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Hanover (dpa / lni) - Due to the changeable weather, there have been no significant forest fires in Lower Saxony this year - in contrast to previous years.
According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Agriculture in Hanover, there were 270 forest fires in the state in 2020, compared with 285 a year earlier. These values are well above the level of previous years.
For example, only twelve forest fires were counted in 2017.
However, the area affected recently decreased to around 19 hectares (2019: 28 hectares).
Drought and little rain mean that the risk of forest fires increases.
The state government also attributed the more frequent fires in the past to climate change.
In most cases, however, the cause of the fire is unknown.
About five percent of the cases are due to deliberate arson.
Most of the fires occurred again in eastern Lower Saxony.
Almost 170 reports were made in the local districts of Gifhorn, Celle, Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lüneburg, Uelzen, Heidekreis and Rotenburg.
In the wooded south with Harz and Solling there were around 50 fires.
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Federal properties are not yet taken into account in the information for 2020.
Their share was manageable in the previous year with six fires and around one and a half hectares.
At the end of March, the Harz National Park had warned that the risk of forest fires was increasing again.
The biggest problem is the old and mostly dry plants from the previous year.
In the past, visitors would often have reported the fires.
"This gives us one of the best forest fire monitoring systems in the region," said a spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, the state of Lower Saxony wants to invest a total of ten million euros in special fire engines for the fire brigade from 2021 to 2024 in order to counter the growing number of forest fires.
The big fires in Lübenheen (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and Lieberoser Heide (Brandenburg) as well as the moor fire in Meppen in 2018 had shown that more had to be done than before.
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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210428-99-381491 / 2
Communication from the Ministry of the Interior on fire engines (2.3.)