Topical scientific and practical issues of wildland fire problem

Problem of wildfires has not been resolved anywhere in the world. Mere increase of technical power does not lead to desirable results. Forests of developed countries burn as actively as those in Africa or in Russia. The main reasons of wildfire problem are as follows: (1) Constant wandering of dry seasons over the planet causing outbreaks of wildfires. (2) Unpredicted self-development of ordinary wildfires into awful fire disasters. (3) Difficulties in delivery and use of heavy machines on hardly accessible territories. (4) Absence of a perfect technique for economic evaluation of how effectively the wildfire control system works. (5) Absence of the system of payments encouraging wildfire fighters. To solve the problem of wildfires in Russia it is necessary to: (1) Create the Russian wildfire behaviour and fire effects prediction system on the basis of the developed classification of vegetation fuels and methods of their mapping as well as maximum utilization of forest inventory information and Geographic Information System (GIS). (2) Elaborate a technique of proper wildfire monitoring including estimation of vegetation damage. (3) Improve daily rating of regional fire danger. (4) Improve fire-preventive arrangement of the territory covered by vegetation, the main goal being creation of favourable conditions for active fire management. (5) Choose the main direction in elaboration of fire-fighting means and methods taking into account their universality, simplicity, reliability, etc. (6) Elaborate an improved technique for estimation of economic effectiveness of the wildfire control system. (7) Develop international cooperation of scientists and professionals in fire management.