Several weeks ago, the forest under Vianden’s cable car caught fire. The fire spread up the hill and grew in size. To deal with the wildfire, CGDIS had to call on special units able to intervene in such forest fires. The units have special fire engines that are able to get closer to the fire in order to extinguish it.
Despite these resources, the fire engines can not access every area. Many forests in the north of Luxembourg are situated on steep and inaccessible hills, which the fire engines cannot access closely.
To further complicate the situation, the climate and Luxembourg’s forests have changed over the years, having become both warmer and drier. The management of forests in Luxembourg has changed too, and more forests have been classified as natural forests. Consequently, the risk of wildfires breaking out is higher than ever, although nowhere near on the same scale as in the south of France or California.
In Luxembourg’s wildfires, the forest ground burns. This is difficult for firefighters to extinguish, as the fire can burn deep into the ground. Firefighters have to dig into the ground regularly to fully extinguish the fire, thus excluding the option of using extinguishing planes or helicopters to deal with wildfires.
Wildfires are not always necessarily drastic situations. These types of fires have occurred for millennia and belong to the normal life cycle of a forest. Currently, meteorologists believe that the upcoming summer will be less dry and warm than the record-breaking summer of 2018. However, residents should continue to be cautious, especially as two thirds of wildfires are directly or indirectly caused by human involvement.
Video in Luxembourgish
