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Author: Alexander Held

Bushfires, Wildfires and Damaging fires – Rinse and Repeat or Risk Reduction and Resilience?

Bushfires, Wildfires and Damaging fires – Rinse and Repeat or Risk Reduction and Resilience?

Published January 3, 2020 by Alexander Held

Dr. Peter F. Moore, Forestry Officer, Forest Fire Management & Disaster Risk Reduction, in the FAO-Forestry Department originates from Australia and posted the following statement in response to the ongoing wildfire crisis:

“In January 1994 there were four fire related deaths, hundreds of thousands of hectares burnt and fingers of fire crept into the city of Sydney.

  • Parliament, the cabinet and the coroner held inquiries and released reports on the reasons, causes of death and the possible means of avoiding the same problems in the future.

On Christmas Day 2001, the concerns of fire authorities in New South Wales were realised – in full measure. The lead-up to summer conditions had been drier than normal. December 25, 2001 was hot with temperatures well over 30C; very low humidity of less than 15 per cent; and winds from the west. These bush fires burnt nearly 700,000ha, with 115 houses and many other buildings destroyed and scores of others damaged.

  • And Parliament and the coroner held inquiries and released reports on the reasons and the causes …
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Der tote Taucher im Wald – Gedanken zur Feuerbekämpfung aus der Luft

Der tote Taucher im Wald – Gedanken zur Feuerbekämpfung aus der Luft

Published August 9, 2019 by Alexander Held

Vielleicht erinnert sich noch der ein oder andere an den Tatort „Der tote Taucher im Wald“. Ein Löschflugzeug schöpft Wasser, ein Taucher landet in einem Waldbrand…Die gegenwärtige Diskussion über Löschflugzeuge in Deutschland erinnerte mich jedenfalls daran.

Während wir schon jetzt bis August 2019 teilweise überraschende Ausmaße der Waldbrände feststellen müssen, wird kontrovers über den Umgang mit Feuer und den möglichen Löschmöglichkeiten diskutiert. Auch wir haben uns zum Thema integriertes Feuermanagement hier auf diesem Blog hinreichend geäußert und wollen nun auch zur Diskussion über Löschflugzeuge beitragen, im Folgenden ein paar Gedanken.

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Polish-German exchange on wildfire prevention

Polish-German exchange on wildfire prevention

Published July 23, 2019 by Alexander Held

Written by Michael Herrmann, ForestFireWatch and Alexander Held

„One firefighter within the first 15 minutes is worth more in the forest than 100 firefighters after an hour” – motto of Polish forest fire protection services, emphasizing the importance of initial attack

From 6-7 June 2019, Polish forest officers from the State Forests organization, firefighter and representatives of the Forest Research Institute met with members of the German volunteer organization “ForestFireWatch” for an exchange of knowledge and experience in Rzepin (Forest District), Poland. Main objective of the meeting was the exchange of experience in the field of wildfire prevention.

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rescEU put into practice!…partially.

rescEU put into practice!…partially.

Published July 3, 2019 by Alexander Held

The current heat wave does not only create a feeling of summer holidays but above all, it puts fire and rescue services as well as foresters on constant alert.

At the same time, the rescEU plan is getting into its next phase, which is good news. RescEU is the common European response to disasters by strengthening the EU’s collective ability to react.

Especially in consideration of the high risks of forest fires, the Commission has launched the first fleet of firefighting aircraft under the new rescEU systems, consisting of two aircraft from Croatia, one aircraft from France, two aircraft from Italy, two aircrafts from Spain, and six helicopters from Sweden. The Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides stated: “With rescEU, we have put words into action. We have delivered a practical tool for citizens that can save thousands of lives in the future. RescEU means having a much stronger, pan-European civil protection system.”

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Wald-Wild-Klima! In Brandenburg haben sich die Wildbestände seit 1957 mehr als verzehnfacht

Wald-Wild-Klima! In Brandenburg haben sich die Wildbestände seit 1957 mehr als verzehnfacht

Published June 21, 2019 by Alexander Held

Anlässlich des 10-jährigen Bestehens des Landesbetriebs Forst Brandenburg gratulierte Forststaatssekretärin Carolin Schilde in Ihrem Grußwort allen Verantwortlichen und betonte dabei die Bedeutung des Waldumbaus in Zeiten des Klimawandels.

