Tag: forest fires

Humans Brought Fire to a Fireless Amazon and Reshaped It for 10,000 Years

Glacial- period (Last Glacial and earlier Pleistocene) paleoecological records from Amazonia and adjacent areas show that fire was rare or absent before human arrival, supporting the interpretation that Amazonian wet forests evolved largely without fire.

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New research shows that fire in the Amazon rainforest over the past 10,000 years has been almost exclusively human- driven, not a natural process, and has substantially shaped modern forest composition.

The study, “The pyrogeography of Amazonia: a Holocene perspective” by Crystal N. H. McMichael and colleagues (including Mark B. Bush), was published in June 2026 in the open-access journal Frontiers of Biogeography.

It is based on a compilation and analysis of 1,361 radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dates from 303 sites, covering soil charcoal fragments and burned archaeological materials.

Fire is essentially human- ignited in these wet forests. Pre- human (glacial- period) paleoecological records show charcoal absent or present only in minute amounts.

Examples include sites such as the Hill of Six Lakes (Brazil), Serra Sul dos Carajás, and especially the Campo Libre core on Ecuador’s Andean slopes, which recorded ~30,000 years without fire until humans arrived around 4,500 years ago. Researchers describe human arrival as introducing fire to a “naïve landscape” of evolutionarily fire-sensitive plants.

Spatiotemporal spread of fire (Holocene phases):

  • ~10,000- 6,000 years ago: Highly restricted, mainly in peripheral areas and along the main Amazon River channel.
  • ~6,000- 4,000 years ago: Rapid geographic expansion across most regions, coinciding with early maize cultivation in northwestern and southwestern Amazonia.
  • ~3,000- 2,000 years ago: Fire reached the deep interior (central Amazonia had been a relative fire-free refuge for millennia).

Decline in the last ~700 years (two phases): An initial drop ~600- 700 years ago supports an “early abandonment” or major pre- Columbian land- use shift (linked to a pollen surge indicating reforestation in some lake records). A larger decline followed the post- 1541 “Great Dying” (estimated 90- 95% Indigenous population loss from disease, warfare, and enslavement after European contact), reducing ignitions and allowing further forest recovery.

Ecological legacy: Intensified human- driven fire over the last ~2,000 years caused vegetation changes on a scale comparable to major climatic events (e.g., deglaciation or Pleistocene megafauna extinctions). It selectively favored more fire- tolerant species (such as certain palms) over fire-sensitive ones, leaving a lasting imprint on today’s plant communities.

This work challenges the long- standing idea of a largely “pristine” pre- Columbian Amazon.

Fire histories were not fully synchronous across regions, but the overall pattern of human introduction, expansion from periphery to interior, and later declines is clear from the summed probability distributions and related analyses of the dated materials.

The paper is open access via the journal (Pensoft and Frontiers of Biogeography).

The findings align with broader evidence that natural lightning- ignited fires are rare in intact humid Amazonian forest, while human activity has long been the dominant ignition source.

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Glacial- period (Last Glacial and earlier Pleistocene) paleoecological records from Amazonia and adjacent areas show that fire was rare or absent before human arrival, supporting the interpretation that Amazonian wet forests evolved largely without fire.

These records come primarily from lake and wetland sediment cores analyzed for charcoal (macroscopic and microscopic), pollen, phytoliths, and other proxies. Key examples cited in the 2026 pyrogeography paper and supporting studies include:

Campo Libre (eastern Andean slopes, Ecuador, ~2,700 m elevation)

  • A ~30,000- year sediment core from an alluvial terrace in a mid- elevation valley of the Quijos River.
  • No macroscopic charcoal was found in 122 samples spanning the full record.
  • Microscopic charcoal was also absent in samples dating between ~12,000 and 30,000 cal yr BP.
  • Fire (regional microscopic charcoal) first appears only around ~3,300- 3,400 cal yr BP, with clear human signals (maize phytoliths) beginning ~4,500- 4,700 cal yr BP.
  • The site underwent major vegetation shifts driven by climate and river dynamics (e.g., from active floodplain to palm forest around the Pleistocene- Holocene transition, then back toward swampier conditions), but these occurred without fire until humans arrived.

