Firefighters have had an intense weekend. (Some operations, incidentally, have not ended at all.) Over the past three days, officers from the County Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Bolesławiec intervened as many as 28 times; a substantial proportion of these interventions concerned forest fires.
These were, in fact, the most difficult interventions, as they were the most labor- and time-consuming. As brig. Andrzej Śliwowski, head of the Bolesławiec fire service, explains, if a forest fire is at an early stage, it can be extinguished within just a few hours. However, if it spreads over several hectares, the fire service operation will last... several days.
On both Saturday and Sunday, as many as four forest fires occurred in our area. At the most serious incidents, more than 20 fire service units were working at peak times. Firefighters from the Bolesławiec State Fire Service and nearby volunteer fire departments fought the blaze, along with officers from neighboring counties: Legnica, Zgorzelec and Żagań. (Most of the fires occurred in the Gromadka and Bolesławiec municipalities.)
How did so many fires start?
Firefighters suspect that the cause was the so-called human factor. Therefore, brig. A. Śliwowski is appealing to county residents to limit their visits to forests during hot weather and to report any signs of fire to officers. (The sooner firefighters arrive at the scene, the sooner the situation will be brought under control.)
We have reported on the fires on an ongoing basis in the following articles:
- Forest fire near Pasternik
- Forests are burning. Firefighters have their hands full
- Fire in Szczytnica
- Sunday forest fire in the Gromadka municipality. A firefighting aircraft in action
- Massive forest fire near Leszno Górne.
(Header photo: OSP Parowa).