Perspectives of Forest Fire Response Workers on the Challenges Faced During Forest Fire Suppression
2024
Safak, Ismail | Okan, Taner | Karademir, Devrim
In this research, the perspectives of forest fire response workers engaged in forest fire suppression operations in Turkey were gathered regarding the challenges encountered during firefighting incidents. A survey was administered to 651 workers operating within 72 forest management directorates under the jurisdiction of 21 regional forest directorates in Turkey. Respondents, using a nine-point scale, provided feedback to survey inquiries. The study employed Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann-Whitney U tests to analyze potential statistical variances among the viewpoints of forest fire response workers across the five fire sensitivity zones. The average age and tenure of workers were recorded as 34.1 years and 8.8 years, respectively. A majority (65.4%) of these workers possessed a minimum of a high school education, and 55% were married. Workers indicated that the adequacy of personnel and teams was moderately satisfactory, while extended work hours were perceived to moderately impede productivity. Workers highlighted the significance of watchtowers, cameras, remote monitoring initiatives, and additional surveillance and patrol operations in high fire-risk areas for early detection of forest fires. Measures aimed at regulating public access to and from forest and recreational areas were deemed highly important by the workers. Nevertheless, issues related to task allocation, communication, and coordination were not deemed significant in the current context with regard to combating forest fires.
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