Hill of Six Lakes (northwestern Brazilian Amazon)

  • Multiple long lake records (e.g., Lakes Pata, Verde, Dragão, and more recent work on Lake Malachite) spanning up to ~170,000 years or the full deglacial period.
  • Charcoal is rare and present only in very low abundances (often tiny microparticles <40- 80 μm, consistent with distant sources) during glacial times.
  • The landscape remained continuously forested (with compositional shifts due to cooler temperatures, ~4- 5°C colder at the Last Glacial Maximum). Fire increases notably only in the Holocene, sometimes linked to possible early human activity around ~10,200 cal yr BP in newer records.

Serra Sul dos Carajás (southeastern Amazonia, Brazil)

  • Lake and bog records from this drier, plateau, ecotone region covering the last ~25,000- 26,000 years.
  • Charcoal was absent or present only in very low amounts in some locations until the deglacial period and onset of the Holocene.
  • Where glacial- period fire occurred, abundances were much lower than during the Holocene. Fires became more frequent during climatic transitions (e.g., dry- to- wet shifts around 11,000- 10,200 years ago) and later under seasonal conditions, with possible early human influence in the Holocene.

Additional context from related sites

  • Rainforest- savanna ecotones in Bolivia show very low and infrequent glacial- period fire.
  • Even in more fire- prone high Andean settings, pre-human charcoal levels are described as “miniscule” compared with post- human levels.

Natural (lightning- driven) fire was exceptional in these wet tropical systems.

Glacial climates were often cooler and, in many areas, drier or more seasonal, yet charcoal remained scarce.

This contrasts sharply with the Holocene, when human ignition dramatically increased fire frequency and spatial extent.

Amazonian plants are therefore largely evolutionarily fire- sensitive, making the introduction of regular anthropogenic burning a novel and transformative disturbance.

These glacial records form a critical baseline for the argument that Holocene pyrogeography in Amazonia is overwhelmingly human- driven.

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The pyrogeography of Amazonia: a Holocene perspective

The pyrogeography of Amazonia: a Holocene perspective is a 2026 open-access research article, published in Frontiers of Biogeography.

Fire in Amazonian forests rarely (if ever) ignites or spreads without human activity. Humans introduced fire to a previously “naïve” (fire- sensitive) landscape beginning in the late Pleistocene, early Holocene.

The study reconstructs the spatiotemporal patterns of this human- driven fire (pyrogeography) over the last ~10,000 years using a large compilation of radiocarbon dates.

Data and methods

Compiled 1,361 radiocarbon (¹⁴C) AMS dates from 303 sites across Amazonia (after excluding 32 modern dates post-1950, analyses focused on 1,329 dates spanning the last ~12,000 years).

Sources: individually dated charcoal fragments from soil surveys (paleoecological) and burned archaeological materials (described as charcoal or charred).

New dates added from soil charcoal in northwestern and southwestern Amazonia.

Analyses: summed probability distributions (SPDs), composite kernel density estimations (CKDEs), and regional permutation tests.

Regions examined (following ter Steege et al. 2013): northwestern (WAN), southwestern (WAS), central (CA), eastern (EA), southern (SA) Amazonia, and Guiana Shield (GS).

Main results

Earliest fires were concentrated in peripheral areas and along the main Amazon River channel (~10,000–6,000 years ago).

Geographic expansion accelerated ~6,000- 4,000 years ago (linked in part to early maize cultivation), with fire reaching the deep interior (including central Amazonia) mainly ~3,000- 2,000 years ago.

Peak fire likelihood occurred roughly 1,300- 500 cal BP (AD 700-1450).

