The risk of forest fire increases: fire departments warn of catastrophic scenarios!

The risk of forest fire increases: fire departments warn of catastrophic scenarios!
Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Deutschland - The risk of forest fire in Germany has increased in recent years, above all due to the increasing temperatures in summer. Current fire events in Saxony and Thuringia impressively illustrate the problem, which is primarily due to the precipitation in winter and the drought in spring. Kai-Uwe Lohse, district fire chief in the Harz district, warns of "massive forest and vegetation fires", which cannot be ruled out in the current situation, such as mdr reported.
Most of the forest fires are caused by humans - no less than 98 percent. Hanspeter Mayr, spokesman for the Saxon Switzerland National Park, emphasizes the dangers of fire outdoors. Michael Müller, professor of forest protection at the TU Dresden, adds that no forest burns on its own; It is the people who make the situation dangerous. It is particularly worrying that the drought is reinforced by climate change, even if self -inflammation is required at least 300 degrees Celsius to unleash fire.
massive challenges for the emergency services
fire brigades have learned from bitter experience in recent years and have significantly improved their methods for fire monitoring and alarm technology. Nevertheless, the Saxony State Fire Brigade Association is fighting with a lack of materials: the costs for necessary equipment such as forest fire extinguishers and tank fire trucks have shot up. Deletion-compatible helicopters are in procurement, but there is also a need to catch up here, such as MDR reported.
The challenge is additionally tightened by climate change. Weather extremes such as storm and heavy rain events are more likely to be expected in the forecasts, which also increases the risk of forest fire, as an analysis of the world climate shows. A glaring scenario could be up to 5.4 degrees Celsius - a state that can further heat the risk of fire, as Review of the past years
The number of forest fires in Germany had decreased between 1991 and 2017, but in 2018 and 2019 there was a leaking increase due to extreme drought, especially in the northeastern federal states. In 2018, 1,708 fires were registered, which concerned 2,349 hectares of forest. Brandenburg was the greatest challenge with 512 fires and 1,674 hectares. Even in the event of a disaster in 2019, over 3,000 emergency services had to be mobilized, which shows the significant weaknesses in forest fire prevention and fighting, as the data of Environmental Bundesamt illustrate. Despite the challenges, Germany is well there in international comparison; The country is one of the pioneers in forest fire monitoring. The existing system has shown a positive trend in recent decades, even if the view remains rather challenging. The continuous improvement of the systems and the training of the emergency services are essential in order to be able to react better to the increasing dangers in the future.
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Ort | Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Deutschland |
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