Fire control management at the northern forests of Iran (Case Study: Golestan forest)

Forests as one of the important renewable natural resource play a vital role in maintaining the continuity of life and stability of ecosystems. Fires in forests and pastures destroy a vast part of the natural resources. Every year some of the forests in our country are destroyed in fire due to human negligence or natural causes. This study aimed to identify and analyze the most important factors affecting the fire control management at forests because the Golestan forest has had the most cases of fire and needs proper and effective fire control management. The research is descriptive-analytical. Data were collected using documentary and field methods and Swot model was used to determine the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats against the forests. To quantify the model, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model was used. The results of the study showed that. The measure of solidarity between devices with final weight (0/117), the measure of identifying the different parts of the forest and capabilities with final weight (0/099), the measure of constructing forest roads network with final weight (0/087) in opportunity group were identified as the most important factors influencing the fire control management at forests. Finally, some strategies are presented in order to deal with fire control management.