Two-phase decline in the last ~700 years:

  • First decrease ~700- 500 years ago (supports “early abandonment” or major pre- Columbian land- use change/reforestation, consistent with some pollen records).
  • Second, larger decline after European contact (~AD 1541 onward), corresponding to the “Great Dying” (estimated 90- 95% Indigenous population loss).

Fire histories show some regional variation and are not fully synchronous, but the overall basin- wide pattern of peripheral- to- interior spread followed by later declines is robust.

The intensification and spread of human- ignited fire over the last ~2,000 years induced vegetation change at rates and magnitudes comparable to major climatic shifts (e.g., deglaciation or Pleistocene megafauna extinctions).

This selectively favored more fire- tolerant species (notably some palms) and left a lasting imprint on the composition and structure of modern Amazonian forests.

The work synthesizes and expands prior archaeological and paleoecological databases.

It reinforces that natural (lightning- driven) fire was exceptional in these wet forests before human arrival, as shown by glacial- period records with absent or minimal charcoal (e.g., Campo Libre, Ecuador: ~30,000 years without fire until humans appeared ~4,500 years ago).

The findings challenge notions of a largely pristine pre- Columbian Amazon and highlight the long- term role of Indigenous fire management in shaping today’s ecosystems.

The full paper is freely available via the journal site (Pensoft).

A contemporaneous press release from Pensoft Publishers summarized these results under the headline “Human- driven fires have shaped the Amazonian forest for over 10,000 years.”

Published: Frontiers of Biogeography (volume 19, e169863)

DOI: 10.21425/fob.19.169863

Authors: Crystal N. H. McMichael, Britte M. Heijink, Nina H. Witteveen, Annabel Zwarts, Mark B. Bush

Abstract

Amazonian forest fires rarely, if ever, ignite and spread in the absence of humans. The first colonization of people into South America happened in the late Pleistocene, and by 10,000 years ago, humans had introduced fire into a naive landscape. Here we build on previous databases of burned 14C dated archaeological material and 14C dated charcoal fragments retrieved from soils and reconstruct spatiotemporal patterns of fire in Amazonia for the last 10,000 years. We ask whether fire histories are regionally synchronous, and whether major demographic events such as the ‘Great Dying’ or ‘Early abandonment’ appear in the fire histories within or between regions. We found that most of the earliest fires occurred in the peripheral areas and spread into central Amazonian forests mostly around 2000–3000 years ago. The frequency and recurrence of burned 14C dated material also showed a two-phase decline over the last 700 years. Most regions show a decrease in fire occurrence ca. 700–500 years ago and then again during the last 400 years when European influence spread across Amazonia. The restructuring of Amazonian pyrogeography over the last 2000 years has likely played a large role in shaping modern forests.

The California fires are not climate

Here we go. . . First, climate change does cause forest fires. That isn’t how this works. Fires require an ignition source and fuel.

From CFACT

By Chris Martz

To Senator Sanders:

Hi there Colonel Sanders. 

Do you like facts? 

I hope you do, because you’re about to be sacked with some. 

Here we go. . . First, climate change does cause forest fires. That isn’t how this works. Fires require an ignition source and fuel. 

Ignition sources may be natural (e.g., lightning) or it can be man-made (e.g., by accident from improperly disposed cigarette butts, improperly discarded pellet / wood stove ash, an out-of-control campfire or fallen power lines, or perhaps even intentionally by arson). But, climate change is not one of them.

The origin of the Pacific Palisades fire hasn’t been determined. But what is known is that it is being fueled by dried out vegetation and is being stoked by Santa Ana Winds (SAWs) with hurricane-force wind gusts. These winds are a byproduct of a tight horizontal pressure gradient between a tropospheric ridge situated over the Great Basin and a cut-off low spinning over Baja California. Southwesterly downslope flow accelerated by a tight gradient can easily dry out vegetation, especially small-diameter fuels like twigs and leaves, priming a forest for a fire should one be ignited.

