High chance of wildfires due to ongoing dry weather

The persistent dry and windy weather has the fire department on high alert for wildfires in most of the Netherlands. The security regions have banned open fire in almost all of the country’s nature reserves, RTV Oost reported.

The security regions declared Phase 2 to the whole of the Netherlands except for the three northern provinces and the areas around Amsterdam and Rotterdam. That means the fire brigade has extra vehicles ready to respond quickly if there’s a wildfire. It also means open fire - barbecue, floating lanterns, campfires, etc. - is banned in nature. And nature managers can revoke already granted event permits if they consider the fire risk too great.

The problem is that the topsoil is rapidly becoming drier in the current weather conditions. About 3 to 4 millimeters of moisture evaporates per day. One spark is enough to cause a wildfire, and the wind will spread it quickly, the security regions explained on the wildfire risk website. “A wildfire can develop quickly and unpredictably in dry periods, especially in strong winds.”