Noch sind 500.000 ha des Brandenburger Waldes reine Kiefernbestände. Die Folgen der Kiefernreinwirtschaft seit ihrem Beginn vor über 200 Jahren werden auch erst in Generationen zu bewältigen sein. „Forstleute wissen, dass eine Beimischung von zirka zehn (Prozent) Laubholz bereits wesentlich dazu beiträgt, dass Massenvermehrungen von Kiefernschadinsekten einzudämmen. Uns allen muss klar sein, dass der aktive Waldumbau mit Fördermitteln keine flächendeckende Lösung sein kann“, fasste die Staatssekretärin zusammen.

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Congratulations and “Mission Success”!

Congratulations and “Mission Success”!

Published May 28, 2019 by Alexander Held

Since the 1st of April 2019, the School Forest Enterprise ‘Masaryk Forest’ of Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic has a new director, Prof. Dr. Tomáš Vrška. He is an instrumental person in forest policy who supported the EFI Risk Facility Initiative. Thanks to his snewr position, the Risk Facility network will have now also access to Brno University, the related forest enterprise and to the forestry contacts in the country. This development is of key value in the face of the bark beetle outbreak which has also affected Czech Republic.

Dr.  Vrška had been working for a long time as a head of department of forest ecology within the Research Institute ‘Silva Taroucy’ and partly as an academic staff member at the Department of Silviculture (Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology) at Mendel University in Brno, where he obtained his habilitation in the field of silviculture. He had also earlier worked as the head of forest care in National Park Podyjí.

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Wald-Wild Urteil aus Bayern / Silviculture and deer – an interesting verdict from Bavaria

Wald-Wild Urteil aus Bayern / Silviculture and deer – an interesting verdict from Bavaria

Published March 12, 2019 by Alexander Held

For English summary please scroll down.
Das höchste Bayerische Verwaltungsgericht hat im November 2018 ein höchstinteressantes Urteil gesprochen. Unter anderem sind drei sehr bedeutsame Positionen herausgearbeitet worden:

  1. Die Jagd hat eine dienende Funktion.
  2. Es gilt der Grundsatz “Wald vor Wild” auch für Eigenjagdbesitzer.
  3. Eine verlässliche Grundlage zur Aufstellung des Abschussplanes ist das “Forstliche Gutachten”.
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Sparking firesmart policies in the EU – let's train together!

Sparking firesmart policies in the EU – let's train together!

Published February 28, 2019 by Alexander Held

The European Commission recently published a report entitled: Forest Fires, Sparking firesmart policies in the EU.

Forest fires constitute a serious and increasing threat throughout Europe, particularly in Greece, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. Currently we are also observing more and more fires in the temperate zone of Central Europe. Despite a decreasing trend in the number of fires and areas burned, observed in some countries since the 1980s, larger and more damaging fires (i.e. ‘megafires’) are challenging the suppression capacities of many wildfire protection programmes across Europe.

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A Call from the US for the European Forest Risk Facility?

A Call from the US for the European Forest Risk Facility?

Published February 12, 2019 by Alexander Held

I was in Barcelona on Monday 11 February to participate in the EFIMED event Facing Forest Fires with EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides. The Commissioner explained his rescEU plan aiming at improving the European system to tackle natural disasters in more detail. Immediately, my earlier thoughts on this plan came back to mind: I still think rescEU might have the wrong focus, and we should allocate resources towards wildfire prevention rather than fire suppression.

Stylianides’ speech was followed by four contributions from science, practice and also the policy level. They all had a clear message, that coincides with our European Forest Risk Facility‘s vision (resilient landscapes – adapted communities – adequate response): Instead of more fire fighting aircraft (which is part of rescEU) emphasize must be given to landscape- and forest management, i.e. managing the fuel load, fuel availability, and fuel characteristics to enable safe and effective fire management. Often, this fuel management is addressed through the use of prescribed fire, especially in the Mediterranean.

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