While the warming atmosphere — and, for sake of argument, we will assume that it is entirely due to mankind’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — might make weather conditions more conducive for forest fires in Southern California, there is yet to be an established “consensus” on exactly how fires will change in the region with increased global warming. The reason for this is because air temperature during the event and precipitation deficits over the preceding weeks and/or months aren’t the only — or necessarily even the most important — factors in fire burn area (e.g., Keeley et al., 2021).

Keeley et al. (2021) found that all SAW-driven fires in Southern California that occurred between 1948 and 2018 had a human ignition source. While the majority between 1948 and 1983 were linked to campfires, arson and powerline failures have been the dominant cause since 1984. These results are similar to those in Balch et al. (2017), which found that 97% of fires in Southern (Mediterranean) California were caused by a human ignition source between 1992 and 2012.

https://t.co/kVDV76QmAl

According to Keeley et al. (2021),

The maximum temperature during SAW-driven fires ranged from 42.6-95.4°F (5.9-35.2°C). For January, these values ranged from 44.1-81.1°F (6.7-27.3°C). With a statistical t-test, they found that fires that burned over 1,000 hectares (2,471.05 acres) were not linked to higher-than-average air temperatures, and this also held true for very large fires burning >5,000 hectares (12,355.27 acres). Only 5-20% of the variation in area burned during winter is explained by air temperature.

Precipitation surplus / deficits in the week before a SAW event also did not play a significant role in the incidence and severity of wind-driven fires in the area between 1948 and 2018. This is largely because small-diameter fuels like twigs and leaves will dry out quickly when the weather conditions change.

The study concludes that 75% of SAW events do result in forest fires.

Rather, more human ignitions increase the likelihood that a fire escapes containment and becomes a large destructive fire, regardless of air temperature or soil / fuel moisture conditions both preceding and during a fire event. So, while rising air temperature and lower precipitation can increase fire risk in the future, it is a very small part of the bigger picture.

Keeley et al. (2021) concludes that,

“ ℎ ℎ ℎ ℎ .”

What’s more, it is unclear at this point in time exactly how SAW events will change in response to a warming climate.

One study, Rolinski et al. (2019), has found a recent observational increase in SAW days over the past two decades and links this to increased jet stream ridging patterns in California.

https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/wefo/34/2/waf-d-18-0160_1.xml

However, Guzman-Morales & Gershunov (2019) finds that a weakening of the southwest pressure gradient that drives these SAWs in their global climate models (GCMs) in response to GHG forcing on the climate system, although the trends are diminished in the late autumn and winter months.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GL080261

So, there’s quite a bit of uncertainty here.

There is evidence of some influence of GHG forcing on creating a more favorable fire weather environment in Southern California in recent decades.

However, burn area associated with SAW events isn’t very dependent on the air temperature during the fire, and antecedent precipitation and fuel moisture aren’t very critical either. This is because downslope airflow is sufficient enough to dry out most vegetation in just a matter of hours, creating a tinderbox should a forest be set ablaze. And, how SAW evolve with a changing climate is unclear.

But, placing powerlines underground can significantly reduce fire risk in the future, and having better forest management (e.g., controlled burning and mechanical thinning of underbrush) will as well.

Climate change is real, but grifters like Senator Bernie Sanders need to stop pinning every natural disaster that happens on it, and using these crises as a crutch to advance their political agendas. Junk science is bad for policymaking and leads to ineffective solutions to the challenges facing society.

Originally published at Chris Martz Twitter

Who sets forests on fire?

The topic of forest fires takes place regularly in this blog. You can actually set the clock according to it, whenever there is a fire, especially in Germany, then climate change is brought out. It gets really bad in summer, because it is more or less suggested that high temperatures set the forest on fire by themselves. Of course, this is complete nonsense. Even in midsummer, temperatures are not reached that mean spontaneous ignition.

