If fire gets you at home you’ll most likely know what to do by simply following your instincts. Unfortunately, situation is far more difficult when it comes to forest fire. Each year thousands of miles of forestland get burned, trapping thousands of people worldwide. Forest fire is capable of traveling faster then 60 miles per hour, which is obviously faster then a person can run. Often there are pockets of smaller fires ahead of the main calamity, which merging could trap people leaving very small chance of escape. So if you’re trying to overdrive or overrun a forest fire it may still catch you where it has already cut off the road. On top of it wildfires are capable of jumping across nearly any natural bare area like road, stream or wasteland. Thus as you can probably see almost every forest fire situation is complex and unique. Therefore to survive a forest fire all necessary information needs to be carefully studied in order make the right decision within few minutes or even seconds you may have.

• Your best chance of escaping forest fire would be moving through relatively open area. Such as road, stream or plowed field. In other words the idea is to travel unhindered by vegetation.
• In case if you’re able to choose your moving direction, there are few things you should certainly keep in mind. Forest fires travel faster uphill than downhill. Evergreen trees burn much faster rather deciduous trees. Dead, dry vegetation areas can virtually explode into flames as the forest fire progresses. So you may be able to outpace the advance of the fire by choosing the right direction to follow.
• If there is a river or lake around position yourself so it would cover as much of your body as possible.
• If you’re trapped, the first thing to do would be getting to an area with little burnable vegetation. Do not hesitate to take all and any precautions possible. For instance, you can find or even dig a ditch, taking the additional protection from the forest fire and smoke. Curl up into a ball, cover yourself with coat or blanket and breathe through clean piece of clothing (preferably wet).
• Just like during any other fire emergency try to stay as low as possible in order to get maximum protection from hot air and toxic smoke. If you got caught in fire - do not run; “stop, drop and rock and roll” (gently drop on the ground and roll back and forward until fire is gone).

Wet the roof and remove all flammable objects from outside in case you’re protecting your home form forest fire. You can use a hose or any other appliances. However always know when to fight the fire, and when to make a run for it.