Climate and global change – Open space fires

Abstract

We are experiencing sudden weather changes, disasters that are increasingly occurring outside the usual natural cycles. Long dry periods during the winter months in which we record a significant increase in the number of open space fires, rainy periods during the summer accompanied by torrential floods and stormy winds, freezing rains, leeches that occur in areas where they have not been recorded so far... These are all phenomena that leave behind enormous material damage and represent a challenge for the organization of firefighting, fire protection, and the civil protection system in general. Comparing the data on firefighting interventions in the last 40 years, a huge difference was observed in the structure and intensity of firefighting interventions that can be associated with weather conditions.
Climate change has highlighted the need for more firefighters, vehicles and equipment. Today's fire brigades are equipped in accordance with the needs of the last few decades, but as the climate changes, the needs for firefighters will also change. We need to think about upgrading the existing firefighting system and strengthening the preventive measures of the population and raising the readiness of firefighting, which is the foundation of the civil protection system, for threats arising from climate change.