From Klimanachrichten

By KlimaNachrichten Editor

The topic of forest fires takes place regularly in this blog. You can actually set the clock according to it, whenever there is a fire, especially in Germany, then climate change is brought out. It gets really bad in summer, because it is more or less suggested that high temperatures set the forest on fire by themselves. Of course, this is complete nonsense. Even in midsummer, temperatures are not reached that mean spontaneous ignition.

Forests burn particularly well when there has been no precipitation for a long time. So it must be dry. And it burns when people are out and about in the forest who deliberately or negligently set it on fire. Natural sources are almost completely ruled out as a cause of fire in our country. There are almost always people involved, whatever the motives may be.

RBB has an interesting story about arson in the forests of Brandenburg. The state has to contend with an additional difficulty. There are numerous former military training areas there. Extinguishing work on ammunition-contaminated soil is life-threatening. While fires can be extinguished well in normal forests, this is not possible due to danger to life and limb if ammunition is lying around.

The really remarkable thing about this series of arsons in the Löwenburg region is not how it took place – but that it was solved. 

According to statistics from the State Forestry Office, there are indications that around 400 of about 1,800 forest fires have occurred in Brandenburg since 2019 that the fires were set intentionally. “On average, this proportion is around 20 to 25 percent of all forest fires per year,” explains Brandenburg’s forest fire protection officer Raimund Engel in an interview with rbb|24. In many cases, police investigations have been underway for years. 

It is likely that some arsons are not even included in the statistics as such, says Engel. “Only if there are concrete indications of arson do we state ‘suspicion of intent’.” Witness statements or suspicious objects that forensic technicians find at the scene of the escape can tip the scales. According to Engel, firefighters and forensic technicians have already found hairspray cans, matches or suspiciously placed barbecue lighters on the fire areas. Without such traces, the cases often disappear into the category of “unknown cause” – since 2019, 650 cases. 

According to the Brandenburg police, it is difficult to say how often it is possible to catch and charge arsonists in forests. Such information could not be queried individually, as arson in forests would not be recorded separately from other arsons, it said. 

The Fires in Greece Are More Likely to Have Been Caused by Arsonists Than Global Warming

The more likely cause of the fires in Greece is arson. Firefighters in Rhodes have indicated arson may be to blame, while local officials in Corfu say the fires in Corfu were started by arsonists.

From The Daily Sceptic

By TOBY YOUNG

Ross Clark has written a good piece for the Spectator’s Coffee House blog pointing out that 2023 has not been an unusually bad year for forest fires in Europe and, according to Nasa satellite date, the number of forest fires globally actually fell by about 25% between 2001 and 2015. Here’s how it begins:

Summer wouldn’t be complete without hordes of disgruntled British tourists being evacuated from their hotels, flown home early or spending their holidays sprawled on the floor of an international airport. But are the scenes of Rhodes really a symptom of a the world ‘being on fire’, as Greta Thunberg would put it?

Actually, in spite of scenes of burning forests on Rhodes and elsewhere being presented daily on our television screens, 2023 has not been a devastating year for forest fires in Europe. Data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which covers the EU, shows that it has been an average year to date – with an early burst of fires in the spring followed by less activity since then.

It is a similar story with wildfires globally. A 2016 study published in a Royal Society journal using Nasa satellite data surprised many people by revealing that the amount of land burned annually in wildfires globally had decreased by about a quarter between 2001 and 2015. The authors have since updated their study and confirmed that in spite of increasing agonising over fires in the US, Europe and Australia, the amount of land being burned is still falling. This data includes all wildfires, not just forests – and globally 70% of fires are on grassland rather than forests.

None of this is to say that climate change is not increasing the risk of fires in certain locations at certain times of year, but it does rather undermine lazy claims about the world being on fire. If anything, the world is being damped down.

