Wednesday proved to be a very busy day for firefighters from our county. The uniformed officers intervened as many as 11 times. Here are the more important incidents:

  • a grain fire in Stary Łom (the duty officer received a report that something was burning in the zone; it turned out, however, that the incident occurred outside our county)
  • a shed fire in Chocianów (there was a report that something was burning in Osła. Meanwhile, the fire broke out... 10 km away)
  • a collision between a car transporter and a passenger car in Wilczy Las (Warta Bolesławiecka municipality); no one was injured
  • fire: 15 ares of grass in the vicinity of Gierałtów
  • a combine harvester and approximately 3 ha of grain caught fire. Two units from the District Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Bolesławiec, two from OSP Nowogrodziec and one from OSP Gościszów
    • took part in the operation
  • a fire in Krzyżowa: a car parked on the roadside beneath a forest caught fire
  • an oil spill stretching from Szczytnica through Tomaszów to Bolesławiec; the road administrator removed the hazard
  • a fatal cyclist being struck
  • a fire involving stored wood at the allotment gardens on Jana Pawła II in Bolesławiec.

Warning! It is very dry and hot again. Firefighters appeal: if we are out for a walk, for example in a forest, let us take care not to accidentally start a fire.

Let us recall. Last year, almost 126,000 fires occurred in Poland, of which as many as 38,000 were grass fires in meadows and agricultural wasteland, mostly caused by burning grass.

That is why the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, together with the State Fire Service, launched the “Stop Grass Fires” campaign. The information campaign aims to raise awareness of how harmful grass burning is to the environment; it causes hundreds of thousands of fires in which people lose everything they have worked for, and sometimes even die.

This year, the State Fire Service has already recorded 38,634 grass fires, in which two people died and 101 were injured. Last year, fires of this type were also the direct cause of two deaths—in 2011, there were as many as sixteen victims. Fires in wasteland, due to their nature and usually large scale, engage significant numbers of fire service personnel and resources. Every intervention involves considerable financial expenditure. Losses caused by grass fires in 2017 were estimated at more than PLN 10 million.

Every year, firefighters battle the phenomenon of grass burning. Most incidents of this type occur in March and April. In 2017 alone, 266,000 firefighters went out to extinguish grass fires. The “Stop Grass Fires” information campaign aims to raise public awareness of the negative effects of grass burning. On the specially prepared website www.stoppozaromtraw.plyou can find, among other things, statistics on the harmful effects of grass burning, as well as the negative consequences of such incidents.

It should be remembered that after winter, grass is dry and burns very quickly. According to information from the fire service, a fire can spread at more than 20 km/h (by comparison, fast running is almost 19 km/h, while fast cycling is around 30 km/h). Wind also helps the fire spread. It is impossible to control the blaze independently or control the extent and direction of grass burning—fires very often spread to nearby forests and buildings at an extremely rapid pace. People are responsible for more than 94% of the causes of this type of fire.