Forest fires

Large forest fires blazed in eastern Germany in 2022. Despite the sometimes very high risk of forest fires, Bavaria was spared any very large fires, although there were fires again and again, especially in northern Bavaria.

In Switzerland, fires caused by lightning occur almost exclusively in mountainous areas, with their frequency decreasing from south to north. Prolonged summer drought is by far the most important predisposing factor for fires caused by lightning. The Jura and the Central Plateau could therefore also be affected in the future.

Forest fires in Central Europe usually arise from careless actions rather than from natural events. They cause significant damage throughout Europe each year. This handbook provides information about predicting, preventing and fighting forest fires.

Climate change is talked about a lot nowadays. Institutions are trying to find possibilities to comply with the 2°C-target to keep climate change in a tolerable dimension. This article is supposed to depict the correlation between climate change and increasing wildfire risk.

Forest fire warning levels provide information about the risk of forest fire and help implement the appropriate prevention measures.

Forest fires seldom occur naturally. They can usually be traced back to human activities. This article provides an overview of the causes and behaviour of forest fires as well as high risk areas.

The early detection of forest fires can significantly reduce the extent of damage. Today this means using the most up-to-date technical equipment.

What types of fire fighting methods can be applied to different sorts of forest fires and what does a successful operational plan look like? These questions, essential for safely and successfully fighting a forest fire, are answered in this article.

Fighting a forest fire is hard manual labour. Heavy machinery and helicopters are also deployed. In this article a fire crew?s equipment, their fire fighting options and required resources are presented.

This article provides information about possible means of financial support and legal regulations in Germany and Austria as well as responsibilities of forest owners to assist in forest fire prevention.

The damages caused by forest fires involve not only capital losses, but also reforestation and fire fighting costs. Various means are available to forest owners to cope with the financial impacts of such damaging events.

Silvicultural measures such as forest conversion from a pine monoculture or creating fire breaks and protective strips with fire retardant vegetation significantly reduce the risk of forest fire.