We have been conditioned to think that climate change is the overwhelming problem facing human civilisation and all other life on Earth. But why is the extent of fires not actually increasing in the way that climate campaigners frequently claim? Partly because in some places shifting patterns of rainfall have reduced the risk of fire. But also because rising global temperatures are not the only influence on fires.

The incidence of wildfires also has a lot to do with land use. Where wildfires have increased in recent years, such as in some parts of Eastern Europe, it is down to farmland being abandoned and allowed to return to scrubland, which contains far more flammable material. Urban development close to forested areas also plays a big role, increasing the sources of ignition through barbecues, overhead electricity wires and so on.

Worth reading in full.

Stop Press: The more likely cause of the fires in Greece is arson. Firefighters in Rhodes have indicated arson may be to blame, while local officials in Corfu say the fires in Corfu were started by arsonists. Not surprisingly, the BBC is still trying to argue that global warming is to blame: “There are reports that some fires may have been started by arsonists, but southern Europe’s extended heatwave has helped create the dry conditions that make it easier for flames to take hold and spread,” writes Justin Rowlatt, the Beeb’s Climate Editor. Careful with that straw you’re clutching, Justin. It might catch fire.

Ross McKitrick: The truth about forest fires goes up in climate-change smoke

We’re told we should listen to the science, but the science on forest fires is that they peaked in the 1980s

Uttarkashi: A wild fire in the Tankore forest area of Uttarkashi district, Monday, April 5, 2021. (PTI Photo) (PTI04_05_2021_000119B)

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

We’re told we should listen to the science, but the science on forest fires is that they peaked in the 1980s


Until the recent Canadian wildfires sent plumes of smoke over the densely populated cities around the Great Lakes and along the Eastern Seaboard, few people in those cities had ever experienced the weird orange haze of a forest fire or the temporary spike in fine particulates and pervasive smell of smoke. Understandably, many people reacted with alarm. We city-dwellers typically only see wildfires on television, usually alongside footage of fire crews and water-bombers valiantly trying to put them out, which creates the impression they are somehow unnatural events that must be avoided at all costs. In reality, forest fires are not only natural but essential to the life cycle of the forest ecosystem.


Unfortunately, politicians, reporters and climate activists rushed in to exploit this unusual event by pushing their agenda. They made a lot of glib claims about climate change causing wildfires to become more common. For instance, Prime Minister Trudeau tweeted: “We’re seeing more and more of these fires because of climate change.”


That statement is false. Amid the smokescreen of untrue claims, nobody seems to have bothered looking up the numbers. Canadian forest fire data are available from the Wildland Fire Information System. Wildfires have been getting less frequent in Canada over the past 30 years. The annual number of fires grew from 1959 to 1990, peaking in 1989 at just over 12,000 that year, and has been trending down since. From 2017 to 2021 (the most recent interval available), there were about 5,500 fires per year, half the average from 1987 to 1991.


The annual area burned also peaked 30 years ago. It grew from 1959 to 1990, peaking in 1989 at 7.6 million hectares before declining to the current average of 2.4 million hectares per year over 2017-21. And 2020 marked the lowest point on record with only 760,000 hectares burned.


The record shows that the fraction of fires each year that become major (more than 200 hectares in size) peaked back in 1964 at 12.3 per cent. From 1959 to 1964, it averaged 8.7 per cent then dropped to 3.4 per cent in the early 1980s. As of 2017-21 interval, it had climbed again to 6.0 per cent, but that’s still well below the average 60 years ago.


At the global level, satellite data from the European Space Agency also show that wildfire activity has been trending downward in recent decades and is currently approaching its lowest level since the record began in the early 1980s.


In an extensive discussion on the Royal Society blog back in 2020, U.K. forestry experts Stefan Doerr and Cristina Santin acknowledged that climate change may be making conditions for fire more favourable in some areas, but also noted it’s leading to reductions in other areas. As for the tendency for some fires to become larger and more dangerous, this can be traced to our approaches to forest management. “[Very] aggressive fire suppression policies over much of the 20th century have removed fire from ecosystems where it has been a fundamental part of the landscape rejuvenation cycle” they explained. This has led to a buildup of fuel in the form of woody debris leading to the risk of more explosive and unstoppable fires.


