Prevent wildfires

While wildfires can occasionally start naturally, for example by lightning, the vast majority are caused by people – either accidentally or deliberately.

Forest fires make up a small proportion of all incidents, but their impacts can be disproportionately large and costly.

This is because of the many benefits that forests provide and the long-time scales required to establish them.

Wildfire risk

For forests, fire risk is currently highest in:

• areas with high recreational pressure
• young trees
• forests with accumulations of dead vegetation
• areas adjacent to heathland or where muir burning takes place

The frequency and severity of wildfires in forests is increasing with climate change which increases in combination: 

• fuel loads – from:
  • longer growing seasons and milder winters which result in more vegetation build up
  • stressed, dead and dying trees unable to cope with climate change impacts
• dry and warm periods (spring and summer are the highest risk periods)
• visitor numbers – more people visit the countryside during high risk periods when the weather is dry and warm

Good forest planning can be used to reduce the risk and impact of fire, and enable an appropriate response should a fire occur.

The UK Forestry Standard includes a requirement that ‘Forests should be planned and managed to enhance their resilience and mitigate the risks posed to their sustainability by the effects of climate change or attack by pests or diseases.’ 

UK Forestry Standard (5th edition)

Make a contingency plan

A contingency plan should also be prepared to ensure that procedures are in place and can be enacted when unforeseen events occur, including forest fires.

Detailed guidance is provided in Forestry Commission (2014) Practice Guide 22: Building Wildfire Resilience into Forest Management Planning.

Building Wildfire Resilience into Forest Management

Our Information Note supports forest owners, planners, and managers in Scotland to implement this guidance in a Scottish context, to better:

• understand the wildfire risk to the forests they manage
• reduce this risk through good practice in forest design and planning

Forest planning to minimise wildfire risk in Scotland