Extreme drought continues after the rains. Firefighters in the north of Slovakia struggled with three – SME
The risk of forest fires will increase in the future.
Žilina region. A situation that no one in northern Slovakia is remembered. Three forest fires employed firefighters in the Žilina region last week. Behind their emergence and spread could be extremely drought and increased movement of people in the forests.
Even after two weeks after the forest in the cadastre of Bobrovec in the Tatra National Park at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea level, firefighters could not declare that the fire was extinguished. On Friday, the Drone Monitoring showed three small outbreaks in an unprocessed calamity in the third degree of protection.
She started climbing late, with fear and tears. Has shifted the limits and the Slovak maximum Read
The other two forest fires burned in the northwest of Slovakia less than 24 hours in a row. Last week on Tuesday, May 13, firefighters liquidated a forest fire on the top of Briava near Čadci. The fire was hit by a young forest on an area of approximately 4,000 square meters.
On the next day 14. May they called firefighters to another fire above the village of Štiavnik in the district of Bytča. Burned a forest stand that spread over an area of about 500 times 100 meters and strong wind has also spread to the adjacent rejuvenation.
Drought and carelessness
According to firefighting statistics, the most common causes of fires in nature are the establishment of fires in improperly built or poorly extinguished outbreaks, burning grass and dry stands, incineration of waste, manipulation of open fire, smoking and carelessness of people. Fire -induced fires occur in Slovakia rather sporadically.
Spring months are among the very risky for forest fires, noticing firefighters. This year the situation was even more serious. Dry winter caused the soil cover to be more dried than usual, and dry the weather In the spring, the fire risk increased even more.
« The most risky are uncleaned rods, calaites, where there are a number of dried wood mass and dry grass. At the same time, there is a larger movement of people – tourists, collectors of herbs and forest fruits and the like.
Significantly less moisture
The current hair deficit has a big impact on forest fires. After extremely dry winter without snow and minimal total rainfall, meteorologists also report in May the continuation of dry weather. According to the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the situation is extremely serious – in many regions of the Žilina region, they recorded exceptional to extreme soil drought on 11 May. This significantly increased the risk of developing and spreading forest fires.
« This is a significant negative deviation of soil moisture compared to normal conditions that should occur in the region during this period, » says Lávia Labudová from the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute.
In May, according to meteorologists, the weather is variable, but the precipitation so far has not been enough to significantly improve the situation. The cold front, which crossed the territory of Slovakia at the end of last week, slightly reduced the danger of fires as it increased humidity in the natural environment.
« The moisture of the dead wood with a diameter of 1 to 2.5 centimeters has increased slightly after the rains, which is currently contributing to a lower risk of developing and spreading fires, » says Lávia Labudová.
Nevertheless, up to more than a fifth of Slovakia, there is a significant to extreme drought.
According to experts, the worst situation in Považie, the upper NitraOrava, Liptov, Turks and Zamagurie and in the Little Carpathians.
Soil moisture deficit is the highest minus 60 to minus 80 millimeters locally in Povazie, Orava and Upper Nitra. The lack of moisture is in almost the whole territory. Normal conditions are only 2.6 % of the total area.
(Source: SHMI)The fires need to be prepared
Lívia Labudová, however, warns that we can expect fires in the forests more often in the future. Climate change They bring longer dry periods to our latitudes and higher temperatures. The result is a higher risk of fires where such a danger has not been common in the past.
« Although the public is associated with forest fires, in particular, the Mediterranean area, statistics at the level of individual regions of Europe clearly show the growing trend of the number of fires and the total burned area in Central Europe in the last decade, » the meteorologist says.
According to her, the increasing number of forest fires is clearly a warning that we must better prepare for them in the future.
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