news hour
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All over Southern Europe raging forest fires. There are many, they are intense and they started earlier than in other years.
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The year started dry and in the spring experts already saw that it could be a heavy burning season. Countries could therefore prepare for a while, but to really avoid the dangers of forest fires, Europe must deal with nature in a structurally different way, say forest fire experts. The Netherlands should also do a lot more on fire management.
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I am afraid that people will have to die before this topic gets high on the political agenda.
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We often still ask the wrong questions about fires, says wildfire researcher Cathelijne Stoof (Wageningen University & Research). “The main focus is on: what caused the flame? Is it dry, who started the fire? But the question that is almost never asked is: what could have caused the flame to cause such a large fire?”
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The answer to that question is often landscape management, says Stoof. Or rather the lack of it. “In Southern Europe there are large, deserted areas where people have moved from countryside to city. Hills are overgrown with plants, where fires thrive. Grasses and shrubs serve as ladders for the fire to climb to the tops of trees. Then the fire can no longer be controlled.”
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Pine forests more dangerous
Fires often start in dry pine forests where the bottom is full of highly flammable needles and branches, says Merijn van Leeuwen, forest fire expert at the World Wildlife Fund. “Eucalyptus trees are planted en masse in the Mediterranean because they grow very quickly and straight up. They are therefore very useful for the paper industry and for making poles, but they also draw all the moisture out of the ground.”
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Stoof emphasizes: wildfires don’t have to be bad at all. “Fires are natural processes. Some plants and animals even depend on fire from time to time. Wildfires only become dangerous when they come close to people, become very large and can no longer be controlled.”
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If a dangerous forest fire breaks out, the Dutch fire brigade can provide this kind of special forest fire vehicles Bet:
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This fire truck can extinguish forest fires while driving
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There are many things we can do to prevent dangerous wildfires, the experts say. The most important thing, according to Stoof: combating fire-sensitive overgrowth. “Remove bushes under trees and mow or graze areas.”
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What also works well, she says, is creating a so-called mosaic landscape. “Some woods here, some shrubs here, an olive grove there. In high-risk areas you consciously farm to prevent overgrowth and keep fires in places where they can’t hurt.”
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This approach does require people to return to the countryside. So there must be good facilities, such as roads, internet and schools. Stoof: “And that those people can earn their living by managing the landscape.”
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More extreme fires
So society as a whole has a role in this approach. Stoof calls it integrated fire management. “In the Netherlands, for example, we are experts in integrated water management; all partners involved from all different corners are working on water.”
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But our country is not yet in a good enough position when it comes to fire, says Stoof. “We have to take into account that extreme fires can also occur in the Netherlands.” Last year warned the fire brigade already forest fires in the Netherlands threaten to become uncontrollable due to climate change.
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There is currently phase 2, ‘extra alert’, in most security regions:
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Fire Department / News Hour
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According to wildfire expert Van Leeuwen, it is especially important that we manage forests differently. “Pine and spruce forests, which we also have a lot in the Netherlands, are becoming bone dry. You have to clean up branches on the ground there.”
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“This is not necessary with a varied deciduous forest, with oaks and linden trees and also shrubs below. So we have to think carefully whether we still want the plantations with pine trees, mainly intended for biomass installations and the wood industry, in the Netherlands.”
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And water management has to change, says Van Leeuwen. “We are now making ditches everywhere to drain water quickly. That’s great in March if you want to go into the forest with large machines. But in the summer you run the risk of fire due to drought.”
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‘Citizens should not do stupid things’
We ourselves also have an important role, says Stoof. “Every citizen is responsible for not doing stupid things. So don’t use a chainsaw in the forest on wildfire days, don’t park your car in tall grass and don’t use a weed burner.”
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Stoof argues in favor of one ministry becoming the official leader in fire management. “It is a complex subject, but it does not officially fall under any ministry. I am afraid that a disaster with deaths must first happen before this subject is high on the political agenda.”
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