Danger of forest fires in NRW increases - warning level "red" for several regions
Created: 08/08/2022, 16:35
By: Benjamin Stroka
From August 8th, very warm and dry days will again increase the risk of forest fires in NRW.
The highest risk is on Thursday and Friday.
Düsseldorf - At the end of the summer holidays and the start of the new school year, North Rhine-Westphalia can look forward to another midsummer week.
With partly over 30 degrees it remains sunny.
Rain is not in sight for the time being.
But that is worrying again.
Because the extreme drought this week, especially from Wednesday (10 August), is again increasing the risk of forest fires in NRW.
The German Weather Service (DWD) is already warning of an increased risk of forest fires.
Forest fire in NRW: danger of new fires increases - DWD warns
In July, a forest fire in Altena near Iserlohn led to a fire brigade deployment lasting several days.
© Dieter Menne/dpa
"Due to the drought, there is a high risk of forest fires, especially in the south," says the current DWD warning report for North Rhine-Westphalia.
According to the current status (8 August, 11:25 a.m.), the risk of forest fires continues to increase over the course of the week, reports 24RHEIN.
The DWD indicates the risk of forest fires in its forest fire risk index.
There, a distinction is made between five warning levels (“very low risk” to “very high risk”).
While on Monday (August 8th) in North Rhine-Westphalia only the Neunkirchen-Seelscheid-Krawinkel region (Rhein-Sieg district) was classified with the warning level "red" (for high danger), on Thursday (August 11th) there were a total of 23 regions .
As early as Tuesday, this second-highest warning level affected five areas in NRW, including Cologne-Stammheim, Cologne/Bonn Airport, Königswinter-Heiderhof (Rhein-Sieg district) and Weilerswist-Lommersum (Euskirchen district).
A forest fire in Plettenberg (Märkischer Kreis) shows how dangerous the current situation is on Monday afternoon.
Danger of forest fires in NRW: From Thursday "high danger" in large parts
On Wednesday there will be more.
Then the warning level “red” also applies to Duisburg-Baerl, the Düsseldorf Airport area and Wuppertal-Buchenhofen.
There is also no longer a “low risk” in NRW from Wednesday.
At least warning level 3 out of 5 (medium danger) applies throughout the state.
According to the current status, the greatest risk of forest fires is on Thursday and Friday.
More than half of the regions in the DWD risk index for forest fires are then classified as level 4 of 5 (high risk).
Danger of forest fires in NRW: How to behave correctly
Don't smoke in the forest.
From March 1st to October 31st, i.e. in spring, summer and autumn, there is an absolute smoking ban.
There are fines of up to 150 euros.
Do not grill or light an open fire in the forest.
The ban also applies within a radius of 100 meters around a forest.
There are fines of up to 5000 euros.
If you notice smoke or fire in the forest, report the fires by dialing 112. After that, you should leave the danger area as soon as possible.
Anyone who sees a small incipient fire can extinguish it "if it is possible without risk", as recommended by the North Rhine-Westphalia state forest and wood company.
Source: State Office for Forests and Wood NRW
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Forest fire in NRW: Severe fires in July in Altena and Sundern
In the past few weeks there have been several forest fires and wildfires in NRW.
The forest in Altena near Iserlohn and a large piece of forest in Sundern in the Sauerland were particularly hard hit in July.
More than 100,000 square meters of forest burned there.
But field fires also caused large-scale deployments by the fire brigade in July.
In the meantime, around 40,000 square meters of meadows, bushes and trees burned in Cologne-Holweide.
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