“We cannot completely remove fire from the landscape,” they stressed. “That is the misconception that led to the ‘100 per cent fire suppression’ policies in the U.S. and elsewhere that have made things worse in many cases.”


As Environmental Studies professor Roger Pielke Jr. notes on his Substack, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is also reluctant to connect forest fire activity to climate change. While it notes there has been an increase in “fire weather” (hot dry conditions conducive to forest fires) in a few regions globally, it does not claim a “signal” of greenhouse gas influence is currently present in the probability of fire weather nor does it expect one to be detected over the coming century.


When it comes to climate change, we’re constantly told to “follow the science.” Yet the same people who say that also regularly fabricate claims about trends in forest fires, both here in Canada and globally, and the connection to climate change. Science tells us forest fires are not becoming more common and the average area burned peaked 30 years ago. It also tells us we could do better at reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire, if we’re prepared to make the effort.

https://financialpost.com/opinion/truth-about-forest-fires-up-in-climate-change-smoke

The Summer Ritual

The temperature is almost not decisive. Forest fires also occur in spring, it just doesn’t have to rain long enough. They can even exist in winter. The months with the most fires in Germany are April and June.

de-waldbrand-jüteborg-dpa

By KlimaNachrichten Redakteur

Every year, you can almost set the clock accordingly, the same reports follow in the media. One of them concerns forest fires. If it has not rained for a long time, then this fact favors forest fires. The temperature is almost not decisive. Forest fires also occur in spring, it just doesn’t have to rain long enough. They can even exist in winter. The months with the most fires in Germany are April and June.

So it is a recurring ritual this year as well. The forest around Jüterbog in Brandenburg is burning. Reflexively, climate change is being pulled out of the box. However, this is only partially true at best. Wildfires are almost always caused by humans, either intentionally or negligently. The problem with Jüterbog (and other forest areas) is the fact that they were military training grounds for decades. The ground is contaminated with ammunition, extinguishing work is life-threatening. In Jüterbog, the fire brigade can only fight the fire from cleared alleys, but this cannot be successful. The fire is left there as long as no people are endangered. This is aggravated by the fact that in Brandenburg there are many conifers that characterize the forests. Their needles burn especially well in a fire and carry it on.

There is a good chance that people around Jüterbog have also set fire to the forest, whether out of criminal energy or stupidity. Nevertheless, we will only read about climate change in the media, but nothing, about a lack of adaptation. It is also dry in other parts of Brandenburg, but fires can be extinguished there because we humans have adapted to it and fire brigades can extinguish it. It is also easier to shrug your shoulders at the climate than to have the ammunition cleared. This is expensive and apparently not wanted. The Tagesschau on this:

“The fire brigade is preparing for the fact that the operation against the forest fire on a former military training area near Jüterbog (Teltow-Fläming) will continue for days. Firefighters can’t get close enough to the fires because the area is heavily contaminated with old ammunition. It is only possible to move around the area on cleared paths because of the risk of explosion. The fire brigade checks the fire protection strip and keeps it wet to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas. “It’s frustrating for the firefighter who stands here and can’t do anything,” said fire chief Rico Valentin. Overall, the fire continues to expand and the smoke development increases again and moves in the direction of Treuenbrietzen, warns the fire brigade.” 

The Ministry of Agriculture has interesting facts and figures on the subject of forest fires. Unfortunately, the 2022 data is still missing. Experience has shown that they appear in the summer. In any case, until 2021, the trend looked like it did on the chart. It’s hard to fit the equation, it’s getting worse and worse.

(Figure: Screenshot BMEL) 

We had already written about the topic in 2019, which is the year with an extreme peak, and also about the reflexes of the well-known protagonists. Not much has changed.

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