Too few water tanks and maps from the 70s sometimes make life difficult for rescue workers
The President of the German Fire Brigade Association (DFV), Karl-Heinz Banse, calls for a better infrastructure and a revision of the forest fire maps to better prepare for forest fire operations. Germany is quite capable of extinguishing forest fires, but the system can be expanded in certain areas. “In some areas of Germany there are no corresponding open bodies of water from which the fire brigade can take extinguishing water. The infrastructure for water tanks must be expanded here,” Banse told the editorial network Germany (RND).
The access routes for fire engines are often in poor condition. A problem, since many heavy fire engines of the fire brigade are not designed for the terrain. That would require special vehicles, says Banse.
Orientation in the forest is often not easy for the fire brigades either. “We need forest fire maps that reflect the current status.” Such maps are used by the fire brigade to locate extinguishing water tanks, extinguishing ponds or access routes in the event of forest fires, for example. Currently, however, many maps are still from the 1970s. Some of the forest paths listed there are no longer passable or have become overgrown.
“These paths have to be repaired so that the fire brigades can drive on them and more extinguishing ponds are needed.” This is particularly difficult in national parks due to the strict rules there. “You have to find compromises here to create ways to extinguish the fire.” Roads and villages would also be in such areas.
Nature conservation often comes into conflict with fire protection. This is also the case, for example, with the current forest fires in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains near Bad Schandau in Saxony: “There is a lot of dead wood in the forest here, actually because the forest should help itself and renature itself,” reports Jan Südmersen from the Osnabrück fire brigade. “Of course, the dead wood now means that there is a lot more effort involved in extinguishing the fire.” Südmersen is a forest fire expert with a team on site.
A poor road network and outdated maps are also so dangerous because they slow down the extinguishing work. And when it comes to forest fires, every second counts, as Ulrich Cimolino, chairman of the forest fire working group at the DFV, knows. According to Cimolino, he explains the technical possibilities to fight a forest fire. “If you are very quick, the fire can be extinguished with water as the fire develops.” But if that doesn’t succeed, you need a lot more water and often support from agriculture and forestry is then necessary. And if it is not possible to extinguish the fire at this level, there is a risk of a full fire.
“If the wind is still blowing and the fire is running uphill, you have to rely on natural or artificial water sources or obstacles.” Then you need lakes, rivers or canals as water sources – or artificially created obstacles such as roads or fire protection strips.
