– This year is unique. Behind us is already behind us Four times more forest fires than a year ago at this time – said Karol Kierzkowski, spokesman for the Chief Commander of the State Fire Service at a press conference before May. The fire brigade together with the State Forests warn against fire risk and call for reason. Because there are most people behind the fires.
– It is easy to imagine that the upcoming warm days will bring a high risk. In such conditions, even a spark can cause a fire – emphasized Kierzkowski. In turn, Jerzy Fijas, deputy general director of the State Forests, pointed out that Poland is in third place in the European Union – in Spain and Portugal – in terms of risk of fires in forests. Fijas assured that the forest protection system against fire is effective – which is shown by the low average fire surface – but A lot depends on the people who stay in the forests. And also from the conditions, and these are more and more favorable to the fires.
The lack of snow dries forests
What is the drought prevailing in Poland? – We had virtually snowy winterand this snow is the largest water reservoir during this period. Spring is also rather warm and dry – said Maciej Lipka from the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Szczecin.
Leek They clearly see the effects of climate warming, which – as they emphasize – “it is not a fantasy or invention.” As the average temperature increases, winter is getting warmer, the snow cover is shorter, and with this we lose water supply. The rain does not replace snowrainwater – especially with heavy rainfall – flows down to a large extent, while melting snow gradually releases it into the ground.
Artur Dawidziuk, the forest inspectorate of the Celestynów Forest District near Warsaw.
In places where water should stand or flow at this time of year, it is dry. Swamps and wetlands are dry. The soil resembles dust. Fortunately, we quickly managed to end the annual renewal of the forest, because now it would be difficult with it
– he mentioned.
Large part Polish forests are pine forests. These grow on weak soils and are quite susceptible to fires. And the changing climate additionally weakens pine, it “attacks” her mistletoe more and more. “Mistletoe takes a lot of water, it can weaken it very much,” said the forester. He added that as part of limiting the effects of drought, the forest inspectorate puts valves that limit water flow, forms retention tanks.
The effects of drought can be seen in data on fires. This year there were already 1894 forest fires, In this in the State Forests – up to 644 fires with a total area of 157.86 ha. This is up to four times more than in the same period in 2024, and the total area of the fires is already 4.5 times larger than a year ago. The only good news is that the fires managed to master relatively early, and their medium area was small.
Fight against fire
Poland has an extensive system of prevention and fire fighting in forests. – He underwent total modernization after 1992 – says Maciej Lipka from RDLP Szczecin. In the summer of 1992 in the province Śląski there was the greatest forest fire in the post -war history of Poland. The fire not only consumed 9062 hectares of forest – two firefighters were killed on duty, as well as one bystander.
Foresters repeat that time in the fight against fire is time. As Jerzy Fijas said, a fire burning for an hour requires the involvement of 100 firefighters more than one detected in the bud.
Therefore, the attitude of the fight against forest fires is to prevent and detect. The first depends largely on us – visitors to the forests. Although the drought creates conditions for the spread of fire, it appears most often by human actions.
We hear from both foresters and firefighters that cigarette butts are one of the biggest problems. There are illegal bonfires in the forest (fire can only be burned in designated places) or intentional arson, sometimes resulting from a stupid joke. Every year, the police stop even a dozen arsonists.
But a typical scenario is a cigarette butt, thrown out of the car, train or when stopping in a forest parking lot. – Such a driver can already be 50 km away and not even realize that this cigarette butt will smudge and with a strong gust of the wind will cause a fire – say forest guard officers.
However, the cigarette butt will not light the litter if it is wet in the forest. Therefore, in 60 places in Poland, the humidity of the litter is measured twice a day. A special device shows the water content in the sample. On this basis, it is created map fire hazards, and it depends on this data whether it is forbidden to enter the forest. This is introduced when the humidity measured at 9:00 is below 10 percent. The sample measured during a press conference in the Celestynów Forest District had 8 percent. humidity.
A network is another element of the fire forest fire forest system 719 observation points – noticeable. LP also has dromeder firefighting aircraft, and more and more often tools based on new technologies.
Drones for fires
Detection and fire protection are based primarily on people, but these are increasingly supported by technology.
Earlier, employees who watched the forest over the crowns of trees from the summit, looking for a trace of smoke from the top, stayed on all visibles. Now, in most employees of the employees on the towers, they have replaced cameras that allow you to follow the image remotely. Recently, he is starting to support them artificial intelligence.
For example, in the forest districts of the Szczecin Regional Directorate of State Forests, smoke detection is supported by sensors using artificial intelligence tools. Their “field of view” is 360 degrees, and the information allows you to direct the camera to the right place. Algorithms can also learn to ignore, for example, smoke from the chimney of the house.
In the area, foresters use drones. As Maciej Lipka from RDSF Szczecin points out, the foresters' patrol at the ground level in a dense forest may not see more than several dozen meters. Using the drone, they drastically increase the field of view. This is important not only for detecting fires, but also their safety – it can avoid unconsciously entering the area covered by fire.
The fire brigade also uses drones to observe fires. Those with thermal imaging cameras can be particularly useful – in the case of bog fire, fire and smoke can be invisible, but the image from such a drone will detect an underground fire.
Nature gives advice, people – not necessarily
– Thanks to the fact that we manage to master fires quickly, the damaged area is small. Life temporarily dies there, but it begins to revive quite quickly – explained the forester Artur Dawidziuk. In such a place, the fire burns litter, but adult trees are able to survive. Small animals, insects die, but the burned area is inhabited by those from the neighboring parts of the forest.
This reconstruction of nature occurs provided that the fires are not too large and above all – too common. Unfortunately, with the progress of climate change, we do not have such a guarantee, and the fire of a huge part of the forest or repeated in a short distance would be a much greater challenge for nature. But above all, fires are a problem for man.
First of all – they are direct danger, both for bystanders staying in the forest and all participating in the firefighting action. – For example, during the last fire in Biebrza National Park Firefighters had to run away many times because of too much smoke – said the spokesman of the PSP. In addition, if the fire reaches built -up areas, it can also threaten residents.
Fires also cause economic losses. Firefighting actions themselves are huge costs. As a result of the fire, tourism may suffer, because the area becomes less attractive or even dangerous. If the economic forest burned down, local enterprises from the wood industry may have problems.