While southern Europe was fighting forest fires everywhere, the Netherlands had a fairly quiet summer in that respect. But that is no guarantee for the future. Far from it, shows research by Hugo Lambrechts: the number of days with high risk of fires will double by 2050.
Lambrechts received a PhD last week for his thesis Between Fire and Water. In it, he advocates a new approach to fire safety. ‘Wildfires are traditionally seen as something bad we have to protect the landscape from. We need to learn how to live with fire, just like we live with water. That’s a new concept in the Netherlands.’
Ostrich farmers
But not for Lambrechts personally. He is the son of South African ostrich farmers and grew up with the constant threat of forest fires. While he was at university in Cape Town, a fire destroyed a large part of his parents’ farm. As a forest warden on plantations, he learned about all the aspects of preventing and fighting forest fires.
Lambrechts’ PhD study shows how climate change will make it necessary to use a more broad-based, integrated approach in the Netherlands too. He calculated the number of days with a high risk of wildfires in the past, present and future. Those are days on which there are at least two wildfires.
Fire-proof landscapes
To perform the calculations, he used weather data and the wildfire database of his supervisor and fire expert Cathelijne Stoof. If temperatures increase by two degrees Celsius, the number of days with a risk of wildfires will double. There is a big difference between the northern and southern Netherlands. Maastricht will have the most high-risk days: 16. ‘That is mainly due to the difference in climate,’ says Lambrechts. ‘It is often cooler in the northern provinces and the humidity is higher.’
Plant more deciduous trees as they form a wetter microclimate
Hugo Lambrechts, Earth Systems & Global Change
Lambrechts advocates creating fire-proof landscapes to reduce the risk of wildfires. ‘That means for example removing the fuel, in other words the dead material, or making the landscape wetter. ‘One of the measures I recommend is to plant more deciduous trees as they form a wetter microclimate,’ he continues. ‘Deciduous trees also have less undergrowth and therefore less fuel for the fires. That also makes firefighting easier and safer for the firemen.’
Controlled fires
Controlled fires is another option for getting rid of the fuel and thereby preventing larger fires. ‘The Ministry of Defence does that in areas where they carry out target practice. Or you can prune trees growing near residential areas to stop the branches functioning as ladders that let the fire climb to the crown and spread from there.’
Wildfires don’t care about regional boundaries
Hugo Lambrechts, Earth Systems & Global Change
Lambrechts says an integrated approach to fire management requires more coordination than is currently the case. He recommends introducing ‘fire boards’, analogous to the water boards. He thinks the cooperation between the existing safety regions doesn’t go far enough. ‘Wildfires don’t care about regional boundaries. Something that spans the safety regions is needed. You need someone coordinating the various organizations who also has the authority to take measures.’
