking example of this occurred in Antalya. It was understood that the villagers had burnt a forest area to prevent its allocation to a large company. The forest was burnt, and the conversion of the area into a golf course was prevented.”
Mafia's 2/B lobbying
Prof. Dr. Nami Çağan is against the government's law draft, known as 2/B, defining the areas to lose their designated status as forests. “Mafia's biggest dream is the implementation of the 2/B law. While lobbying, the mafia tries to convince the government authorities that the state will earn approximately $25 billion as a result of this arrangement. This is an enormous lobbying effort. The mafia tries to lobby and persuade each government,” said Çağan.
The burnt area is more than announced
The fight with forest fires was very successful between 2003 and 2005, according to Environment and Forest Minister Osman Pepe. However, Turkey Foresters' Association Chairman Mustafa Yumurtacı does not agree with this opinion. “The existence of many huge forest fires and the loss of large forest areas in 2006 refuted the minister's claim. The ministry authorities have tried to disguise the actual figures about the burnt forest areas to protect the ministers. For instance, the area that was reduced to ash in 2006 as a result of Milas-Mumcular fire was reflected at first as 200 hectares and then increased to 400 and 600 hectares in the newspapers. It was confirmed that the actual figure was 3,526 hectares,” said Yumurtacı.
Meanwhile, according to Yumurtacı, there is adequate expert staff in the forest organization with scientific and technical knowledge about preventing fires. However, the real problem is the appropriate use and motivation of these qualified people. “The schools of forest guards, who live close to forests and provide the primary intervention to forest, were closed. The number of the forest guards has decreased and the remaining guards have been brought to big centers, resulting in their loss of relation with forests. Young people in villages who know forests well were trained in forest guard schools on the scientific and technical issues of forestry, and these people were charged in the forests. These guards living together with the villagers could bring the villagers to put out the fire. In the recent years, persuading villagers to put out the fires has become rather difficult,” said Yumurtacı.
Intervention on the ground
So, have enough measures been taken to prevent forest fires? According to experts, important investments have been made to put out fires immediately. Despite this, the fires particularly in coastal regions and places with dense population cannot be prevented. The prevention of fires without becoming large especially in the Mediterranean and the Aegean regions is critically important.
Professor Tuncay Neyişçi, in his book titled ‘New Fire Fighting Techniques', emphasizes that rather than intervention with planes and helicopters, immediate ground intervention in the forest fires is crucial. “The green area reduced to ash in the countries with many planes is larger because the water putting out the flame is not greater than the flame enlarged by the wind from the plane,” said Neyişçi.
Politicians add fuel to the fire
Foresters' Association Chairman Mustafa Yumurtacı lists his suggestions to fight against forest fires. He particularly does not want politicians to come to the affected areas because their presence makes it more difficult for the fire fighters.
Foresters working in regions susceptible to fire should not change location often due to political savings, and should be posted for duty at one place for long durations of time. Given experience and the local cooperation, many fires can be prevented before becoming fully blown.
Ministers, ministry top executives, and governors without knowledge and experience concerning fires should not intervene in the work of fire fighters apart from providing logistical support. At times, their intervention actually inhibits the effective organizing of foresters and fire brigades, making fire extinguishing far more difficult.
The Forest Organization's force of forest guards should be reinforced as soon as possible. The closed schools for forest guards should be reopened, and implementations to have guards from forest villages should again be initiated. The young, facile and outstanding staff should be included in the primary intervention brigades.
For political reasons, people without necessary qualifications were nominated in the past. In recent years, the 1,200 people that were sent to Environment and Forestry Ministry from Telecom have been nominated as forest guards and have been expected to fight fire. Fire Research Centers should be built in the areas susceptible to fire, and the distribution of the staff should be arranged well when there is more than one fire.
78,000 fires in 60 years
According to the records of Environment and Forestry Ministry, there were 77,785 fires from 1937 until the end of 2006. An area of 1,563,847 hectares of forest was destroyed. Some 1,143 forest fires on average start annually in our country. The Ministry's 20,000 staff-members, 759,307 volunteers in 17,789 residential areas, and all troops in forest areas are actively fighting against the forest fires. In addition to six helicopters used in putting out the fires, 17 water-throwing helicopters hired for $4,650 a day have come into service. In the place where 17 helicopters are situated, there are 25 helicopter teams, each including 450 people for primary intervention. According to statistics, 80 percent of the forest fires start between June and October, and the most risky period is August.
APPLE PIE GRAPH
The distribution of forest fires according to causes
7 percent: Natural causes
93 percent: Human-based causes
The distribution of human caused fires
14 percent: Deliberately
56 percent: Negligence, inattention, accident